healthy-expat-parent
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My dear boys, Usually, I try to take this time, this back-to-school rush, to offer some thoughts or wishes for the school year. It doesn't feel like there is a lot of logic to offer right now, so instead, I'd like to offer instead some compassion for the wonky time that's passed and gratitude for all three of your continued efforts. Since the end of February, our situation has been upside down. We…
You know what it feels like inside your mind, your stomach, your body when you are angry and you just explode with words and irritation and volume. You know what it is like to not see or hear anything but mad mad mad. Do you ever consider what that is like for the person at whom you are directing all of that mad? Listen, yelling can be therapeutic, and cathartic. But it can also be traumatic and…
There are still 1,000s of Foreign Service employees and family members impacted by the war with Iran. As a result of this ordered evacuation, we are going on month 5+ of families away from their homes, separated if the employed had to stay at post, pets stranded, away from school and friends … home and household effects left unattended. Here’s the thing, though : most of the rest of the world has…
An ongoing nutrition discussion/argument I have with my boys is about protein, especially if they need to supplement their diet with more and more protein. They want bigger muscles and to be more fit, they say, so of course they need protein-supplemented everything. I argue that if they eat a varied diet -- which they do -- there is no need for extra protein. It's not worth the cost, not worth the…
A few months ago, I recorded a series of podcasts with Hannah Engel-Rebitzer, an independent Educational Consultant, about the application process for university and considerations that parents might have. Primarily, this is applicable to Foreign Service kids, but honestly, any soon-to-apply student and parent could benefit from listening. We talk about money, what universities are looking for,…
I don't know about you, but I don't especially like to have difficult conversations. I mean, regardless of the intended conversation participant, no one WANTS to get into an argument. Humans are generally speaking community-engaging social creatures. We like to get along with people. The general mindset is to be WITH the general consensus, and not be contrary. That being said, sometimes one must…
We try and we try and still it does not stay close to us. Where does love go when it goes? It is a common question, contrived in its commonness yet savagely sincere, bellowing in the bosom of every brokenhearted lover, reverberating through the body of every civilization’s love songs and sonnets, radiating from cave drawings and dive bar graffiti. It is also a peculiar question, lexically and…
Happiness is not the same thing as walking around with a smile on your face. Happiness is not having stuff. Happiness is not about being in a particular place. or being a certain age. Or having a particular car. Or living in a specific house. Sure, all of those can happen when you are happy, but they are not equal to happiness. Happiness is less about what you have and more about how much you can…
Do not ask yourself "How will people see me if I try for this?" Do not second-guess yourself because you worry about over-stepping. You know you deserve this. So be bold.
Things come together and then they fall apart. Again, they come together and again fall apart. This is the nature of things, the natural ebb and flow of life, of being, of existing. Not just as a human, but as a part of nature and all things created to ebb and flow together. When things fall apart, this is a kind of testing and also a kind of healing. We think the point is to overcome a dilemma or…
