Caffeine And Your Teen ... blog by Shelley Carppe

I'm not a coffee addict, or a coffee snob. Apart from my habitual "first thing in the morning" instant coffee (delivered to my bedside table each day by my much better half, in order to avoid the above scenario), I can easily swap it out for a herbal tea, water, (or wine!) as my mood dictates. But what about our teens? How much is too much - can we risk the gremlin syndrome by denying them their coffee, in the interests of their health?

One Lie You'll Get Over, Rover!! ... blog by Shelley Carppe

Kids will promise you many things to get you to agree to having a dog. At least one of them is a lie. It's about the poop. They'll tell you they'll clean up the poop. Nay, they will PROMISE they'll pick up the poop. They won't.At least none of mine did. Not without frequent reminders, (read: cajoling, bribery, and threats), and sometimes not even then. Unless I wanted my backyard to be a poop minefield, it usually fell on me to clean it up.

That Boy Is A Lazy, Good-For-Nothing Dropout ... blog by Shelley Carppe

He didn't even start to talk till he was 4. His teachers say he's lazy and won't make anything of himself.He's a social misfit, who failed his music class.He was dropped from his high school basketball team.He has dyslexia, and drops out of high school.After dropping out of high school (at 14), he joins a gang, and spends time in prison....

3-2-1 JUMP! I'll Never Bungy Again ... blog by Shelley Carppe

My toes are curled around the edge of a cantilevered platform, 47m above the Waikato River. Around my ankles, a rubber band is tied. The staff are gently encouraging me to jump - they tell me they've had no major incidents, and never lost a client ..... yet.

Life Is A Highway ... blog by Shelley Carppe

Yesterday, the car that all of our girls learnt to drive in drove out of our driveway for the last time.
It's found a new home, with a new learner driver, and my wish is that they have as much fun, as many adventures, and even more crazy sing-alongs in her than my girls did.

What I didn't expect was to feel so ...... 

Without A Shout! ... blog by Shelley Carppe

"My kids never seem to listen unless I'm shouting - and then they look at me like I'm crazy and ask me why I'm yelling!"

A mother told me this week that she's turned into a "Shouting Mum" - and hates herself for it.

I think most of us carry some guilt over this, - we don't wake up in the morning thinking ...