My husband and I don’t collect many things, but our house is full of books. I love to read fiction, but I tend to collect more practical books, ones that I’ll look at hundreds of times – almanacs, reference books, plant-identification guides, cookbooks, and how-to guides. My husband’s into the decidedly unpractical – first edition…
From 2002 to 2005, UCLA researchers videotaped 32 dual-income, multiple-child, middle-class American families for a week. They also noted the family members’ locations in the house and measured their stress levels with routine saliva tests. The research team, which represented a range of disciplines, spent the next five years pouring over the resulting 1,540 hours…
I’ve been stirring things up on Shareable.net for the last few days talking about Alfie Kohn’s book No Contest: The Case Against Competition and some of his ideas for raising more cooperative, less competitive kids. My post begins: In 2008, an interviewer admitted to Alfie Kohn that she considers herself a competitive person. “As long…
Last week my son and I spent a couple of nice, leisurely days at the Oregon Coast with my mom and sister, who were visiting from out of town. I’m always amazing by how recharging even a short time away from work, emails, phone calls, and social networking can be. In the last few months,…
It’s been raining for two days. Then this afternoon, the sun came out. I grabbed my camera and raced for the door. But just as I got outside, the wind kicked up, the sky turned black, and rain began pelting down. This exact chain of events happened three times today, which may tell you a…
It’s been an unexpectedly busy week around here. That means I haven’t had much time for blogging … but we did find some time to escape to a peaceful spot next to a stream this afternoon. It’s in our neighborhood, just a few blocks from our house. But something about the sound of the water…