Another year, another CampFIRE in the books. The CVC’s youth leadership camp is the official start of summer for us. For those of you who have real fears about the country’s youth and our collective future, I urge you to drop into Camp Roberts some year and meet these graduating eighth graders. You’ll feel much [...]
Perhaps you’ll remember my last column - the civility and kindness-themed one where I illustrated the lack of both these qualities in my children and our nation’s current dialogue. I’m sure you either posted it on your fridge as a cautionary tale to your own children or you added it to the scrapbook you’ve made [...]
Kindness and civility. Has anyone ever used those two terms to describe their children’s relationship with each other? I doubt it. And if they did, it would be the Chardonnay talking. It doesn’t matter how much I try to instill the importance of being kind to the boys, apparently, it does not begin at home. [...]
I am a dude. Not a dude in the surfer sense or as a Big Lebowski reference. Specifically, a city-dweller, especially one vacationing on a ranch in the western United States (credit: dictionary.com). This is why I was fortunate enough to make Wyoming my home lo these 25 years ago. The HF Bar Ranch in Saddlestring, [...]
Parenting a teenager is not for weenies. Those of you who have undertaken it know the struggle is real. Those of you who have only been teens should remember the awkwardness, the endless moments of humiliation, the fear of being noticed, the fear of being unnoticed. It's just brutal. The surging hormones mean teens are [...]
I love March. It means so many things. Daffodils (my all-time fave flower) from the American Cancer Society. The chance that spring (my all-time fave season) might actually arrive. March Madness, which pretty much annually features the Kansas Jayhawks (my all-time fave team). In addition and most importantly, it’s the month of my birthday! [...]
I am the parent of two boys, ages 11 and 14. I came to the parenting gig late so I had plenty of time to watch my friends raise their children. I also had plenty of time to be incredibly judgmental about what I saw as their mistakes and shortcomings. In my head I was [...]
