Not long after I became a first-time mom, I picked up some great advice: Say yes to your kids as much as possible. I don’t remember where it came from. But for the last 23 years, Greg and I have tried to follow that advice as much as possible. We even tell our kids that […]

It’s painful facing the parts of my life that aren’t working. More often than I care to admit, I’d rather avoid those parts. I know I’m not alone. Most of us want to avoid the pain that we feel when we face the broken spaces. One of the best parts of my work is that […]

Yesterday, I listened to Dr. Marv Penner, marriage and family counselor, speak on Helping Hurting Kids. Penner suggested that one of the primary tasks of adolescence is identity formation. Penner says kids are asking themselves “who am I?” and looking for an answer. One particular part of Penner’s talk struck me. He described that before […]

Tomorrow morning everyone in the Rittler house will be up early. Two of the four Rittler kids, Riley and Seth, will do the annual first day of school ritual. After a full summer, it’s time to get back to the routine. A part of me dreads this time of year. I can remember the pit […]

Rumination is a tennis match between discomforting and comforting thoughts. When we hit a discomforting thought over the net we return the ball with a comforting thought. The volley keeps on going. When we are stuck in a rumination, we think we can reason our way out of it, as if we will be able […]