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Parenting
Catholic Digest gift guide: Mom’s day gifts that please and pamper
What are you buying your mom for Mother’s Day? If you’re looking for presents that will please and pamper her, then check out these eight elegant or useful gifts chosen especially for moms. Fran's Gray & Smoked Salt Caramels Fran's fair…
Let the little children come
“Hi, Jesus! I love you, too, Jesus! Mmm …” my oldest daughter blows Jesus a kiss as we drive past a Catholic church on the way to a play date. Normally, I initiate the ritual, but she does it on her own today. The motion is natural to her,…
What to expect from the babysitter
Q: What’s with babysitters these days? I have hired at least a half-dozen teenaged girls in the past two years, and the issues that have arisen have led me to conclude that it’s not worth the trouble for my husband and me to go out for an…
10 family Mass rules
This year it will be a quarter of a century since my wife and I brought our first child to Mass for the first time. Every Sunday Mass since, with the exception of a business trip, retreat or getaway here and there, we have knelt, stood, and…
What’s so bad about wanting to be rich?
Q. Whenever we ask our 13-year-old son what he wants to be when he grows up, he says, “All I want to be is rich.” Our son’s fixation on money and materialism bothers us. He never talks about how he’ll achieve his goal of wealth or what…
To teach a child to love
It had been a bacon-and-egg, aster-and-bluebells, children-hanging-on-every-limb kind of Sunday, five stars all around. By 3 p.m., I was comfortably buzzed on sunlight and motherhood, the grass looking a little greener than usual, my mood a…
Teachable Moments: When divorce affects parenting
Q. How do you suggest defending against the culture’s assault on childhood when it comes via an “inside job?” My soon-to-be-ex-wife previously saw and resisted it, but in recent years she has pretty much given into it rather than fight it.…
Prayer aware: Five ideas to help your children become more attentive at family prayer time
Many people ask me how I get my children to pay attention during family prayer time. They admit that their own children drift off during family prayers even after a minute or two. They wonder how they can encourage their own children…
Five ways to support a mom with young children in your parish
Every parish has a few families with young children. You may have seen the mom who is juggling a baby, the baby’s snacks, a restless preschooler, a diaper bag, and a few other things. Wherever the family goes, it looks like a mobile zoo…
The man on the train
A litany of children sticky with candy cane juice jammed the aisle of the Chicago Transit Authority holiday train, grasping for an early glimpse of Santa. Our entire suburban neighborhood, including my husband Sean and our two kids,…
