Greetings everyone.  Today’s Around The Web is about talking with your kids.  Yes, you know how to talk, but do you feel uncomfortable talking about highly personal or difficult topics like sex or drugs and alcohol?  You wouldn’t be alone if you did.

You may also need to take a look at your general style of communication to make sure you are setting the stage for healthy exchange of ideas and feelings.  In other words, make sure you aren’t shutting down communication because of the way you speak and the tone you set.  We do the best we can as parents, but I know I appreciate a brush-up on communication.  We take it for granted because we are used to our own habits.

Today I was searching for a more general overarching topic to cover, something to make both you and I step back and take a bigger look at parenting.  I did a Google search on the keywords in the title today – what do kids really need – and got a number of results.  I’ll write a little commentary after some of the more interesting results I found.

OK, since I know you are all smart perfect parents out there, you can probably skip this post.  No?  OK, we parents don’t always like to admit it, but we do make mistakes.  Sometimes, we are wrong when our kids are right.  We are the ones that make a mess of things!  I’m not trying to give anyone a complex, just getting down to the truth of parenting.  It’s tough and full of, ahem, “learning opportunities” for us.

My Parenting Confession

One of mine has been assuming (pretending) I don’t have a bias.

Recently, I’ve had a few parents ask me if I’m ready for summer and school being out, you know, with everything being more relaxed and all. I tell them that our schedule is about to explode once school ends!

Greetings, everyone.  This edition of Around The Web takes a closer look at early childhood activities and learning subjects.  Two excellent websites that go way beyond little kid crafts.

Today I stumbled upon something that dropped my jaw, which usually means I’m going to write about it.  At the risk of giving further promotion something I consider truly awful, I’ll talk mostly about the dynamics and morals, not so much about the actual company.

Hi everyone.  Yes, it’s a couple of days past Mother’s Day.  Most of the time, I am late enough mailing my gifts that the mothers in my life don’t get them until about now.  I was early this year with the post office, but I’m still late on this post.

Once in a blue moon, I manage to have an evening and/or most of a weekend day with no kids around.  This is one of those glorious rare times.  The whole house is quiet right now – my husband is even gone for most of the day.

In case you are new to this blog, I’ll tell you that I have three young daughters ages 10, 8, and 6.  You can do a little math and understand that I am on the cusp of some really rockin’ years of child development.  I remember being a girl at that age and how my sister and I went through it together.  I may go on an eight year vacation at that point, but I digress…

Hello, faithful readers.  I am so pleased to say that the Family Mental Health blog has had its first birthday!  It was actually April 17th if you see my About post.  So while it is a bit belated, it is no less sincere.