Parenting Concerns

Why It’s OK To Be Unplugged At Summer Camp

Camp provides time to be in nature and to practice living away from family. And, other than time spent asleep, camp is one of the few extended periods of time when kids will be away from their screens and devices. To better understand why it’s hard to unplug for summer camp, we interviewed Michael Thompson, Ph.D.

Concert Girls: How A Few Shared Experiences Helped A Mom And Her Teenage Daughter See Each Other’s Lives Differently

“So Mom, we should do something fun this summer, just the two of us,” my daughter remarked. We had just listened to our neighbor tell us how he and his son had visited as many baseball parks as they could in two weeks.

Surviving Summer Camp

Summer is here, and if you’ve decided to send your child to summer camp, you may be experiencing a range of emotions and wondering how best to make this a good experience for your little one.  It’s perfectly normal for first-time campers—and their parents—to experience some anxiety as camp gets closer and closer.

Dad’s New Shoes

Intro and outro music written and performed by Dr. Gene Beresin.

Today’s dads are confused.

It might not be a bad kind of confusion, but confusion is still the best word for how dads feel. If we pretend that the role of the modern father is clear-cut and obvious, we’d of course be acting a bit disingenuous.

A 9-Year-Old Has No Remorse For Stealing But Always Lets Himself Get Caught: What Should Parents Do?

One morning in your daily rush to get them to the bus, you find your purse, left in its typical place on the kitchen table, wide open. The wallet is on the table, unzipped, with receipts scattered around it. That $10 bill you know was in the front is missing.

Concerts: A Survival Guide

Intro music written and performed by Dr. Gene Beresin.
Outro music performed by Dr. Gene Beresin.

Almost Famous, Cameron Crowe’s wonderful movie about sex, drugs and rock n’ roll, has many lovely and poignant moments.

The Senior Prom: A Joyous Rite Of Passage Or Nightmare For Parents?

Intro music written and performed by Dr. Gene Beresin.
Outro music performed by Dr. Gene Beresin.

It’s the weekend before your kid’s senior prom. You and your wife are having a typical evening at home, perhaps watching a movie with your youngest daughter. And, there’s a kind of tense silence you remember all too well.

One Man’s Brush With Being A Mother

I think we all take our moms for granted in some way, especially us men.

Despite how much we love our mothers—how much we have always depended on them—as men, we not only take them for granted, we also have no clue what it’s like to be a mom.

This came to me today, oddly enough, during an encounter I had with a raccoon.

Mother’s Day

When I was about 4 years old, my dad came home from work early one day. Still in his coat and tie, he quickly ushered me into the car, said something to my mom so that she wouldn’t worry, and whisked me away to K-Mart to buy my mother a Mother’s Day gift.

Journeys On Our Own

This blog post is part of a series entitled Real Lives, Real Stories: Personal Experiences With Mental Illness.