Because I am currently parenting four teenagers this article on binge eating caught my eye. So far, only our older adopted and foster daughters have struggled with binge eating. Like many adoptive parents, we are willing to try anything at least once to help our traumatized children adjust to a normal life. This is an internet program that requires just a half an hour on line each week for 16 weeks. Because teenagers usually enjoy being on the internet anyway, it shouldn’t be too difficult to talk your teenager into taking a look at this program. California researchers... more

Super Dad and I received a gift certificate for $60.00 at Christmas to a local family type restaurant. This restaurant is advertised as family friendly, casual, and affordable. We thought it would be enough to take the whole family out to eat on a ¨kids eat free¨ day. We went today, because kids eat free there on Tuesdays and we had both worked all day. It was crowded when we arrived and several families were waiting to be seated. We were told that we would need to wait about 20 minutes for a table.

When we were seated, our server greeted us and took our drink... more

First, allow me to admit that I was stupid to take three children with me powering shop for Christmas presents. I was suffering from the “I feel guilty for not spending enough time with my children because I worked today,” syndrome. I know that this syndrome plagues many working parents. I had it especially bad when I used to work full time outside the home. There I was at Meijer with two full shopping carts and three children in tow.

The first three hours went pretty well, but then we became thirsty. We bought drinks from the snack shop located within the store and... more

Tonight we took seven of our children out to dinner, we also invited our 18-year-old son who still lives at home, but he had his own plans of course. It is certainly important to teach your adopted children how to eat in a public place. However, the first several training opportunities can be a little embarrassing for adoptive parents of older children who are not yet familiar with dining out. Those little social subtleties that children we raised from infancy just seem to know without actually being taught are completely missing in the older adopted children.

Therefore... more