We’re a family-vacation-loving bunch. My husband and I take multiple trips during the summer with our two sons, as I did with my family when I was growing up. We just spent ten days doing the camping thing in mid-July and are preparing for our annual multi-generational family vacation to Emerald Isle, North Carolina at the end of August. We look forward to these trips all year, so when I heard that summer vacation won’t make you happier, I tried my hardest not to laugh out loud. But I failed.  Read more

"What kids do need is unconditional support, love with no strings attached. That’s not just different from praise –- it’s the opposite of praise. "Good job!" is conditional. It means we’re offering attention and acknowledgment and approval for jumping through our hoops, for doing things that please us." -- Alfie Kohn  Read more

Protesters in Arizona and elsewhere have spent the day decrying SB1070, Arizona's controversial immigration control law, even though a judge's July 28 ruling barred the enforcement of the measure's most contentious provisions. The U.S. Department of Justice filed a motion for the temporary injunction July 6 as part of its lawsuit.  Read more

I think I might be auditioning for a reality show. Ok, let me clarify that. I think I might be auditioning for a reality show IF the powers that be decide that a mom from Utah with flaming red hair, lines the size of the Grand Canyon in her forehead from a lifetime of over-emoting, and a disturbing love for the words, "dude," "rad," "chortle" and "ad hominem" is interesting enough to nab an audition slot at BlogHer '10 in New York City next week.  Read more

Writing a resume is not a great deal of fun. There are the old ways of doing things, the new ways of doing things, and a dozen different "expert recommended" ways of doing things. In today's times it pays to have your resume stand out. After all, you usually need to rise to the top of a stack of hundreds of resumes. However, you don't want your resume to stand out in the ways that the ones I am about to share with you do. Don't make these best of the worst resume mistakes on yours.  Read more