Month: August 2017

Hurricane Harvey: How We Can Help

Hurricane Harvey: How We Can Help

The rescue and assistance request posts are heartbreaking, and there are so, so many of them every day. I belong to a nationwide (international, actually) physician Facebook group over 60K members strong. When local emergency services were overwhelmed by the impossible number of calls, people 

Points Charts for Kids’ Behavior Issues: An Easy Method That’s Working for Us

Points Charts for Kids’ Behavior Issues: An Easy Method That’s Working for Us

We’ve been struggling with end-of-summer-unstructured-days-dysregulated kids (see previous post). A friend of mine, also a doc-mom of kids who fight with each other, shared the system that’s worked wonders for them: It’s a simple points system, with one, two, or three points awarded for acts 

I spent the entire day with my kids and didn’t yell/scream/spank/lose my mind

I spent the entire day with my kids and didn’t yell/scream/spank/lose my mind

I am so freaking proud of myself.   It’s the end of summer vacation. There’s no more camp, no routine. Sleep and wake schedules are wacky. These kids are kind of dysregulated.   And, Oh, they were terrible. They were at each other’s throats. There 

Steam Cleanin’ on a Saturday Night…

Steam Cleanin’ on a Saturday Night…

It’s a gorgeous summer Saturday night. The kids are asleep early. Hubby is away with the team, the team is playing, and the game is on. I fully intended to plop down on the couch, tune in to the live radio broadcast with the TV 

I’m at a loss here. 

I’m at a loss here. 

It’s August. I did have a few summery, lighthearted posts lined up.  But then we had serious threats of nuclear warfare with North Korea, and I made the mistake of reading this potentially useful article about how to survive after an atomic bomb detonates near 

Happiness is a warm rescue kitten… No, really, it is.

Happiness is a warm rescue kitten… No, really, it is.

Decades of research show that volunteer activity is significantly associated with multiple health benefits, both psychological (higher levels of happiness and self-esteem, lower levels of stress and depression) and physical (improved cognition, decreased mortality)*. What’s more, studies show that interacting with animals decreases blood pressure