The Obligatory Thanksgiving Post
The Blonde (whom I alternately think of as “Love of my life” and “She who must be obeyed”) is a first grade teacher. I was a history major in college. (Sort of… it was a B.S. in Social Sciences & Secondary Education. I had aspirations of teaching high school history. But actually wanting to teach [...]
Help with Voice Mail
This could be my single most favorite page in all of blogdom: IVR Cheat Sheet to Find a Human
Whose Job Is It?
In an effort to provide a little more structure to my blogging life, Monday’s have been declared, “Secrets to a Successful Marriage”. Here is the latest offering: Sometimes being flexible doesn’t work. Try as hard as I might, the reality is there are a few things I really am concerned about. Shirts, for example. I [...]
Reporting Child Abuse
Another Mini-Rant: I read this article the other day – it’s been making the rounds across the internet – and I started thinking about the motorist in the story who reported child abuse. What follows is a ramble about some of my pet peeves regarding the reporting – and non-reporting – of suspected child abuse. [...]
How Many Divorces?
Warning! Mini-rant below. It doesn’t happen every week, but several times throughout the year I see a couple for marriage counseling who have been married before; many, many times before. “Is this a first marriage for both of you?” No, it’s her 7th and his 8th. Or, his 5th and her 6th. Think about that: [...]
Virtue for Virtue’s Sake
I saw a 15-year-old the other day who informed me virtue is NOT it’s own reward. Actually, that’s not quite how he phrased it. What he really said was, “Dude, I’ve been doing everything I’m supposed to do and nothing’s changed”. Nothing’s changed? His grades are better, he’s not spending half his day in the [...]
Making Apathy Work for You
Comments OffAnother secret to a successful marriage is a certain amount of apathy. Apathy usually gets a bad rap. One of the definitions of apathy is a lack of interest or concern. Apathy can be a key to a successful marriage if we stretch a point: You don’t need to be concerned about everything. Some people [...]
It’s not that you’re fat, but…
A male client came into see me last week and after a little small talk, he dove into the topic uppermost in his mind. “I’m concerned about my wife’s health.” My antenna went up; I try not to “fix” people. I absolutely avoid fixing people who aren’t even in the room. “She has a number [...]
How To Write Counseling Notes
I get many one time visitors to this blog because they did a search for “writing counseling notes”. So you don’t go away too disappointed, I’ll give you the benefit of over 25 years in the counseling profession and share how I write my summary notes. First, decide for whom you are writing. It’s not [...]
Father & Daughter Publish ADHD Book
Dr. Paul Levin, a child psychologist and his daughter – a third-grade teacher – Kathryn Brave, co-wrote a book about parenting attention deficit hyperactive disorder children: A Comprehensive Guide for Parenting the ADHD Child. It took the father-daughter team more than a year to write the book. According to an article at The Jeffersonian.com, daughter [...]
