Tag Archives: children

Under 1 Roof: 12 Kids, 2 Women, and 1 Very Patient Man

Posted on July 8, 2012 by russtowne

When I was in my early- to mid-teens a maternal aunt and her 7 children moved in with our family of 7 into a 4 bedroom/2 bathroom house. They were from the east coast and none of the kids from … Continue reading →

Posted in Abundance, Family "Fun", Parenting, True Stories I've Written | Tagged 12 kids, aunt, children, dad, man, mom, Mother, patient, roof, twelve kids, women, worked together | 5 Comments

Don’t Smile!

Posted on June 30, 2012 by russtowne

My Beloved and I found that one of the hardest things about disciplining our young children was staying serous when scolding them—especially when every instinct in our bodies and minds wanted to smile or burst out laughing. For example, call … Continue reading →

Posted in Discipline & Consequences, Family "Fun", Humor, Parenting, True Stories I've Written | Tagged cat, cat litter, child, children, consequence, discipline, kids, laughter, Mr. or Ms. Serious, Ms. Smiley Pants, parent, parents, pudding, smiles, spouse | 2 Comments

Divide and Conquer

Posted on June 29, 2012 by russtowne

Much of what My Beloved and I learned about parenting was taught to us by our children. For example, if they wanted something and the first parent they asked said “no”, they’d simply go to the other parent and ask … Continue reading →

Posted in Family "Fun", Parenting, True Stories I've Written | Tagged beloved, breakfast, child, children, closed ranks, consequences, conseuence, cupcakes, divide and conquer, kid, kids, learned, parent, parents, strategy, united, united front, weakest link | 4 Comments

Investing In My Relationships along the Way Or Paying For It BIG TIME Later

Posted on June 28, 2012 by russtowne

In my recent post, “Blowing the Dust Away” I used the phrase, “…investing time together” A reader commented in part, “I think investing in our valued relationships is a great way to put it.” (Thank you, Cathy!) That got me … Continue reading →

Posted in Choices, Friendship, Grandparenting & Grandkids, Growth/Learning, LIfe Lessons, Love, Observations, Parenting | Tagged attention, Caring, children, commitment, Family, focus, friends, great, Important, investing, Love, loving, Money, parenting, raising, Relationships, romantic | 4 Comments

The Choice

Posted on June 22, 2012 by russtowne

A dear friend of mine named Dave forwarded a story from Ed Bridges to me. It was fairly long, but a pargraph of it really was the gist of the message and stood out to me, so I wanted to … Continue reading →

Posted in Abundance, Choices, Gratitude, LIfe Lessons, Observations, Relationship Lessons Learned, Stories That Touched Me | Tagged children, choice, choices, Ed Bridges, Family, what I have, what I need, what I want, wife | 6 Comments

I Met My Wife While Playing Hide and Seek In the Dark

Posted on June 20, 2012 by russtowne

I met my wife while playing Hide and Seek in the dark. Perhaps I should explain… But first, some background… When I was a youngster all of our relatives lived out of state, so my family celebrated holidays with another … Continue reading →

Posted in Abundance, Family "Fun", Friendship, Gratitude, Growth/Learning, Humor, Parenting, True Stories I've Written | Tagged basketball, beloved wife, boys, children, coffee shop, dance, dress, flirt, flirty, Friend, friends, girls, gmes, hide and seek, high school, hoop, hoops, hot cocao, introverted, kids, lemonade, locker, onion rings, party, short dress, shy, Travell All | 17 Comments

Morning Reflections

Posted on May 24, 2012 by russtowne

There was a time many years ago when I woke up exhausted every week day, crawled out of bed at about 5:30am and faced a daunting and life-sucking 1 hour and 40 minute 1-way commute to work, doing a job … Continue reading →

Posted in Abundance, Courage, Creativity, Dogs & Other Wonderful Creatures, Education, Family "Fun", Friendship, Generosity, Gratitude, Growth/Learning, LIfe Lessons, Observations, Optimism, Random Thoughts, True Stories I've Written | Tagged blessed, Career, child, children, Chocolate Lab, commute, Dog, dream, dreams, Duke, Family, fern, ferns, friends, garden, grateful, gratitude, grove, home, house, job, kids, morning, morning reflections, profession, redwood, redwoods, support network, wife, window | 5 Comments

Terror and Kindness on Interstate 5

Posted on May 2, 2012 by russtowne

It was the middle of the night on one of those long and lonely stretches of Interstate 5 between distant small farming communities. My mom and her girlfriend were taking me and 4 of their other children to Disneyland. All … Continue reading →

Posted in Courage, Generosity, LIfe Lessons, Making the World a Better Place, Praise, True Stories I've Written | Tagged 18-wheeler, 18-wheelers, big beast, blaring, blaring horns, brains, bucking wildly, careened, Caring, children, dazed, Disneyland, eighteen-wheelers, eightenn-wheeler, end-over-end, facing the wrong way, families, Family, fast-motion, flat tires, flats, flipped, freeway, glaring lights, gyrating, headlights, headlights coming at us, help, horns, Interestate 5, kids, kind, kindness, mechanic, mom, Mother, mothers, never-ending, nightmare, on-coming lights, on-coming trucks, oncoming traffic, shockwave, shop, siblings, spinning, straddling both lanes, SUV, terror, Travel-All, trembling nerves, truck, trucker, trucks, wrong way on the freeway, zig-zag, zig-zagging | Leave a comment

Have I Ever Done That or Would I Do the Same?

Posted on May 2, 2012 by russtowne

“No man should judge unless he asks himself in absolute honesty whether in a similar situation he might not have done the same.” -Viktor Frankl, Holocaust survivor, author, neurologist and psychiatrist. (Seen in Wordsmith.org’s A.Word.A.Day by Anu Garg) I’d update … Continue reading →

Posted in Forgiveness, Generosity, Healing, LIfe Lessons, Making the World a Better Place, Parenting, Quotes I Love, Random Thoughts, Uncategorized | Tagged A.Word.A.Day, absolute honesty, Anger, Anu Garg, children, day they're having, drive, driving, empathy, forgive, good, good surprises, holocaust, Holocaust survivor, honesty, kids, Life, life they've led, mad, parent, parenting, self-empathy, traffic, Victor Frankl, wordsmith.org, wordsmith.org's | 1 Comment

How a Daunting Gauntlet Became a Fun Zone

Posted on May 2, 2012 by russtowne

Some years ago I was standing in a long, long line at a major theme park in southern California (yeah, the one with the ears). I was bored, hot, and tired. I stuck a hand in my pocket and noticed … Continue reading →