Bubble Wrap Your Kids

Bubble Wrap Your Kids, a parenting guide for the prevention of childhood trauma is now available at Amazon. Buy it here.

This book makes a great gift for new parents or growing or blended families. Advice is from birth through the teen years and fits with any parenting style; any parent with children at home will benefit from reading Bubble Wrap Your Kids. Amazon allows you to ship gift copies to additional addresses at no additional charge, so include any friend or family member who has kids in your shopping and help prevent a niece or nephew from harm!

Publishing a book is like birthing a baby. There's a lot of gestation that goes into the writing. There's resting and thinking and worrying and fussing over little details. There's joy and a feeling of accomplishment over achieving new stages. And then the labor of publishing itself, difficult and full of anticipation and eager waiting. And then, you have it in your hands, your work over months and months, produced, and ready to share with the world. And there's even a feeling of emptiness, of "Oh. What do I do next?" 

And what I will do next is a book on changing corporate culture: making your company one where employees are glad to go each day. After telling myself to take the rest of August off, I woke up the other morning with an outline in my head and had to start writing. If you have article or book suggestions or just want to include your input, email me.

I will update you when a Kindle edition of Bubble Wrap Your Kids is available, but it won't be for awhile.

Parenting Book

I've been hard at work on my second book! I've set myself a deadline of finishing and publishing by the end of the year, which seemed far away a couple of months ago, but time passes quickly, the older you get, it seems, and that deadline feels like it is fast approaching.

This book, unlike the self-help style of Mini-Missions, is a parenting book. Specifically, since I work with trauma, I hear a lot of things people have said happened to them, that could have been avoided. This book will be guidelines to parents of simple things they can do, and avoid doing, in order to keep their kids from being victims of trauma.

I have the cover photo and 2 completed chapters, out of 8, as well as the outline and topics for all the other chapters. It's a matter of doing the research and editing to put the rest together. I'm anticipating you will hold me accountable to my deadline by telling me you want to read it and asking about my progress.

If all goes as planned, this book will be available for Kindle and in print by the first of the year. Mini-Missions is available in both formats now, and qualifies for Prime 2-day free shipping.

Stay tuned for more information on another of my book projects, already in progress, called 5 Things. Off to the top right navigation column is a space where you can type in your email, and get my blog entries sent directly to you!

Have a Great Family Trip

Every family loves the idea of taking a bonding vacation together. But the logistics, a sour experience from the past, or witnessing meltdowns of kids around you may inhibit you from planning that dream vacation. Plan your trip with these simple tips and inspire others with your great fun!

Start small.
Maybe a trip to a theme park would be a lot of fun, but you've never even had your kids out in public for more than a few hours at a time. Start with a trip to the park for a couple of hours. Once they can tolerate that well, plan  a half day at the zoo. Move up to a full day of adventuring at 2 locations, and so forth. This will give you a threshold to know how much your kids can take at once. Maybe they need frequent breaks so they don't become overstimulated. Maybe crowds make them (or you) cranky. Once you have tested the waters a few times, you will know how deep the pool is and can dive in.

Consider the age of your children.
What would they enjoy? What will the whole family enjoy together - even if you have to split the time up between bigger kids and smaller kids. Who is able to ride thrill rides and who needs a lap to sit in? What are your child's fears? Do they run from people in costumes? Do they not like the dark or loud noises? Consider these factors to avoid consoling a crying or screaming child. After all, you want wonderful memories for all of you, including the parents feeling awake, alert, and happy! If you have children with a significant age gap, to where the older ones are more independent, consider allowing a friend to come along.

Plan around their schedule, whenever possible.
Children are frequently creatures of habit. Try to maintain their usual sleep and waking schedules. Plan around naps, even if it means you go back to the hotel for a couple of hours mid-day. Try to keep their foods similar to what they are used to (not too much sugar), and around the same times they normally eat. A hungry child may not tell you they need food, but will show you with tears or agitation. Consider the stamina of your child. Consider also what entertainment is available at your hotel. Is there a pool or a playground? Maybe your kids would like to enjoy the park for the first half of the day, have a nap and lunch at the hotel (kinder on the budget), and run around at the playground or wading pool in the later part of the day, and watch a movie by the pool at dark. Trying to pack everything in will run you all ragged and no one will enjoy that.

Bring help, if you need it.
There is no shame in asking for help. If you think that taking 3 children to Universal Studios will be too much for you and spouse alone, bring an adult friend to act as an extra set of eyes and hands. Do consider this a paid favor, and offer to pay for park entrance, if not the whole trip. (See answers to this kind of question and submit your own at Clear Etiquette.)

Plan ahead.
There are theme park maps available online and you can see what you might find fun or what you might skip. You can ask each child to pick 1 or 2 things they absolutely want to do and make sure to include those so they are part of the planning process and can look forward to their special featured item. Caution: do not use the removal of these items as punishment! This kind of bait-and-switch destroys trust. If you said you would go see a show, go and see it, no matter the child's behavior. After all, they've been planning this trip, too.