Tag: "parenting"

Some Parents Don't Always Know Best
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Some Parents Don’t Always Know Best

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To: Marybeth From: Not Crazy About Carpools This question might be filed under, “What are these people thinking?” My high school freshman got a ride home from a recent sporting event from a teammate’s parent. The conversation in the car turned to a high school party that took place a couple of weeks ago where […]

Tactful Response to Untactful Garb
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Tactful Response to Untactful Garb

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To: Marybeth From: Irritated Aunt My 13-year-old son will be confirmed in a solemn ceremony at our church. We have invited our extended families to join us for the confirmation and, afterward, for a nice dinner in our son’s honor. We would like everyone to dress appropriately (and modestly) for the occasion, but I’m certain […]

Plan B and Your Fifteen Year Old
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Plan B and Your Fifteen Year Old

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A few days ago the FDA announced its decision to lower the age for access to over-the-counter emergency birth control from 17 to 15. It used to be that if minors needed speed-dial abortions they would have to see a doctor for a prescription. Since most minors can’t get to the doctor without a parent being […]

The Excitement at Mass
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The Excitement at Mass

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My husband is so lucky that we only have girls. Whenever we’re out someplace public like the zoo, Legoland, a grocery store, or church, and a child has to go to the bathroom, it’s automatically the female parent who has to take her.  Lucky me. This especially came in handy (for my husband) at church […]

Pray, Hope and Don't Worry? A Catholic Mom’s Guide to Trusting God
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Pray, Hope and Don’t Worry? A Catholic Mom’s Guide to Trusting God

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“Forgive me, Father, for I have worried.” Even when I’m behind the screen, I am sure that my priest knows that it’s me – that parishioner with N.A.P.S. (Nutty, Anxious Parent Syndrome). Worrying is my hobby. I worry about the economy, politics and toy recalls. I practically obsess over germs and the weather, especially during […]

I See Love in Myself and in Others
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I See Love in Myself and in Others

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Every day, I look in the mirror and am not sure I know the man looking back at me. He looks familiar. But his hair is grayer than I remember, his beard white instead of brown, the face a bit fleshier and showing some lines. The man I see is older than I expect — […]

Green Mom: Caring for God's Creation
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Green Mom: Caring for God’s Creation

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“…let us be protectors of creation, protectors of God’s plan inscribed in nature, protectors of one another and of the environment.” – Pope Francis, March 19, 2013 Our new Holy Father spoke about our responsibility to care for and protect the environment several times in his homily on the day he was formally installed as […]

Teenagers and Violent Video Games
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Teenagers and Violent Video Games

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To: Marybeth From: Nonviolent Video Mom My son wants to play the same video games his friends play, but I’m concerned they are violent. He’s 15 and says I’m too strict about this issue; he’s not going to become a deranged killer by playing war games. Are violent video games really a problem? To: Nonviolent […]

Book Review: <i>Imitating Mary</i>
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Book Review: Imitating Mary

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What can mothers today learn from a poor Jewish woman who lived two thousand years ago? If the woman in question is Our Blessed Mother, the answer is everything. Marge Fenelon explores ten of these lessons in the new book, Imitating Mary: Ten Marian Virtues for the Modern Mom (Ave Maria Press, 2013). Fenelon writes […]

Understanding Sunday Mass - A Kid's View
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Understanding Sunday Mass – A Kid’s View

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How many times have you — as a parent — sat in Mass and not heard a word the priest said because you were playing referee, peacekeeper, or bad cop in the pew? Since I can answer that question in the triple digits, I was thrilled to learn about the new DVD “Understanding Sunday Mass: A […]

Finally Finding Focus: Our ADHD Story
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Finally Finding Focus: Our ADHD Story

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I didn’t use to believe in medication for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).  Truth be told, I didn’t used to believe in ADHD at all. Nobody was ever diagnosed with it when I was a kid back in the 1970s. Now, it seems to be everywhere. “Perhaps as many as two million American kids” now […]

Parental Responsibility Trumps Child's Privacy
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Parental Responsibility Trumps Child’s Privacy

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To: Marybeth From: Message-reading Mom My daughter’s smartphone buzzed when she was out of the room. I picked it up to see who was texting her and was puzzled by the message that previewed on the screen, so I read the entire exchange. What I discovered concerned me. When I talked to her about it, […]

Catholic Mom’s Café: 5-Minute Retreats for Every Day of the Year
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Catholic Mom’s Café: 5-Minute Retreats for Every Day of the Year

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Do you think you would benefit spiritually by spending thirty hours in prayer and meditation?  Yeah, right, you are likely thinking.  Where would I find time for that? I’m a very busy mother. Motherhood has its ironies.  When we are pregnant and feel the need to “rest up,” sleep is often hard to come by.  […]

Date Night for Parents
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Date Night for Parents

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To: Marybeth From: Dad is Desperate for a Date My husband says we should have “date nights” without our three kids, but free evenings are almost impossible to find. Our children’s schedules are full of school, sports and social activities that keep us coming and going, and when we finally choose date night, I’m either […]

A Covenant Against Porn
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A Covenant Against Porn

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Pornography is becoming more prevalent and more accepted not only in the wider culture but also within family life. With primetime TV getting more explicit, hundreds of cables stations to surf, and the internet and digital devices flooded with indecent sites and tweets, parents can feel overwhelmed and helpless. Parents, don’t despair! You are still […]

The Terrible Teenage Years?
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The Terrible Teenage Years?

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To: Marybeth From: Preteen Parent How do I survive a moody 12-year-old daughter without damaging our relationship (or killing her)? I find it very hard to allow her the power to ruin a family event, even a meal, with her gloom. Some days she is a pure delight (engaged, happy, articulate, intelligent) and the next […]

Pope Francis’ One Minute Lesson from the School of Love
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Pope Francis’ One Minute Lesson from the School of Love

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When Rick Santorum’s article “Two Years Worth Every Tear” was included in my book, “A Special Mother is Born,” my favorite line was “Living with Bella (his daughter with trisomy 18) has been a course in character and virtue”. Each of the thirty-four stories written by parents of special needs children contains a lesson which […]

How to Encourage Your Teens to Stay Sexually Pure
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How to Encourage Your Teens to Stay Sexually Pure

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Editor’s Note: This article was written for a secular audience and therefore does not approach this issue from a moral standpoint – that premarital sex is wrong. Still, it offers some good ideas for talking with your teens about sex. Whether your teenager’s health classes at school take an abstinence-only approach to sexual education or […]

The Problem of Popular Music
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The Problem of Popular Music

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If you’re concerned that the lyrics being piped into your children’s headphones are inappropriate — or even dangerous — you’re right. To: Marybeth From: A Sing-along mom What’s up with obscene and violent lyrics in pop music? Our kids have mentioned songs that their friends are downloading, and when we do a lyric check to […]

Filling the Bucket of Self-Esteem
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Filling the Bucket of Self-Esteem

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Self esteem. A modern essential. Self esteem was a term invented by Sigmund Freud. The concept has taken wings since then, enhancing other modern philosophies. In the modern world, ever increasing affirmation of self esteem is key through political correctness (not offending anyone), relativism (everyone is right in whatever they think) as well as in […]

How One Life Can Change Everything
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How One Life Can Change Everything

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In every person’s life, there should be a person who, as C.S. Lewis says, “hears the song in your heart and can sing it back to you.” Through this devoted love, one overcomes fears, hurts and selfishness, and the soul expands. For the Lovely family in Sherry Boas’ fictional Lily series, this person is the […]

Sex Education and Parental Rights
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Sex Education and Parental Rights

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ANALYSIS/OPINION: In this week’s email, a question comes from parents who don’t want their fourth grader to take the school district’s sex ed class: From: Too Sexy for 4th Grade To: Marybeth In our school district, sex education classes are presented to children starting in fourth grade. My husband and I don’t want our children learning about […]

CL11 -hbratton notxt
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Balance: Gratitude and Grace-Filled

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As the mother of two lively boys, athletic boys, theater-loving boys, exploring boys, immersed-in-everything boys, I am forever seeking. Forever balancing. Forever juggling. Forever discerning. Activity versus stillness. Sound versus silence. Society versus solitude. I still, now for fleeting moments, still, have a measure of control over the feeling, the tenor, the rhythm of my […]

Parenting Teens: Where to Draw the Line
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Parenting Teens: Where to Draw the Line

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ANALYSIS/OPINION: Mom-blogger Ursula Hennessey, writing last week at OnTheCulture.com, questioned the lax supervision provided by too many parents of teens. A recent story in her local paper recapped an alarming incident in which nine high school students were found in one of the teen’s garage, drinking beer and setting up for an evening of drinking games. […]