Lisa Endlich's Blog, page 306

The Day I Realized My Kids Love My Over the Top Christmas Decorating

Do you decorate your house for the holidays?

I love decorating my home for the holidays. Well, only two holidays really–Halloween and Christmas. For the other I may pull out a rabbit, or flag or a shamrock, but otherwise I leave well enough alone.

But when it comes to decorating my house at Christmas I’m all in, in a National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, kind of way. It’s a lot of work and takes a lot of time, and I often find myself wondering if all the effort is worth it. I mean, I enjoy i...

The Christmas I Had To Open A Victoria’s Secret Box In Front Of My Kids

It’s that time of year when spouses far and wide search the far recesses of the interwebs to find the exact right gift to put under the tree.

The gift that says, “In the day-to-day trenches, it’s you I want by my side.”

The gift that says, “I heard what you said six months ago and I put it under the tree. See, I really listen!”

The gift that says, “I know you will marry me all over again because I didn’t make you go out and buy your present.”

Hubby and I have never been extravagant gift giver...

This is Why You Call Your Kids By Each Other’s Names

I have three sons and they are all convinced I don’t know their names. Sure I was there when those names were selected, truth be told I picked each of their names, but now these many years later I can look each of them right in the face and call them by each other’s names. Sometimes I even manage to call them by my brothers’ names. I had long assumed that it was age or distraction causing me to mix up five names of people who look nothing like each other. But there should have been a clue in...

Fortnite Addiction On The Rise And Parents Should Be Concerned

Utter the word “Fortnite” in the company of parents, and you are very likely to hear the word “addicted” come up, usually in a semi-joking way.

But, it turns out, the “addiction” claim with regards to Fortnite may carry some legitimate weight. The wildly popular video game is spurring addiction-like symptoms in an alarming number of players, many of them children and teenagers.

Fortnite is played live and if you stop playing, you lose.

First released by Epic Games Inc in September of 2017, Fo...

There Are Times When Your Teen May Be Bullied For Doing The Right Thing

I overheard my daughter talking to her friends one Friday night while we were hosting a sleepover. While I was climbing the stairs to go into her room to see what kind of pizza I should order for the night, I got a strange feeling as I overheard the conversation she was having with her friends.

Apparently, some of the girls (some of the very cool girls) in her class had made a list and they were passing it around English class.

As a mom of a teen, you quickly realize when your kids need some...

I Am A Recovering Gambling Addict And My Teens Don’t Know Yet

Deep in the recesses of my past, a bleak darkness hides. It is a source of shame, this black hole that devoured me and nearly dragged those I love down with me, whom I’m certain felt the substantial pull of My close friends and family know the depths that it took me, how far into the abyss it dragged me down. They also know the will and fortitude it took to make my way out from under crushing weight of its control.

Nearly everyone I love knows. All except my teens. They don’t have the faintes...

Please Post Your Kid’s College Acceptance To Social Media

Your kid just got into college. Yay them and yay you. You want to shout it from the mountaintop (as in post it on Facebook) but you hesitate because you know that there are others who have been rejected or who haven’t yet heard. And, we have long been chided against being braggadocios. You don’t want to hurt anyone, and you don’t want to be a braggart, but you want people to know, and you would love to give your kid, and if you’re honest, yourself, this moment in the limelight.

We recently pu...

New Survey Says “Boys Will Be Boys” And That Needs To Change

For decades now we have, at the very least, been paying lip service to the notion that our girls need to be empowered to shatter the glass ceiling. At least part of that message seems to be getting through. But as they say, the more things change, the more they stay the same. An article recently published in The New York Times, Many Ways to Be a Girl, but One Way to Be a Boy: The New Gender Rules, examined the results of a survey done by Plan International called The State of Gender Equality...

Four Reasons Why All I Want For The Holidays is a Sock Monkey

What came out of my mouth was, “A homemade sock monkey.” When my teenagers asked me what I wanted for the holidays, that’s what I said.  I could surely use a Roomba, a vacation, new PJs, or a massage. But really, all I want is a sock monkey. But a cute one, not a brown and red one – not that there’s anything wrong with that. Just a simple sock monkey. Made. By. Them.

Here are four reasons why I want Curious George’s cousin as a gift – it’s really more for them than for me, but shhh…don’t tell...

Seasonal Affective Disorder Is A Common Concern for College Kids, Experts Say

As the days shorten and the temperature cools, limiting warmth and sunlight, Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is an ailment that affects many this time of year. A more intense and disruptive variety of “winter blues,” SAD is a “subset of a depressive disorder,” according to Jordan D. Barnard, licensed psychologist at the Pennsylvania State University Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS).

SAD acts like depression in that the shift in mood caused by darker, colder days negatively impac...