At one time in our family’s endless journey towards normalcy, I had five or so kids on behavior contracts at school. Teachers willingly checked off some simple accomplishments like: 1) homework turned in, 2) not disruptive today in class, 3) had school supplies etc.

It served to keep the kids accountable and to help me see what needed to be worked on here at home. Nowadays we have Power School which I love. Within a few quick... more

One of the biggest battles in our home involves consequences. A local teacher in our area, lowered a kid’s grade for sleeping in class, a consequence I’d certainly approve of, but the teacher was not backed by the principal, a conflict ensued, a law was enacted and the teacher changed schools.

I spent 25 years in the public school system and learned about many, many parents who would back up their chronically misbehaving... more

"Parenting is an ugly job, and you find yourself faced with this, and if you don't do something, somebody else is going to," he said. "Rage and conflict don't just disappear."

This distressing article doesn’t really give any answers as there may possibly be none.

However the bottom line is that there are a great many juveniles who need psychiatric help.

This is universal, not an adoption problem in this article, but it strikes a chord in my world.

My family has impulse problems and poor... more

If you think you have seen it all like I have in dealing with mean little toddlers. We haven't seen anything yet.

I met my match today. I am usually calm, cool and collected, a bit silly, I use humor a lot like ice cream. You would think ice cream is the heal all cure all at our house. Today was a mint chocolate chip day. giggle.

I went over to drop off my daughter Angela to sit with her sister and play with the kids. While dad and I had some adult time. We on a trip to see our nephew and had six hours to our own selves.

Before I got into the... more

“The mother brought the three boys to the Loganville police station. The boys were crying as they confessed, police said.”

These three young boys, ages 7, 9 and 11, broke into a business, stole some items, including a fire accelerant, and set a fire that burned four homes…sort of accidentally.

I am very big on accountability and personal responsibility. Very big, I am annoyingly pro-law, I respect authority and doing the right thing. I have boys this... more

Now I just know that every mom and dad out there have either birthed one, adopted one, been one or met one of these "Hard Headed Kids" I'm going to being talking about.

Almost every family has one of them hiding in the closet of lineage or history some where. You know the one that you hope does not show up for the parties or holidays. But they always seem to make it even at the last minute.

After a few minutes of them telling you their view points on life you know it is better to walk away than to debate them. Because they know everything there... more

Here we sit in our nice quiet home. Our youngest daughter occupy herself so much so that we hardly know she is here. That is unless she gets bored and wants mommy and daddy time.

I had been thinking about fostering children again but had not really discussed it with my husband. Today as we were driving over to my daughters house he said "Honey we just might want to put a new coat of paint on the up stairs bedrooms and fix them up again and maybe foster care." I just about lost a heart beat. He and I have always had this connection.

It is like he... more

Some mamas are clearly afraid of their children; they simply do not know how to stand up for what is right.

I am not my children’s friend, I’m their mama. I will not back down from issues and they will not cow me by their negative responses. My teenagers did not grow up under my guidance. They grew up, needs unmet by adults, either in foster care or still in their birth families with an obvious lack of supervision.

They watched horrendously violent slasher movies. I will not allow that in my house, there’ll be no R rated movies... more

Recently as we were walking in the local Mall. I noticed this lady tugging at her two children. They were little tykes just about 3 or 4. She was hurting along and trying to keep the kids on pace.

I remembered those days when I had five or six kids of all ages scattered all around me and my daughter Angela in a stroller too. To say the least it is not fun.

We were relaxing and kicking back allowing our daughter and her friend to pick out a few things at the mall. This lady really caught my attention when she began pinching her daughter. I thought no way I just didn't see that woman pinch that little girl. But as soon as I noticed it...she did it again.

I pointed... more

Parenting is something that you learn. Once you have children your life takes on new meaning. What you say or do is being watched and often Memicked by the little ones around you.

This is why we need to learn how to correct our children without harming their self esteem or causing undue fear with in them.

As adults we learn to react to what happens around us. Many times our fear will come out in angry words or a loud scream. So learning to Act instead of React is a lesson we all could improve upon.

Knowing that our children have a... more