By Patrick and J.L. Hempfing Parents deal with stress in a variety of ways. Tennis is my stress outlet, along with eating ice cream and donuts. Obviously, playing tennis is a much healthier choice than comfort foods. Recently, my daughter Jessie came home excited to share a new stress-fighting activity she had heard about —…
By Sandy McDaniel As I’ve mentioned in prior columns, I am a super-fan of Mr. Fred Rogers. His message was about teaching children to feel their feelings and that it was acceptable to express feelings. I cringe when I hear a parent say, “You need to man-up!” Translation for that is to swallow your feelings…
The following information is provided by Wednesday’s Child, an organization that helps Idaho foster children find permanent homes. Raymond, 11, enjoys reading, playing basketball, drawing and painting. He loves country music and to be outside with his friends, playing games like Freeze Tag and Capture the Flag. This spirited boy describes himself as kind, smart…
By Luke Erickson It’s a new year! Here’s another article about setting and reaching your new year’s goals and resolutions! Just kidding, it’s totally not. In fact, it’s very much the opposite. I’m here to tell you that you should instead focus on failure. Yes, really. For starters, a typical parent will experience feelings of…
By Sarah Lyons As a mother of six children, I have found myself comparing one child to another many times. Even though I know their physical, emotional, and intellectual development will progress at a rate that is unique to each child and each will have their own strengths and weaknesses, when you are in the…
By Gaye Bunderson Laurie Bell always had a heart for horses. Even though she was raised in the Bench area of Boise and not on a farm, she wanted to own a horse and learn to ride it. The desire started early in her life. “As soon as I was saying Mommy and Daddy, I…
By Dennis Lopez It’s a crisp late fall Saturday afternoon in Boise’s Anne Morrison Park. Dozens of people play with dogs of all sizes; even more people take advantage of the warmish afternoon to play Frisbee or simply enjoy the sunshine. A caravan of high dollar SUVs cruises the parking lots looking for a parking…
By Chuck Carpenter Living in Alaska during the sixties was a lot of fun for my two brothers and me. We lived out of town a few miles, and the road to the house would be snowed in quite often. Lots of snow and wind would drift the road in so we would leave the…
The following information is provided by Wednesday’s Child, an organization that helps Idaho foster children find permanent homes. Jordan, 14, is the very definition of the word resilient. A talented young man who isn’t afraid to just be himself, Jordan has an outgoing and respectful personality that makes it easy to get to know him.…
By Daniel Bobinski The holidays are upon us. It’s that time of year when families and friends tend to gather to share meals and exchange gifts. And, in addition to bringing gifts to these gatherings, many of us also bring baggage. Let’s face it. The people we love the most can sometimes be the people…