The DHX: The Doughtie Houses Exchange

“Many families judge people like they are vetting a candidate for the Supreme Court. Every fault is magnified and scrutinized. There’s another way to do it — more like the way people are patted down on the way into a rock concert. As long as you’re not bringing in any handguns, knives, or alcohol, you’re [...]

Read Full Post »

By Jill Davis Doughtie
“Why Do I Love These People?” Understanding, Surviving and Creating Your Own Family by Po Bronson
Po Bronson interviewed and visited numerous families over a period of months, looking for information about how they made their family lives work. “In Why Do I Love These People?” he told the stories of nineteen [...]

Read Full Post »

By Jill Davis Doughtie
Aunt Pillowhead recommended a book on parenting teenagers in the comments over at Stepmother’s Milk recently. I just finished reading it and liked it very much. It’s available free online: Between Parent and Teenager by Dr. Haim G. Ginott.

Read Full Post »

Get Out of My Life, but first could you drive me and Cheryl to the mall? by Anthony E. Wolf
“You need confidence, and not confidence that you are making the right decision — nobody can do that — or that you are always in control of the kid — nobody can even come close to [...]

Read Full Post »

Teach Like Your Hair’s on Fire: The Methods and Madness Inside Room 56 by Rafe Esquith
While it’s true kids don’t choose their stepparents, it’s also true that they also don’t choose their fifth grade teachers. That doesn’t stop Rafe Esquith.
Rafe Esquith teaches in an inner city school where the kids have rough backgrounds and lots [...]

Read Full Post »

The 312 Best Things About Being a Stepmom
by Cynthia L. Copeland
This little book is whimsical, comforting and — surprisingly — full of bits of wisdom. It looks like it’s going to be a funny book, and it is, but it’s more substantial than it looks. There are sections for new stepmoms, custodial stepmoms, stepmoms to [...]

Read Full Post »

Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life by Marshall B. Rosenberg
“Over and over again, it has been my experience that, from the moment people begin talking about what they need rather than what’s wrong with one another, the possibility of finding ways to meet everybody’s needs is greatly increased.” — Marshall Rosenburg, Nonviolent Communication
Nonviolent Communication [...]

Read Full Post »

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
I think we have a tradition between houses of hinting about what we’d like for Christmas from each other. (I say “I think” because I’m not quite sure if it’s an official tradition, but, um, I follow it at least.) This year I asked Kathy for copies of a few [...]

Read Full Post »

That’s Not What I Meant! How Conversational Style Makes or Breaks Relationships by Deborah Tannen
“The more contact people have with each other, the more opportunities both have to do things in their own way and be misunderstood. The only way they know of to solve problems is to talk things out, but if different ways [...]

Read Full Post »

“Who knows how you should be? We simply do our best, over and over and over. In time, we lose all interest in our past.”
– Charlotte Joko Beck, Nothing Special: Living Zen

Read Full Post »