For six and one half years there has been on going questions surrounding the death of a seven year old Michigan girl.

The mother, Donna Yost, has spent the last 288 days in jail while awaiting her trial, conviction and sentencing. Which occurred this past week.

The seven year old died from an overdose of prescription pain pills.

The question was how the child was able to get ahold of the pain pills and how did she come to take so many. Which eventually caused her death. The seven year old girl died in 1999.

The investigation led to the arrest and prosecution of her own mother. The theory of the prosecution is that the mother had the prescription pain killers... more

The day was so beautiful I could not resist taking my daughter Angela to the park to play. It was one of those springy almost summer days where the sun is hot and the breeze is cool.

It makes you yawn because the air is so fresh and the day seems so dreamy. A bunch of people were there with all sorts of kids playing.

Other moms were like me sitting on the park bench soaking up the sun and watching as the kids went from slides to swings and back again.

Listening as the kids played near me. I was about bowled over by the language this little 3 year old boy was using.

I... more

It was a lazy day just full of sunshine. Perfect for a walk to the park. My daughter and her friend decided to take Devin (my grandson) off to the park to play.

He just loved it at the park like any little person. He was off to play on the swing set and to bounce on the ducks and elephant springs. He loved the slide and time went quickly by them.

The sky began getting darker and the girls decided it was time to begin the walk home. Of course Devin was having way to much fun to even think about coming home. (giggle)

So he threw his first major temper tantrum on my daughter... more

One of the most valuable and fun times in life for parents and children alike are the wee ages of being a toddler.

You watch your little one absorbing life like a sponge. They are walking and seem to be touching everything. They learn by hands on experience. So this is a busy time for mommy and daddy.

Between ages two and three children learn traits they will carry with them throughout life. They learn what is good and what is bad. They are given their first boundaries. They are molded into little people as they learn to potty train and be polite in public.

At the same time they are sticking their fingers up their noses and swallowing anything in sight that they... more

We all know that restrictions and good parenting always follow age appropriate guidelines. We know that a toddler is not going to be able to handle a longer time out as well as a 7 year old can.

So parenting and setting goals the children can meet need to be in focus at all times when we are trying to teach positive behavior verses negative behavior.

We know that most toddlers get into mischief just because they are curious about their world. They want to see and touch and feel, as well as put everything in their mouth. So it is just as much our responsibility to keep the world safe around them as it is to train them what can and can not be touched.

It is always... more

Recently we have been challenged with a problem. My husband works very hard and he gets up at 4:30 each morning. His day goes well into the late evening hours. So we set a rule in our home that our children can not have telephone calls after 10:00 p.m.

For the last month my middle daughter has given out her phone number (our phone number) to a number of young men who are very disrespectful.

They have called our home at 2 a.m. and have used some very rude words with my husband. My husband usually remains cool, calm, and collected, whereas I answer the phone and find out it is no emergency and tend to dish out some of what they are giving me, right back to them.

This... more

Well with approximately six more weeks of school left for the 2005-2006 school year. We need to get our summer guidelines in place.

That means we need to review our summer safety rules and our house hold chore charts. We also need to re-establish our rules for curfew and boundaries to our children of various age ranges. All of this should be clearly posted some where in your home.

Posting all the rules and guidelines will help save time and energy when there is a dispute. It will also allow you to ask your child if he or she has read the chart and if they understand it or have any questions about it.

This year I added one more rule to our family guidelines.... more

It is often said that Children learn what they live. I am here to say loud and clear. Yes, they do. My friend teaches a kindergarten class along with a wonderful teacher named Ms. Kudra.

Ms. Kudra is about the best kindergarten teacher I have ever met. Both my middle daughter and my baby girl both had the privilege of having her for their teacher.

I believe she has since retired. But I hope my grandsons will have someone just as wonderful as she was.

The things that children say could shock the socks off most parents if the teacher would just repeat them to each parent.

April had just turned 5 and we did a crash course over the summer to teach her... more

In a world where yelling and using loud voices seems like the normal thing in most families, it sure is not aceptable discipline. When both the parent and the child are so upset that they cannot keep a normal voice control, it is better to agree to take a time out and return to the conversation at a later moment when both parties can talk calmly.

Yes, yelling is a way to express emotional anger. It can also lead to the escalation and onset of physical anger and abuse.

No one is above the breaking point. We are all human. Like it or not we can and will lose our cool from time to time.

One place that it is not an effective moment to lose control is when disciplining... more

Once again like in the case of The Missing Pencils that I wrote about, we see bad discipline down to the point of humiliating punishment.

Some people say children learn from this. I say children's spirits are destroyed by this. If you have children and there are other spouses involved, that are step parents to your children, you need to try to be the one who handles the discipline as well as the well being of your children.

No, I am not saying all step parents are bad or that they should not discipline a child if it is necessary. Discipline is needed in every area of a child's life to keep them safe. Teachers must make decisions of discipline, babysitters must also, so must... more