The Mom Tribe

As an author, I am often asked where I find my inspiration. Nearly everything comes from my surroundings. Anything you say or do may end up in my next story.
Here’s a perfect example: I was in Bradley Airport, on my way to visit The Cherub in D.C., when a child’s distressed voice made me pause. I followed a frightened little girl seeking her father, scanning the area for an officer in case she was truly lost. Instead what I saw was within the sound of the child’s voice, various women interrupted what they were doing to find out what was going on; a random group of strangers bound by a common concern—the safety of someone else’s kid. Our lives had intersected in space and time, and for an instant, we were one united tribe, a group of mothers who protect the young…The Mom Tribe.

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20 Minutes Can Change Your Life

It’s true. 20 Minutes can change your life…depending on how you fill those 20 minutes. Do you have 20 minutes to learn how to help the planet? Or 20 minutes to share with your family? How about 20 minutes to examine your life? Or to feel more empowered?

What if you could do all of those things in the same 20 minutes?

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10 Mistakes To Avoid In English

Having trouble with English? Of course you are. English is one convoluted confusing language, unlike the blissfully simplistic realm of Science. As a Wordsmith, and not as a Science cruncher, let me share 10 Mistakes To Avoid In English.

  1. Flammable, Inflammable, and Unflammable mean the same thing: Burnable. (Okay, Unflammable is not a real word, but if it was, it would mean Burnable.)
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Back to School

It’s Back To School Time!

The first hint that school is around the corner is the suddenly cool evenings in August. The second is the first orange leaves scattered among the trees. The third is the endless commercials for Back to School sales. I decided to celebrate the return to academia with my own way…

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My Lucky Day

112 degrees? That couldn’t be right. This is Connecticut!
But that’s what my car thermometer read as I eased my car over to the side of the curved road onto a random piece of pavement in the middle of the brush.
It was my lucky day! Lucky that I had not lost control of my car when the you-ran-over-something-big-and-metal sound assaulted my ears. Lucky there was pavement the perfect size for my car to sit on. Lucky this hadn’t happened when my mom was in the car with me. Lucky that I was in the shade. Lucky I had AAA. Lucky I had a really big water bottle.

(more…) “My Lucky Day”

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

I just got slashed by a talon while trying to rescue an animal. It just goes to show,

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished.

OK, yes, the talon belong to a turtle…Correction…A tortoise (I just looked up the difference between a turtle and a tortoise). But he was a really BIG TORTOISE, probably a foot in diameter. He was trying to cross the road, so I had to help him across so he wouldn’t get hit by a car, right? 

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Final Exams Prep

Final Exams Prep

It’s June! Everyone’s thoughts turn to summer vacation.

Hold on!

If you are a teenager, your thoughts need to turn towards Final Exams Prep…Again. You know that yucky feeling you get in the pit of your stomach at the mere mention of exams? I have a way to minimize it.

Get Organized!

Set Up A Study Schedule. Don’t wait for your school to hand out the exam schedule. The administration knows what it is already. Go get a copy!

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10 Prom Prep Tips for Parents

For over 20 years, Deborah Ann Davis informally surveyed her high school students on the topics of sex, drugs and alcohol. Regardless of the type of school environment, the results were mostly the same. Hardly anyone was actually having sex, but nearly everyone thought everybody else was doing it (except them).

The same is true about Sex On Prom Night. Hardly anyone does it, but no one believes that!

Not when Full Blown Adolescent Insecurity is pitted against Magical Prom Night Propaganda.

Prom is coming, ushered in by parental anxiety and teen confusion, and there’s nothing you can do to stop it. However, here are some tips on how to keep your teens safe on Prom Night.

  1. Have lots of conversations…all the time, not just before prom or graduation parties rear their ugly heads. Conversation should not be seasonal. If you are not talking to your kids, someone else is influencing them.
  2. With your teens, Take the Quiz, Sex Myths Believed by Inexperienced Teens. Have them PRIVATELY Take the Survey, Prom Night Sex, and come back at the end of the month to check the results.
  3. Discuss what an Ideal Prom Night would be like from start to finish. Having goals will help your teen with unexpected choices, and the expected choices.
  4. Have a Prom Plan. Lay down the rules, and define the consequences if they are not followed. This allows kids to play the parent card. (“My parents will take away the car until I graduate if I do that.”)
  5. Schedule hourly check-ins. Let them feel your presence throughout the night.
  6. Rent a Party Limo with some other parents. This insures no drunk driving, and no private time for a tryst at Lookout Point.
  7. Ask the school what precautions they are taking to insure safety. Many schools hold After Prom Parties in secret locations. A bus picks the kids up at the Prom, and takes them to an all-night activity, which is revealed once they are on the bus (Disneyland, the beach, all-night skating, Las Vegas Night in the Gym, etc.).
  8. Ensure appropriate supervision at all stages of the evening. You have to do your homework. Don’t assume it’s all covered. Verify it!
  9. Say NO to After Prom Parties that have insufficient supervision, or will be allowing alcohol. Talk to the parents hosting the party yourself. Don’t rely on your kid’s enthusiastic promotion.
  10. Hold your own After Prom Party with lots of supervision. Create a Scavenger Hunt. Play Capture the Flag. Rent Paintball. Have a Bonfire and Hotdog Roast. Hire a Band.

And remember to take a deep breath. This too shall pass.

Sex Myths Believed By Inexperienced Teens

Warning- This post does not handle this conversation delicately. It is frank and to the point.

As a teacher, I’ve heard it all (okay, maybe not all, but I’ve heard a lot). Students have soooo many misconceptions about their bodies, about how others see them, and about what is going on socially in their school. As a Biology Teacher, I get to debunk the Sex Myths Believed By Inexperienced Teens. The funny thing is the same misconceptions are repeated every year, no matter where I’m teaching. Take the Prom Night Sex survey, then take the Quiz below.

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