Family Resources Archive

Pearls of wisdom

  • Flunking Kindergarten

    Not too long ago I had a parent-teacher meeting with my daughter’s kindergarten teacher. She recommended that my child re-do kindergarten instead of advancing to first grade...

  • Decision Paralysis

    I spotted my 10-year-old daughter curled up on the couch looking distraught. Just hours earlier she had been bouncing around the house, all excited about her big brother...

  • But I Don’t Want to Wait!

    Gaining insight into our decision-making processes and knowing how to adapt gives us a sense of empowerment which is critical when temptation presents itself and we find ourselves...

Decision-Making in Everyday Life

  • The value of understanding what you value

    My wife and I are out to dinner with another couple at a favorite restaurant. After sitting down, we ordered a round of drinks, began scanning the menu, and asked the ladies to pick the wine...

  • Ranking Our Values to Decide

    Marquitta was born with a physical condition that required her to use a wheelchair and rely on personal aids each morning and evening. Independent and strong, she went away to college...

  • Deciding what to study, deciding who we are

    My daughter was finishing medical school after graduating from West Point and needed to decide on the specialty she was going to apply for...

  • A View From The Balcony and Measuring Regret

    Javier’s two daughters each faced critical decisions early in their careers. These are their two stories…

  • A Father Faces the Unthinkable

    Steve’s daughter was born with a rare blood disorder, which the family managed with medications for the first eight years of her life. Then doctors said the words no parent ever wants to hear...

Teaching Our Children

  • Which gift to open?

    My 7-year-old was given the opportunity to open one gift from his Grandparents a week before Christmas. Eyes enormous, he looked from me to the tree. “Which one should I choose?”

  • What kind of house should we buy?

    My husband and I have been talking about buying a new home. One night, at dinner, we pulled the kids into the process by asking each what was important to them in this big decision.

  • To test or not to test?

    During the pandemic, one of my pre-teen daughters got sick while a series of illnesses, including COVID, were all going through her school. We went to our family doctor, who thought she either had a respiratory virus or COVID. What were the actions we would need to take for each?

  • Teaching students to state and update their thinking

    At the heart of good decision-making, integral to it, is judgment. Judgment is the capacity and process to make sense of the world and discern what is true, how the world works, and what to believe about it.

  • Should I continue to wear my mask at school?

    When masks became optional for my second-grade son, I decided to talk over the options with him.

  • 8 ways to build a child’s decision-making skills

    A good decision doesn't mean a clear-cut right answer. It means making the best choice out of a set of options with unknown outcomes.