What happened in the past has a great effect on our present. We take our experiences from what happened to us and add them to the bank of beliefs, thoughts and attitudes in our life. Sometimes, we place too much importance on past events and allow them to stop us from getting on with life.
Irrational Rules of Living – Avoidance
Most, if not all the people in the world want to be happy. Happiness is also what parents want to give to their kids most of all – more than money, health and many other things. Yet, many people believe that in order to get the most happiness, they must avoid unpleasantness and hardship as much as they can.
Learning? What learning?
As parents, we all want our kids to do well. So we look for ways to measure and track whether they are doing well. Not having gone through parenting school, most of us resort to what our parents have done with us, which is focus on the grades we “brought back home” from school. As long as the kids’ grades are good, they must be doing fine, right?
Read Learning? What learning? »
The Art of Misery
For many years, I have been writing about the quest for happiness and, as you may now, I believe that focusing on good is the best way to make it expand. However, there are (many) people who find negative examples more effective, so I am going to try some humor (taking a cue from my kids, who flattered me this month when I bought a funny birthday card and said I was developing my sense of humor) and talk a little bit about the dark side of life.
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How to Cure a Forgetful Kid
This is a question I got from a mother:
“I have a 13-year-old son who is a forgetful kid. I ask him to bring notes from school and he forgets them. He forgets his homework, he forgets to bring messages from school, he forgets he has a test, he forgets we have plans in the family. I talked to his teachers and we agreed to communicate between us but he keeps forgetting his communication book. I feel lost and I do not understand why he is so forgetful in things that are important and remembers his computer stuff well.
What can I do?”
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See What Love Can Do
This week, I received this inspiring movie about a father, who participated in the “Iron Man” (triathlon) competition with his son. I watched it with tears of inspiration, tears of excitement and joy for the glory of parenting and the essence of love. Love can help us carry heavy loads and push through enormous difficulties, and then it can inspire others too.
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8 Good Reasons to Be a Rich Parent
Financial struggles can put a lot of strain on family life. When I talk to people about the challenges in their life, many of them say that shortage of money is the main source of their difficulties. In this new series, I am giving you tips on how to be richer, starting with why to be richer!
“We don’t spend enough time with the kids, because we have to go to work and earn money”, they say.
“We can’t give our kids what they need, because we don’t have enough money”, they complain.
“We can’t even take time off for proper vacations to rejuvenate, because there is just not enough money to fund them”, they are ashamed to admit.
“Our kids can’t engage in hobbies and extracurricular activities, because they are too expensive for our family budget”, they tell me in despair.
There are many other versions of the same challenge. If you have ever heard yourself saying any of them about your own family or if you have ever caught yourself thinking like this, then you are at the right place. If you have ever wondered if it is possible to have a family and be wealthy and happy at the same time, keep reading!
Things I Want My Kids to Know: Leave the “How” To the Universe
Sometimes, when people really try to go for something, their goals can be too big or set too far away so they easily lose track along the way. When I talk to my kids about knowing where to sail to, they always ask, “But Mom, how do I get there?”
I think the question “How do I do it?” is the most demoralizing thought people have during their dreaming stages.
Read Things I Want My Kids to Know: Leave the “How” To the Universe »
Pippi Longstocking
Yesterday evening, Noff and I went for a walk around the neighborhood. As we were walking, Noff told me she was going to have a “book character day” today and she had decided to dress up as Pippi Longstocking. She was very excited, as kids often are, and wanted to know every little detail about Pippi’s character, so that she would do a good job at school.
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Health Allowance
Last month, I went to visit my family. My mom, who is over 65, was not feeling very well. In fact, she was feeling horrible. She had been diagnosed with Diabetes and had to check her blood every day. For the whole month we spent together, I understood exactly why she had been sick for so many years and why she suffered from so many serious medical symptoms. You see, my mom makes allowances for every little unhealthy thing she does.
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