BEWARE… she might be lurking around…. — Isn’t she lovely? Everybody else’s Mom. Why can’t you be just like her? Here’s a poem to help you in the identification process. Preface: When our daughter was going through her teen years, I vowed and declared I’d write a book about everybody else’s mother. …

Write first. Edit second. Just get things down, and then… — It never ceases to amaze me the amount that small children learn so quickly, regarding the reading writing process. I learned that, to become a writing class, it’s best not to interrupt the flow of writing. (I add this because it’s to easy to do that.) The bell rings. Students…

Imagination is at the heart of everything we do, now and into the future… — Many years ago, I had planned a birthday surprise for my husband. My friend, a music teacher, was staying to help. It was close to our daughter’s bedtime, so my friend volunteered to help by reading her some stories. But a few minutes later, our daughter burst into the kitchen…

Just ask any old person, then decide how to fix it for good. It’s in your hands, always in your hands… — It’s been a while since I shed so many tears. It’s been a while since I was so incredibly impressed by a group of diverse teenagers. It’s been a while since I asked myself, “If not me, who?”. In this story I talked about an experiment that took place between…

Put your kids in charge of preparing and cooking their food. Trust them. Now stand back and watch them devour their creations — Let me just say, very young children are super-capable, once you show them the way. In this post, Michele Maize talks about foods she was forced to eat as a child, and that even today she has an aversion to. Michele asks who else had extreme dislikes of particular food. …

Poor directions, due to limited English skills, meant we got there by the skin of our teeth — Our daughter was around four or five years old when our neighbor’s eldest daughter Thao, was engaged to be married. Their youngest daughter, Yen, and our daughter, spent lots of time together both at school and home. Consequently it was deemed fitting that the two girls be flower girls. When…

The shops are about to close and you’re frantically searching, when a woman grabs your arm, and says… — “You need to calm down. Tell me what is wrong.” And suddenly I was blubbering my story to a perfect stranger, telling her that one minute I was in a store with my child, paying a bill, and suddenly she was nowhere to be seen. “Tell me about her. What…

The crash was scary. Will I be forgiven in the hereafter? — We were almost never left alone as children. But we were one time. My mother had ducked out for a bit, but the neighbors were looking out for us. It was wet outside…and we were kicking a ball in the backyard. It kept hitting the window. We realized we’d be…

I could easily have died…I would have, had… —

This, the gospel according to one who once… —

But when it comes to Grannies, they usually rise above criticism. First they must earn their stripes. — See the granny in the photo above? That is not the granny I have in mind when I think of my mother’s mother. The granny above is in awe of her charge, spending time with him, loving the moment. You can read so much into such photos. I wish I…

Stuart Grant is hiring. Eye-watering salary for the perfect candidate — I read this post today and it took me back a few years. Back to my teaching days when we teachers were forever complaining about our kids (our own kids), not being able to put things away after using them. But the one gripe we all seemed to have was…

It’s what she said. Should one explain, to avoid future embarrassment? — Last night we watched a series on ABC about older people in isolation, and suffering loneliness, being partnered with teenagers. The young people had to learn so many conventions of the fifties, including dancing, and sharing meals. The young were understandably hesitant, but enjoyed it in the end. On one…

Right now is the optimal time to kick-start it. — Years ago when we were children, in the month of May,( Our Lady’s month,) our parents decided to say the family rosary with us. Now five decades of the rosary are epic for kids, and there are fifty Hail Mary beads, plus the prayers in between, all of which mean…

And for us kids, sometimes too, too funny! But were we the cause of the sudden heart attack? — Holy Hour at St. Paul’s was always conducted on a Sunday afternoon. The church was open for just one hour on that special day, and the idea was to go there and pray. …

‘Tis the season to be jolly…and to sing your heart out, even at the embarrassment of your sister… — As Christmas draws near… In every Christian school the highlight of the Christmas celebrations, is the nativity play, in my school always performed by the kindergarten students. As you might expect, there are no auditions. Some years you get lucky and the children sing relatively tunefully, but many don’t, which is fine because it’s…

For one brief moment in time old Mrs. Archer’s spirits rose until she realized the question was aimed at her new neighbor… — The inspiration for this reflection came about yesterday as I was working in my garden. It was the anniversary of our moving to a new area. We have met a few neighbors, some at a house-warming party, the others just in walking past. One invited me in for a cuppa…

And now it’s time to party. Congrats if you birthed a boy all those years ago. — Yes, it’s that time of the year again where madness takes center stage. Students in year twelve if not getting ready to party, have only just partied. Which is great! Finishing high school is a veritable milestone in their lives. It should be celebrated. Facebook is already alive and thriving…

Why are we so blinkered about the issue? — I remember a lovely young girl I once taught. She was covered in psoriasis, her legs and arms a sea of red-scratched, bleeding skin. And with her friends she would hop off to the canteen at recess and lunch time to buy slushies which essentially were semi-frozen sticks of pure…

Open their hearts and minds. The answer to the problem will be there — Yesterday I read this moving story by Anne Bonfert. As a young woman she went to live and teach, voluntarily, in Ghana, a country that is rich in natural resources. “Timber, gold, diamonds, bauxite, manganese, and oil contribute to making Ghana among the wealthier nations in West Africa.” Still many…