By Kimberly Hicken Excitement I Didn’t Want: It was Martin Luther King Day, and my kids were home from school. My teenage son Jacob and his friends had taken over the living room playing video games. I think there were about six teenage boys in the house eating my food and yelling at the…
By Kimberly Hicken I had a co-worker once who could juggle. Every now and then, she would pull three or four balls out of her desk and start juggling. She rarely missed. I tried to have her teach me the skill, but I never caught on. Every time I tried, I felt like I…
By Kimberly Hicken The Background: I remember the situation like it happened yesterday. My front room was a disaster because my son and his friends had basically destroyed it the night before playing video games and eating snacks. I asked my son to clean it up. Like most teenage boys, he promised he would and…
By Kimberly Hicken When my son Jacob started rebelling against the rules, I was beside myself with worry. He was staying out late (or all night), hanging with the wrong group of friends, refusing to do his chores, smoking cigarettes, and I was pretty sure he was drinking also. I did everything I could…
By Kimberly Hicken I remember the day like it was yesterday. I was walking through the store with my two little boys, ages 4 and 2. I made the mistake of going down the candy aisle. My oldest grabbed a candy bar off the shelf and asked if he could have it. Of course,…
By Kimberly Hicken “Mom! You lost my shirt!” “Mom! Where are my favorite pants?” “Mom! Why didn’t you wash my shorts? I need them today!” “Mom, I don’t have any clean socks!” These used to be common statements around our house. With eight children, there was always a lot of laundry. It was a never-ending…
By Kimberly Hicken One of the most stressful days of my life occurred when my oldest daughter was almost 16 months old. It was one of those mornings when I was already running late. One of her older brothers couldn’t find his shoes, someone spilled milk on the kitchen floor, and my oldest son…
By Kimberly Hicken I remember when my oldest son went to school wearing sandals. I was horrified. I kept thinking the school would call at any moment to inform me that I was a horrible parent. You might be thinking that wearing sandals isn’t that big of a deal. Did I mention that it…
By Kimberly Hicken “Tyler, hurry up! You’re going to miss the bus! Jacob, get on your shoes! Holly, where’s the diaper bag? Jacob…What do you mean you can’t find any socks? Well, just wear your shoes without socks! We need to leave! I’m going to be late for work. Again.” Does this sound…
By Kimberly Hicken and May Anderson One of the most important communication skills I ever learned had nothing to do with giving advice or solving problems. It was learning how to let people know I was truly listening. When someone shares something difficult, our natural instinct is often to fix it. We offer suggestions, tell…