Author Archives: Suzita

Social Justice Parenting

  When our son Stephen was about to begin kindergarten, he worried about not knowing anyone in his new class. No one from his preschool was attending his school, and he assumed it would be hard to make friends. We … Continue reading

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8 Easy Ways to Prepare Kids for the Upcoming School Year

  The prospect of a nearly back-to-normal school year is the light at the end of a long, dark tunnel for most parents. What a relief to (hopefully) put remote school behind us. Why aren’t our kids as excited as … Continue reading

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Help Kids Move Past Pandemic Life by Offering More Choices

  My friend Sadie’s daughter Jade just finished 6th grade—her first year of middle school. Not great timing to start middle school during a pandemic, but such was life. Sadie said quarantine life was harder on her extroverted daughter than … Continue reading

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Time Over Money: A New Year’s Resolution Worth $2,200

What if you could make a New Year’s resolution this year that was equivalent to the happiness bump you’d get from a $2,200 raise—without changing any behaviors at all? Read on, my friend. One opportunity the coronavirus pandemic has offered … Continue reading

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Three Questions, Then Calm

Online School at Our House Annie: “My Spanish teacher insists on teaching class from her back deck! She thinks it’s so relaxing out there. Maybe for her it is. Yesterday her neighbor’s kids got in a fight in their yard … Continue reading

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Motivating Tweens and Teens

My daughter Annie’s orchestra class was a middle school highlight. Anyone with a middle schooler (or who’s been one), probably knows that highlights are hard to come by in that phase of life. Annie had only learned to play the … Continue reading

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Benefits of Saying “No” to Adolescents

“He’s wearing me down. Maybe he’ll go to law school someday and use those debating skills to make a living!” My mental musings after hearing our 12 year-old’s impassioned appeal for an iPad of his own. We’d just returned from … Continue reading

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When Your Child Won’t Practice

  When my friend Jessica’s son Alex was in elementary school, he loved soccer. Alex would spend hours in their backyard “shooting on goal,” only coming in when it was dark and he was spent. I envisioned his tired soul … Continue reading

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Happy to Announce My New Book!

  As many of you are aware, I’ve been working on a book project for the last few years based on this blog and much additional research. For those of you who’ve offered feedback and suggestions to my blog posts … Continue reading

Posted in Active Kids & Families, Education, Family Travel, Life Skills, Parenting, Teaching Social/Emotional Skills | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Escape Outdoors

I remember the day the I hit the wall. It was in the middle of a long summer of what we referred to as “Mom camp,” and at the peak of our two-playgrounds-a-day phase—one in the morning, another in the … Continue reading

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