Last week, for the zillionth time, I ran into a situation where someone said to me “Please don’t tell anyone.” and I had to follow up with…
“Can I tell Paul?”
Usually people will laugh and say, “Of course you can tell Paul. I kind of expected that you would.”
But occasionally the person I am talking to will shake their head and be firm about not wanting anyone, even Paul, to know. I can’t stand that tug and pull between my friend and my spouse, who I very much do not keep secrets from.
It would be so much easier if during the …read more

With the boys being in that dreadful age zone of teen-enstein (that’s a cross between teenager and Frankenstein) I feel like I’ve talked more in the last week than I ever did during those “tween” years.
Most recently I’ve been trying so hard to explain to the kids that a joke is NOT good if it’s at the expense of someone else. I have encouraged them to joke all they want if the person being offered up as humors sacrificial lamb is their own self.
Why is it that this particular lesson is nearly impossible to sink in?
I’ve also tried to …read more

I remember, all too vividly, the day that my parents told us about my dad’s affair. I knew that something wasn’t right, because the night before, the sounds of my mother’s sobbing could be heard through the walls. It kept me awake all night, pondering the meaning behind those agonized, yet muffled sounds of a woman’s heart being broken. My mother never cried, so I knew that something was seriously wrong. The next morning, my parents sat my sister and I down in the living room. I do not remember much about the details of what they said, but I do remember …read more

We have all done things, as teens and young adults, that we are not proud of. Maybe we regret them, or maybe not. The question at hand, is whether or not you are honest with your kids, when they ask about your youthful trespasses. If your kids ask about sex, drugs and rock n’ roll, do you disclose your past? Why or why not?