• Parenting

    Shake the Sheets

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    My wife and I are raising four children, two of whom are girls.  That’s why I’m increasingly alarmed by the number of women affected by eating disorders. The two most common ones we hear about are anorexia nervosa and bulimia. I read that there are about a half a million deaths per year due to [...]

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    Parents, Outnumbered

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    With four kids in our one family, as a dad I often felt like I was being pulled in four different directions at the same time. The kids are older now and three of them are on their own, but back when they were little, managing this even slightly well seemed almost impossible, like trying [...]

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    55 Ways to Deal with Depression

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    1. Write a hand-written letter to someone 2. Go for a long walk 3. Drink more water 4. Make an effort to chat someone up in public 5. Read a new book 6. Write in a journal 7. Talk about your emotional baggage with a counselor 8. Start a blog or a website 9. Take [...]

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    What’s All The Fuzz About?

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    Did you ever wonder why there is fuzz on peaches? I grew up near peach orchards so it’s very normal for me to talk and write about peach fuzz. Just like humans have hair on their bodies to protect their skin, peaches have fuzz on them to protect them from sunburn and potential water loss, [...]

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    Best in Show

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    Every year the Westminster Kennel Club holds its annual dog show in an effort to crown somebody’s pet as top dog. This time-honored tradition has been going on since 1907 when the first pooch was awarded the coveted trophy. This year the honor went to a Scottish Deerhound named Hickory. There were several other prizes [...]

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    Three Questions for Dads

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    I love being a dad. It’s one of the greatest privileges a man has in life. As a dad, I get to hear the pitter-patter of little feet telling me that a hug is on its way.   I get to clean out the sand in the back of the minivan after a trip to [...]

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    Cheering for the 92

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    Years ago, when my son was younger, I remember talking with him, well I guess you could say I had been talking at him—for a while, pointing out several problem areas I’d noticed in his behavior. I’d griped about his slow starts in the morning, accusing him of constantly making the rest of the family [...]

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    The Lawn ‘Beneath’ Our Feet

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    I remember when we first moved into the home where we live now. There was no yard worth mentioning, just a big ol’ spread of dirt and clay. Wanting to green things up and save some greenbacks in the process, we decided to go crazy and sod the property, without professionals! Because we had zero [...]

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    Family, 1 to 5

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    Towards the end of any year, managers and supervisors everywhere will pull out their clipboards and start conducting year-end performance reviews.   That’s right, it’s time again to discuss quality control, problem solving, interpersonal skills, and your attitude on the job. As an added bonus (not necessarily the kind you can spend) you’ll also get [...]

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    No Good Answers

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      It’s almost intimidating what kids know these days.   I can remember driving my daughter home from a party she’d attended and she looked out the window at the moon and suddenly turned into a talking textbook. She proceeded to explain to me a few of the facts she’d been learning in science, like [...]

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