Blog

I developed an interest in human psychology and human behavior after taking Psych 101 in high school during the beta-testing period for dual enrollment.

I went off to college with the intention of getting my BA in Psychology and a minor in early childhood development. I nearly finished that degree, but my heart won out and I married my college sweetheart (no regrets) and his first job moved us away from my university my senior year.

When I made the decision a few years later to go back and...

Predictive text has immersed itself into our everyday world so pervasively and quietly that we almost didn't notice its appearance on almost all of our daily-use tech.

Our phones, tablets, and even computers are now finishing our sentences, suggesting words, and correcting our spelling automatically. We goof around with funny predictive text prompts, and while most of us have suffered the embarrassing autocorrect to something that is, at best, embarrassing and, at worst, offensive to the...

Your child hates reading, but is something more really going on? Plus a look into the brain centers involved.

Note: This is not medical information or advice. The conditions listed here and their symptoms are purely for educational purposes. The terms below are commonly used in schools and IEPs. They are not always the exact DSM labels but are widely recognized by educators, speech-language pathologists, and reading specialists. If you suspect your child might be demonstrating symptoms of...

Those of us who love to read know there's nothing quite like cozying up with a good seasonal book this time of year. Even if it means cranking the A/C down to 60 degrees because we live in the South.

I know many people, myself included, enjoy having a seasonally curated TBR list, and I think there's real value in doing this for our young readers too.

The seasonal changes are special. They remind us that while life can feel unpredictable, some things stay beautifully consistent. (Did your granny...

Somewhere around Mrs. Winestock’s third-grade English class, I became firmly convinced that starting a sentence with and or but would mean the end of life as I knew it. I imagined a giant red F scribbled across my paper, my promotion to fourth grade in jeopardy, and my future as a writer ruined.

Fast-forward to college years and journalism school, where I was at last liberated from my fear of the coordinating conjunction’s role in my inevitable downfall as a writer. I learned the truth, and I...

It's hard to get behind doing something hard when you don't know the why. Why do we need algebra...why do we need to repeat 2 years of general education before we can start focusing on our chosen degree… why do we have to wash the dishes before we put them in the dishwasher?

Whether it is reading or writing, kids are no different. They thrive when they want to do it and when the payoff outweighs the pain.

In the "olden days" aka the 1990's, children naturally wrote letters to grandparents,...

My husband grew up in a household where his mom and dad both were avid readers and his sisters were constantly challenging one another to cutthroat games of Scrabble. Only a few souls have the bragging rights of having beaten my mother-in-law. It's the stuff of family legend!

I had never played a game of Scrabble in my life until we were married, and it took me 10 years to learn the strategy well enough to finally beat my husband. It was a sweet victory for sure, and it hasn't happened since.

...

Being a “Book First” Family

One of the best decisions we made as young parents was to be a “book first” family, which simply means we read the book before we watch the movie.

We discovered early on that this had a number of benefits, and I believe this standard has heavily shaped our now young adult children in some pretty profound ways.

Imagination

When kids read first, their own mind's eye pictures the scene and the characters, and the sky is the limit in regard to their own imagination....

How a Hygge Lifestyle Can Encourage Reading

Hygge (hue-gah), the Danish lifestyle concept that emphasizes finding contentment and coziness in simple, everyday moments, has become a major trend on social media, and I am here for the hygge! As a burnt out, recovering Type A personality, hygge is my preferred speed.

But here's the thing about turning hygge into a curated aesthetic... it completely misses the point.

Real hygge isn't a TikTok aesthetic or Pinterest board compilation. It's not about...

As someone who loves reading biographies and autobiographies about interesting people throughout history, especially about my favorite writers, I love keeping a commonplace book where I record these inspiring quotes and can refer back to them.

I also keep a daily 2-line journal that has 5 years of space and a quote each day from Jane Austen. On days when I only have time to jot a quick sentence or two down, it's there for me by my bedside. And on days when I don't even have the energy for...

Your kids are watching you all the time. They are learning how to live, act, react, handle emotions, schedule their time, determine what's important to them by watching you. And they notice everything. Everything. They notice things about us that we don't even know we are doing and then they rat you out to the Sunday School teacher!

Researcher Sandra Cubillos (2023) found that when parents genuinely enjoy reading for themselves, whether that means curling up with a novel, flipping through a...

I shared in an earlier post about my family’s military experience and my role as a grief and trauma counselor. I cannot stress enough the potential power reading together has in helping children process difficult emotions (adults too).

Books teach empathy, courage, resilience and hope. When children see characters navigating fear, sadness, or loss, they begin to understand their own feelings in a safe and gentle way. Stories give language to feelings and experiences kids may not know how to...

How Good Reading Habits Help Kids Become Confident Writers

In this post, we’ll look at how reading and writing develop together and why strengthening both can help children grow as academically and socially.

Reading and writing are often taught as if they’re separate subjects. Reading focuses on understanding letter, sounds and words. Writing expresses those thoughts and ideas. But the two are closely connected. Reading provides children with the language and structure they need to write....

If you’re like most parents you want your child to feel confident and curious, prepared to handle what school and life may bring. One of the most lasting ways to support that growth is reading.

It’s easy to treat reading as another academic skill. But it does SO much more. Reading strengthens language, supports clear thinking, encourages empathy, and builds emotional awareness and can even lower cortisol levels.

The earlier it becomes part of a child’s routine, the more natural it feels....

My name is Laurie and today is my birthday. I am firmly now in my mid-forties and am currently watching the weeks of my youngest child's last semester in high school fly by...counting down to him leaving for college in August like a motherhood doomsday clock.

Life is about to look very different.

My anxiety for the next season of his life is very real, but so is my anxiety about the next season of mine with him gone. For a woman in this modern age, who did college and post-grad degrees but...