Thursday, October 29, 2009

Creative Anniversary Celebrations

What's the most creative way you have ever celebrated your anniversary?

Lets keep this PG please! :)

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Celebrating Our 20th!

Tomorrow my husband and I will celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary. Both of us consider it a huge deal since we both come from homes of divorce.

To celebrate, I surprised him this past weekend with a getaway to a friend's cabin. It was GREAT!!!! Saturday morning we actually slept in 'til 9:30 - something we haven't done in the 20 years we've been married. We spent the day not doing much of anything, but we did talk a lot about the people who have helped us get to where we are today in our marriage.

We have been very fortunate to be surrounded by a group of family and friends who have walked this road with us through job transitions, the birth of our child, brain surgery, family illness and exciting accomplishments. Some of these people have been with us from the day we walked down the aisle. Others have come along more recently, but ALL of them have held us accountable, encouraged us, laughed and cried with us, prayed with us and helped us to navigate this road.

There is no question that even the best of marriages can be challenging. My husband and I both agreed that trying to do marriage by yourself can be treacherous. While we have made some mistakes, we think we have been spared from making huge blunders by watching the examples of those who have been married significantly longer than us.

Who is walking along side your marriage?

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Conversations between parents and teens

Loved, loved, loved all the comments about talking to your teens about dating and healthy relationships.

October is Let's Talk month, a month set aside nationally to encourage parents to talk with their teens about issues such as sex and healthy dating relationships.

As a parent, if you have experienced the eye rolling, exasperated looks and statements like, "I already know all that!" you may be surprised to learn that the majority of teens DO want to talk with their parents about these issues. According to a new publication by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unwanted Pregnancy, teens say that parents most influence their decisions about relationships - more than friends, the media, other family members, or even their own boy or girlfriend.

If this is a conversation you are uncomfortable having with your teen, there is a great piece called Relationship Redux: Tips and Scripts for Talking to Your Kids about Relationships, published by the National Campaign that I think you will find very helpful.

Here are a few statistics you might find interesting:

One in five teens who have been in a serious relationship say they have been hit, slapped, or pushed by a partner; one in four girls say their boyfriend has tried to prevent them from spending time with friends or family; and one in four teen girls say they have been pressured to go further than they wanted.

One in five teens say they have electronically sent or posted online nude or semi-nude photos or videos of themselves.

Thirteen percent of same-age relationships among those aged 12-14 include sexual intercourse. If the partner is just two years older, that number doubles: 26 percent of the relationships include sex. If the partner is three or more years older, 33 percent of the relationships include sex.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Let's Talk

I'm just curious how many of you parents of teens have had a conversation with them about relationships and dating?

If you have had conversations like this, what do you think are the most important topics to cover?