Parents it is very important that you have a continuous relationship with their child as they are growing up so that when your child becomes a teenager, you will know them well enough to determine when they aren’t telling you the truth.  Kids will tell you a story if they think that they can get away with it.…

We have all seen the endless American Apparel billboards, subway ads, bus stop posters, and magazine spreads for this company which primarily makes casual clothing targeted for the 18-25 age group, T-shirts, hoodies, shorts, underwear.

Dov Charney has built an empire…

I'm brainstorming here. I'd like this to be well thought out resonating post of parenting rationalization but the truth is that I'm sitting at my desk shocked by interactions that have taken place between myself and my teenage daughter in the past week, things that have come out of nowhere.

I know that over the past year I've come to a sort of mid-life-crisis in parenting similar to that of the 40 year old man that is mid-life minus the new Porsche and Viagra. My daughter is turning…

I am not even sure what started the screaming match between my daughter and I, but all of a sudden our family dinner turned to tears and snot, grounding and a bunch of things being said – I don't know how it gets so out of control so quickly. She's so sweet and little until she decides she's grown.

I don't understand how you can clearly hatefully disrespect someone and then be like “I didn't do anything wrong” - so while we were sitting there playing the blame game it occurred to me…

Both my girls have their fair share of anxiety - I can be credited for passing that down to them, I guess. Neither one is worse than the other, and while their anxieties are similar, they're also pretty different and have to be handled differently.

Brooke is indecisive and has separational anxiety - she wants to spend the night with a friend, but then calls me at 10:30 not able to sleep, she invites friends over but decides later that she wishes they would leave. She wants to go to…

So... we've gone back and forthon the whole giving the kids an allowance decision.  Typically they will do chores for a little while when they want something badly.  Then they fall out of the habit of doing chores and likewise we fall out of the habit of giving them extra spending cash.…

I recently took my 11 year old son for his yearly well visit with the pediatrician.  At the end of the appointment, and after being assured all was indeed well, the doctor handed me a nifty little printout detailing the visit.  The first page listed current height and weight, any labs and tests ordered, results from vision and hearing screening, and any follow up…

If you didn’t see this post by fellow blogger Vinobaby’s Voice, you need to read it (after you read this,  of course). It’s regarding the high school senior who is raising all sorts of chaos because her school’s yearbook staff rejected the girl’s senior photo submission. Once you see the pictures, I’m sure you’ll understand why they rejected them. Yes, It’s Too Sexy…

We forewarned our girls that this Christmas was not going to be a big one.  The Rooster had changed jobs halfway thru the year and my business was slower than last year. Even if that hadn’t been the case, when we saw the 13 YOs “list” it made us do a double take and realized that these kids needed a severe reality check. I’ve made the comment many times that there is NOT an M.D. behind my name. Sorry for the harsh truth kids, but we are not rolling in the dough.

We “gently” advised…

I have 3 kids which means in our time and like everyone else, we’ve sold a lot of crap. We’ve sold cookie dough, pizza making kits, wrapping paper, God awful things they considered “gifts”, magazine subscriptions and of course, Girl Scout cookies.  We are VERY lucky that the elementary school we’re at now doesn’t participate in item sales – they just ask us for pledges and donations at the beginning of the year. And then nickel and dime us the rest of the year, but that’s a different…

Is unfortunately, usually, their parents. 

One of the things that I noticed pretty quickly when we moved back to this area is that in the South people tend to live by the rule of "do as I say, not as I do" – especially when it comes to RSVPs.  I have

been bitten on more than one occassion by parents who didn't RSVP for birthday parties. I don't mean responding…

I was running around Facebook, as I frequently do throughout the day, when I came across a business page running a contest. Nothing odd there, right? Lots of businesses run contests and incentives to increase their traffic and number of “likes”.

Except this one was different. This Facebook page was for a medical practice that caters  to…

http://www.babyrazzi.com/2011/12/05/enter-to-win-nickelodeon%E2%80%99s-victorious-girls-cosmetics-from-townley-girl/

One (1) lucky BabyRazzi winner will receive 2 holiday gift baskets compiled of three makeup sets with Victorious products. Each gift basket is totaled at $30 (see above again for descriptions).

How do…

We’ve loved UncommonGoods for a long time. Probably as long as they’ve been established (in 1999). UncommonGoods.com is a unique online store that offers truly unique gift ideas that range from beautiful to fun, quirky and light-hearted. Never a boring gift idea in their catalog pages… We also love that UncommonGoods is an independent business that supports independent artists and creators.…

Transform a school locker from drab to fab with LockerLookz fashionable locker decorations. Designed specifically with girls in mind that, especially those that want to make a personal statement of style beyond what they wear. LockerLookz has the perfectly coordinated set of accessories that are not only hip (do teens still say that? I think maybe not…) but also functional. Choose from a variety of themes to fit a new…