Thanksgiving Break: Put This on Top of Your To-Do List

Thanksgiving break: two words that make most parents sit up and look alert for the first time in months. A long weekend (or if you’re lucky, a full week) for your heart to once again feel whole. A moment—or twenty—to grab your baby girl or boy and give them the never-ending hug you’ve been feeling and planning in your mind since you dropped them off, all those giant red X-ed calendar squares ago.

You see, this isn’t my first time to this rodeo. My daughter is a sophomore. I’ve lived the whol...