Serious topics
Green Is The New Black
by Jenn Archuleta “It’s green.” “Green?” “Green. But it looks really good!” “It’s green.” “Yeah, but don’t worry, I can fix it.”
read moreDisgusting and Technical Terms
Your sibilings’s kids at a certain age are fascinated by gross things. They all at once express disgust and intense interest at gooey, smelly, sticky, nasty liquids, semi-liquids and semi-solids. What do you do to capture their highly refined sense of disgust?
read moreLatest Post: Voices of Angels
The psychiatrist asked the patient, “Do you hear voices in your head?” “Yes, I do,” replied the patient. The psychiatrist thought to himself, with his own voice in his head, “Aha, he hears voices!”
read moreA Toddler’s Lesson in Determination
Last week I raced an Ironman triathlon in St George, Utah. The swim portion was 2.4 miles, the bike leg stretched 112 miles and the run part was a full marathon, 26.2 miles. The course is really hilly and the temperature was over 90 degrees with hard wind gusts. I finished in 12 hours 58..
read moreSummertime Is Reading Time
Every year at this time I think about compiling a summer reading list. I was trained to do this and now it’s a habit. My older brother, Ed, just before summer vacation began, would walk me up the hill to the public library. There he would help me choose a handful of books to read..
read moreCreating Future Experience
We know from experience that nobody ever learns anything from experience. How can you turn this truism upside down for your nieces and nephews? Babies come into the world lacking much real-world experience. They just haven’t had a lot of time to accumulate much seasoning. They have to learn things for themselves, and sometimes those..
read moreVolunteering and Food
Volunteering is a big part of the culture of this nation. Barn raisings, when the neighbors would get together to build a barn that takes a crowd to build—that’s volunteering. Bringing meals to the family down the street when a member of that family has taken ill—that’s volunteering. Beach cleanups and tree planting days—volunteerism again...
read moreYes, Even Pulling Weeds
This week I saw a master uncle in action pulling weeds with his niece, and having fun with it. First, Peter’s not the real uncle, but a neighbor, so the other weed-puller fun-haver, Nina, isn’t his niece. No matter. Peter was over at the house with a bunch of other people who came to help..
read moreGo Fast and Have Fun
Professional triathlete Jasmine Oeinck is the real deal. She has earned amazing credentials. She was two years in a row the top U.S. triathlete in the under 23-years-old class, and in 2009 came in first place in the U.S. National Triathlon competition. Jasmine also co-founded Bulumu Granola, a company based on the values of sustainability..
read moreAunt v. Coach: Four Roles in Common
Compare and contrast: aunt versus coach. Oh, let’s just compare. Both aunts and coaches need to do four things. This comes from a book by Robert Dilts called From Coach to Awakener. It’s a great book. First and foremost, both aunt and coach have to make sure that the kids in their care remain safe..
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