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It’s amazing, isn’t it, that just when you’re ready to throw in the towel with parental responsibility, your child lands a zinger, and all you want to do is cradle them in your arms. How is it they know just when to “ stop us in our tracks ”? One minute they are truly on the verge of being “ grounded ” for eternity, and then all of a sudden, perform with incredible brilliance and/or insight. " Who are you " and " where the hell have you been ?” is all I can wonder at those moments. How is it that such brilliance and maturity can be demonstrated when all we really want is an excuse to confirm the punishment that we had just, or was about to, administer? Are they that smart? Do they even know what they just did? Could it be that they finally acknowledged our exhaustive efforts of ‘parenting’? Not for a second ….. I know it’s a rhetorical question, but don’t you ever wonder just who’s parenting who. There are days when I question everything I do, and then there are m...

Honestly, who among us has never crafted a resolution, whether it’s on paper or in your head, whether it's a laundry list of to-do’s or a generic wish for something new? The New Year is like a new dealer. No one cares how you played your previous hands. The bad decisions, the wasted time , the careless purchases are all things of the past. For me, January 1 offers not only a new calendar, but a clean slate . And, can’t we all benefit from a clean slate ? Remember the good ole days when our resolutions were all about ME, contemplated with renewed energy? You know, the ones that kicked us in the butt , that revitalized our existence , that exorcised our demons ( at least for the first week of the New Year) . When I look back on my BC (before children) resolutions, I want to slap myself silly. Those resolutions were baby food compared to the steak and potato /em> ones I intend to invoke in 2011. Sure, I can renew the consistent >top 10 ones, like lose weight , whic...