I stumbled across a frightening little list this morning. It’s a list of the only four countries in the world that don’t offer guaranteed paid maternity leave for mothers (based on a Harvard/McGill University study of 173 countries). You might expect to see Liberia, Papua New Guinea, and Swaziland on the list. But…the United States? […]
Family
Put Your Kids to Work. They’ll Be Glad You Did
I recently read a sweet little book called Growing Up Country, by Carol Bodensteiner. She describes her childhood growing up on a dairy farm in Iowa. What struck me most about her account is how much she enjoyed being challenged with work on the farm. At each age, she “graduated” to harder and harder chores, […]
Top 10 Things I Want For Mother’s Day
This time of year feels so busy, so rushed, so filled with everything happening at once, both indoors and out, at home, school, work and play. Thank goodness for Mother’s Day right in the middle of it all. I might just get a chance to take a break. Who knows how the day will actually […]
10 Easy Ways to Talk with Your Daughter about Sex
I have three girls—one who is grown, one who is just going through puberty, and one who is almost 3—and I am a firm believer in talking about sex. My husband and I both came from families where that didn’t happen well…OK, at all. And we were left to our own devices, which is NEVER a good thing when you are a kid. I never want my girls to feel as ignorant and underprepared as I was. Because whether we like it or not, our daughters turn into young women with sexual feelings, and if we love them, we want their experiences to be positive, love-filled ones. Ignorance makes it easier for young girls to be taken advantage of. And these days, unprepared sex can lead to all sorts of diseases and death, in addition to lifelong trauma. And while a vaccine like the HPV shot makes it seem like our girls are safe, not only are there risks associated with the vaccine, it only covers one small aspect of their sexual safety.
Why I Do It
By the time you read this, they will be on their way home: 8 in-laws for the weekend, dinner for 12 on Friday night, lunch for 18 on Saturday, and Easter lunch for 26 on Sunday. It all takes weeks of preparation, none of which my husband quite understands. Massive lists and multiple trips to […]
Top 10 Tips for Getting Along with Family During Holidays
This week brings Passover and Easter, so a lot of folks are going to get together with family, whether they like it or not. I’m not a therapist, but as a member of a functional family business and a wife about to host her 9 in-laws for the weekend, for about the 12th time, I […]
The Top 10 Most Important Things for Healthy Babies
My friend Danielle is just about to have her second child. The other day she asked me for my advice on what baby products to use, and not to use, because it seems like every year something changes and there are new recommendations. Since my youngest will turn 3 this summer, it’s all still fresh […]
The Power of Being Connected
I was sitting in the hospital with my mother, who has just suffered a “cardiac event” which is not quite an acute heart attack, but not a celebratory situation either. Thank God for Blackberries in hospitals. You can communicate with lots of people easily, and feel connected—even as you sit in a darkened room late […]
Scratch
Raised on America’s first organic farm, Scratch author Maria Rodale learned how to make everyday favorites from, yes, scratch — the way you remember them; the way they turn out best.
Order NowOrganic Manifesto
Drawing on findings from leading health researchers as well as conversations with both chemical and organic farmers from coast to coast, Maria Rodale irrefutably outlines the unacceptably high cost of chemical farming on our health and our environment.
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