My youngest recently turned 11. Up to this point, she has been the easiest of my kids. Easy-going, even-tempered, open-minded, up for anything. Up to this point.
These days she’s grumpy. Mean. Closed off to everything. Right now we are in the midst of a sleepover with my niece, the lovely Ashlee, and Sarah is pouting in her room.
I’m not sure what the problem is. It’s either…….no, really I have no idea. We went to the creek, we went to the pool, the girls decorated new notebooks, the fun just keeps on coming, but she’s more interested in a good pout.
As …read more

My oldest child has always enjoyed playing with dolls, dressing up in costumes and having tea parties. I have a feeling that things are about to change. She will enter the fourth grade next month. From what the teachers at school tell me, this is the year when playground games end and drama begins. Tether ball tournaments turn into gossip sessions. Swinging on the monkey bars is replaced with rounds of “My friend likes you. Do you want to go out with her?” Innocence is abandoned at the roadside as the kids head for the bright lights of the highway …read more