Kids crack me up! See if you agree.
A criminologist who has spent decades studying the lives of girls and women who end up in prison has some simple advice for parents trying to raise happy, healthy daughters: Listen.
"We need to listen to our daughters, not just talk to our daughters. That what girls tell us," said University of Hawaii professor Meda Chesney-Lind. "They want to be heard. Parents think they are talking with their daughters, when they’re really talking at their daughters." [from the opening 2 paragraphs in Friday's Star-Bulletin story by writer Christine Donnelly.]
My stepfather listened to me. Maybe that’s why I loved him so much. We traded stories: he and his brothers dumped a nest of mice (more…)
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What a great Labor Day weekend! How did you spend your time off? Did you do something fun? (That’s a good conversation starter, by the way, because it invites the sharing of personal information.) For the third year in a row, I volunteered at the Hawaii Writers Conference, (the weekend formerly known as the Maui Writers Conference). |
Ahhh! 4 days of bliss for everyone who loves writing, books and movies. That would be me and 700 of my dearest writer friends. (more…)
Five-year old Jake is learning to read. Yesterday he pointed at a picture in a zoo book and said, "Look at this! It’s a frickin’ elephant!"
His mom took a deep breath, then asked…."What did you call it?"
"It’s a frickin’ elephant! It says so on the picture!"
And so it does…
AFRICAN ELEPHANT
A dog said it better than I did in yesterday’s post. Yes, a dog. His name is Enzo, and he’s the narrator of the novel that kept me up last night, The Art of Racing in the Rain. He’s a lab mixed possibly with airedale, like my dog OOdles (pictured). 
Enzo’s a hero (unlike OOdles), but much too humble to think so. He aspires to be a human in his next life and is already working on the qualities he will need. In the art of listening, he’s ahead of us all. Here’s what Enzo writes:
I am tempted to call this post “The Invasion of the Conversation Snatcher.” It’s about a conversation that happened last Saturday: (more…)
Todd was furious. He slammed his fists on the counter. "&$%*! TAMMY! TAMMY! I asked you if the water was on and you said no. I drove all the way home so I could fix the #$%@* plumbing, and now the water’s ON! *&%$#!*!"
Tammy said, (more…)
