We're excited to be partnering with Client Creatives on a new contest and hope to uncover some amazing stories.  We want to hear from parents who have become business owners and how it has affected their families.  Hopefully, it has been a rewarding jouney, but we're quite sure there have been challenges and struggles.  It's a lot to juggle.  

Profiles and essays can be submitted to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .  One random winner will receive a marketing package worth $500!  We'll be selecting several business owners, based on their essays, to interview for our site and for voluntary participation in our next live, online event.  

Check out www.clientcreatives.com for more details and Good Luck!

Tuesday night marked the final interview in our first Summit Series for Families Event and it was a pleasure to interview Peg Tyre, author of The Trouble with Boys.  Her well-researched book has uncovered some startling statistics regarding how our sons are doing in school and the problems seem to start all the way back in preschool. 

The statistics are enough to worry any of us.  Boys get expelled from preschool at nearly five times the rate of girls.  In elementary school, they are diagnosed as having attention problems or learning disorders four times as much as girls and are twice as likely to get held back.  Boys lag behind girls in reading and writing and the gap is getting bigger as they move from elementary school through to high school.

While there are many reasons for this troubling trend, she points out some promising solutions as well. Her extensive interviews with parents and teachers and her observations in classrooms throughout the country have uncovered creative approaches to learning.  Some teachers are incorporating  periodic breaks throughout the day and allowing more room for movement within the classroom to help the younger boys adjust to longer school days and less recess.  Encouraging male volunteers, (including Policemen!) to come read to classes is helping counter the stereotype that reading is for girls.  She even had examples of afterschool clubs that combine sports and reading to engage boys more.

There’s a lot of work to be done and many solutions are not as easy as simply recruiting more male volunteers and understanding that boys move around more than girls.  But coming up with solutions starts with an understanding of the problem and The Trouble With Boys will help you understand just how big this problem is throughout our country. 

I’m pleased to provide a link to the interview here—don’t get scared off by the break halfway through, though.  The thunderstorms in Georgia were in full force Tuesday night and I lost power momentarily but was able to carry on moments later.  Enjoy!

If you’ve ever dreamed of slowing down, selling all your stuff and moving abroad, Maya Frost can tell you how to do it.  If the fact that you’ve got kids makes it seem like it might be a bad idea, she’ll give you some very convincing arguments why it’s not.  And if you’re the parent of a teenager and you’re interested in ideas that can help your student stay motivated and excited about learning, instead of bogged down in the stress and competition of SAT scores and AP classes, you need to read her book if you haven’t already. 

The new Global Student, Skip the SAT, Save Thousands on Tuition, and Get a Truly International Education is a valuable resource for anyone who is ready to take control of their own education.  Maya joined us last night (at 10:00 pm from Buenos Aires!) to discuss her book and her family’s experiences since they left their suburban home in 2005. 

Her book includes the stories of students from all across the country who have packed their bags, moved abroad and embraced new cultures and languages.  The self confidence, cultural awareness, flexibility and language skills gained from this “bold school” approach is what makes these kids stand out in a crowded job market.   Her book is not about traveling with a group of American students abroad for a single semester, to enjoy an international “party” but rather a practical alternative to the stress and limitations of going the traditional high school route.

The New Global Student encourages you to question the logic of your current path and provides creative options for finishing high school early, beginning your college classes ahead of time and skipping the SAT in the process. 

For more information on Maya Frost go to http://www.mayafrost.com/

Listen to the interview:

Last night’s event with Joanne Stern reinforced so many of the messages we’ve been hearing throughout our series.  Her book, Parenting Is A Contact Sport, offers practical advice for communicating and really connecting with your kids.  The examples she shares from her experiences in raising her two daughters proves that there are no perfect kids and no perfect parents, but that building strong bonds pays off when families face challenges that could otherwise pull them apart. 

Early in the book (pg 2) she challenges us to think about what our reaction would be to really shocking news from one of our kids and points out: “That’s when you’d either make it or break it with your children, because that’s when they’d learn whether you’re open and compassionate or judgmental and critical.  That’s when your kids would decide whether to trust you with their difficult stuff.”    

This reminded me so much of what I learned from our discussion a couple weeks back when we discussed So Sexy So Soon with Diane Levin.  As a parent of a seven year old, I haven’t been faced with the issue of drugs and alcohol or sexting yet, but I’m learning  that my reaction to the things that are important in her life now are already giving her signals as to how open I am to discussing things that might be uncomfortable.  In the end, we want our kids to choose to come to us when they’re confused, or curious or scared about the big things in their life.  The goal is to create a “safe” environment for your kids to talk to you about everything.  If we send the message that certain topics are off-limits, they’ll find someone else to talk to.

Teenagers are faced with a lot of choices and challenges as they navigate the internet, exposure to drugs and alcohol, peer pressure and media messages.  Parenting is a Contact Sport shows you how to build the type of bond with your teen that makes it safe for them to come to you for advice and support.  And, like Vanessa Van Petten warned a couple weeks ago in our series, if you resort to snooping to find out what’s going on in your teen’s life,  you’ve violated their trust and it takes a long time to rebuild that bond.  Dr. Stern’s book shows you how to build the type of relationship that makes snooping completely unnecessary.

Listen to the Interview