July 1, 2006

School Policy

by Beverly Tjerngren

The phrase "truth or consequences" always seems a bit off to me. In my experience, telling the truth is much more likely to garner consequences than to avoid them. In fact, isn't trying to get out of some consequence or other the reason people usually tell lies? It would make more sense, then, to talk about "truth AND consequences," wouldn't it? Read more.

Pariah

by Tiffany Fitch

I know I'm not the perfect mom, as much as I might long to be. I swear sometimes, in front of my children. I fuss more than I should. I've made my children eat lunch at school when they were serving lasagne, and I've failed to follow through on a promise. But never in a million years did I imagine I would be the mom peering down the street, at the other moms, through the azalea bushes. Read more.

Enter the Wolf

by Carrie Pålsson

We've all heard the story of the boy who cried wolf. My grandmother was especially fond of telling it right before bedtime on the Friday nights I spent at her house, her eyes wide with an almost fanatic need to instill honesty in me, her meekest grandchild.  Read more.

If Truth Be Told

by Abha Iyengar

I think children find their own truths. Those that work for them.

For example, my daughter will tell me she is dog-tired. She has had a tough day at her summer job, survived on just a cup of milk for breakfast and coffee for lunch, and does not have energy left to fill the water bottles to place in the fridge. In other words, Could I please fill them for her? is the unspoken question. Read more.

Setting Their Own Terms

by Beverly Tjerngren

I love the Dixie Chicks. I was a devoted fan from the first time I heard their breakthrough single, "I Can Love You Better" way back in the fall of 1997. I bought their Wide Open Spaces album as soon as it hit the stores, and my baby daughter and I spent more hours than I can count singing and dancing to all the great songs, swaying slowly to the ballads and full-on shaking our moneymakers to the upbeat numbers. It's one of those CDs I never get tired of--I had it in my player as recently as yesterday. Read more.