Children thrive on ritual. Just think back to your own childhood. Did you recite the same prayer every night before falling asleep? What about asking your mother to read the same book over and over again “just one more time”? … Continue reading →
My mother-in-law was a wise woman. Once, when my husband and his older brother were young children, they had a terrible argument. As a means of helping them resolve their differences, my mother-in-law made each of her two boys wash … Continue reading →
I watched our two granddaughters, almost 6 and almost 2. The oldest pulled up a chair to the stove and stirred a hot pan making gravy without help, while her mom worked with the other cooking. The least one sat … Continue reading →
“A teacher affects eternity.” ~ Henry Adams Almost always she wore a simple black dress, but the black only made her gentle, smiling face shine ever more brightly. A splash of white trimmed her hemline for, almost always, her slip … Continue reading →
I sat sunning myself on the park bench watching her almost-five-year-old self scoop and sift sand through her fingers while eyeing the boy across the sandbox digging holes with his long-handled shovel. She offered small talk but he’d have none of it … Continue reading →
As a young child of nine years old, I listened intently, wide-eyed with delight, as my father read the lilting verse from the musty, second-hand volume of The Oxford Book of English Verse. How his voice danced with the rhythm … Continue reading →