Time for Hazelnut and Nag Champa

I've had it up to my plucked eyebrows with being asked "are you following your New Year's resolutions?" NO I am not. Because I didn't make any. Because I'm just going to break them and... hey, why do YOU care? Who are you, the self-improvement police? You selling pardons or something? MYOB!! Go clean out your own backyard and leave poor dysfunctional me to my many dysfunctions. Read on, this really does have a cogent point.Time for Hazelnut and Nag Champa

Mental Health: How Being an Empath Can Ruin Relationships

14 years ago, I discovered I'm an empath. I always knew, even as a child, that I felt others pain, but it was good to discover that intense sensitivity had a name. Empath Guide defines it well: Criticism, suffering, hurt, humiliation, shame are hard enough for me to bear. Watching others feel them is agonizing. Knowing I'm an empath explains a lot about my interpersonal struggles. It can ruin or heal relationships.  Mental Health: How Being an Empath Can Ruin Relationships

Parent Competition Makes for Unhealthy Relationships

I've long heard it said that parents can (and should) be able to do it all--keep a nice home, raise great kids, work full time, stay financially solvent, be healthy, etc. In 24 years of parenting four kids, I've realized that not only is that thinking flawed, it's dangerous. You can't have it all--something gives somewhere, often where you least expect it. We shouldn't expect perfection of ourselves or other parents. And most intolerable of all, is when one parent capitalize on another parent's failures to highlight her own apparently successful parenting. It's easy to pass judgement on someone else, more difficult to see our own flaws. What that boils down to is competition. And competition among parents is particularly toxic. Here's why.  Competition Among Parents is Unhealthy

Sandy Hook School Shootings--Mental Health Resources for Kids, Disaster Victims

In light of the school shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Conn., it's important to address emotional health issues for parents and kids. In fact, all of us, as a nation are grieving. We need to examine our response to crisis and protect ourselves. Part of that involves guarding our minds against excessive fear. Parents particularly need to be mindful of how they discuss the deaths with their children. We have to be sensitive and open, but not reactionary.  Here are mental health resources for disaster victims and all of us as we recover. Read more

Understanding teen depression and adolescent mood swings

Teenage depression can be frightening for kids and parents. Clinical teen depression is relatively rare, but mood swings aren't. They're part and parcel of growing up. Mood swings affect adolescents across the spectrum, regardless of background, upbringing, personality or gender. Here are things to keep in mind about teen mood swings. Understanding teen depression and adolescent mood swings

How parents can help withdrawn, shy kids

Shyness is a natural emotion for many kids. A little diffidence protects kids. It helps them avoid potentially dangerous situations that fearless kids may heedlessly plunge into. Taken to extremes, shyness is worrisome. Here are tips for parents to help shy kids. How parents can help withdrawn, shy kids