(question edited for clarity) Hi! I have to ask a parenting question. With our oldest, after reading a few of your blogs, we did time-outs. The "two’s" were a breeze! However, he (and now our second child who is almost 3), went through a challenging stage at age...
Being Open to Life Is Being Open to a Person
More from the Catholic All Year mailbag today . . . Question: Dear Kendra, I have followed you for over a year now and it has been wonderful adding more liturgical traditions to our year! I'm pregnant and it's a big shock. We have always been generally open to life,...
How to Encourage Your Kids to Get Tattoos (based on my personal experience)
Hey, it's been a while since we took a peek in the mailbag around here . . . let's see what we've got. QUESTION Hi Kendra, Thank you for all that you do. I enjoy reading your blog. The articles are thoughtfully written and also very helpful. If you are able, I would...
Kids & Tech: What We Do and Why We Mostly Don’t
I’ve received many reader questions on this topic over the years, and just discussed them again this week in a Q&A session after an online talk I gave to a parent group, so I figured it would be a good time to go ahead and get it in a post. Updates on The...
Family Movie Nights, Are They Even Possible? . . . Our Favorite Movies (Mostly) Appropriate for All Ages
Just a reminder: The August Prayer Booklet is available in the blog shop as a print at home PDF, and on Amazon as a paperback booklet. The first devotion for the month is Our Lady, Queen of Angels and the very cool associated Portiuncula Indulgence of St. Francis of...
What to Do When They Won’t Stay in Bed
It's been an AGE since we dug something out of the old mailbag. Let's take a peek, shall we? The Question: Hello Kendra, I know you are very busy but I have a few questions from something on your blog. You said the kids can’t get out of bed during nap, how do you...
Do Catholics Need the Elf on the Shelf?
I had every intention of not wading into the Elf on the Shelf debate, because it's really not a matter of faith and morals, and is therefore something about which good Catholics are free to make their own choices, and follow their own consciences, and disagree. But...
Don't We Have This Modesty Thing Backwards?
I tend to get mailbag questions in bunches. All of a sudden, I'll get a flurry of questions on similar topics. Maybe it's facebook? Maybe it's some sort of hive mind phenomena? But there you have it. It's a thing. The most recent wave was on kids and modesty. And the...
Where Do Pets Go When They Die?
Mailbag time! The Question: Hello, my name is Mollie and I am a big fan of your blog. I lost my pet of 17 years this weekend and I am struggling with the thought of breaking the news to my seven year old son this afternoon. We have been preparing him for her passing...
Women’s Work: Do I Ever Feel Guilty About Not “Using” My College Education?
Mailbag time! The Question: Hi Mrs. Tierney, My name is Sanasi and I am a 21 year old university student. I stumbled across your blog when I was looking for more Catholic blogs to read in my free time and it's kind of weird, but I feel like I see so much of...
In Which We Discover if I Really Meant it About Not Doing NFP
Mailbag time! The Question: Hi Kendra, I find myself at a point where I am needing to sort of “vent” out some frustrations with NFP, and storing children’s clothing in a too “small” of a house. I went searching your blog for “storing clothes” and somehow found your...
When There Is So Much to Fear
Mailbag time: What to do when it all seems like too much . . . (and if you make it to the bottom there's news and shopping, yay!) The Question: Hi Kendra, I found you blog a new months ago and have so enjoyed going through your old posts and soaking up all the...
Why My Daughters Are Not Altar Servers
Mailbag time! A few weeks ago, I argued that learning traditional homemaking skills in an all-girl environment was beneficial for my girls. I'm back today to support something for just the boys . . . the question: I had a question about your kids and altar serving. I...
Our Father Who Art in Stop Hitting Your Sister: praying with regular kids
If the figurine genre has taught us anything, it's that children love to kneel reverently and piously recite their prayers. But if your children happen to not be figurines, maybe they sometimes complain about saying their prayers. Maybe sometimes prayer time turns...
How to Get Less Stuff This Christmas
Mailbag time! I know, I know, it's not even Halloween yet. But someone asked, and it's a good question, and I've already gotten two versions of it, so I'm answering it here, now. Question: Hi Kendra! I really enjoyed your post about being a missionary to...
How to Get Your Kid to Stop Doing That
Mailbag questions sometimes come in waves around here, and recently I've gotten a slew of them on the same topic: How to get your kid to stop a certain entrenched behavior. Hitting, fighting, throwing tantrums, refusing to go to school in the morning, and screaming ....
On Being a Missionary to Your Extended Family
Mailbag time! Here's one about how we maintain our family's religious practices on vacations with friends or family members who aren't living their faith the same was we do. -question- Hi, Kendra! My question for you has to do with traveling. We currently travel a...
What If I Can’t Afford to Send Them to College?
Mailbag time! It's the million dollar question for big Catholic families: How can we keep having them, if we don't know whether we can afford them? - question - Hi Kendra, I feel a little silly emailing someone I have never met such a personal question, but I've been...
Enforcing the Rules When Family Isn’t Supportive
Mailbag time! Today, you get two for the price of one, on a really challenging topic: how to handle family members who undermine our parenting. - first question - Hey, Kendra! I was at the funeral for one of my relatives, and after at the cemetery, we went to visit...
Motivating Reluctant Helpers
Mailbag time! You're not going to believe this, but some kids are NOT super excited about doing chores. Here's what we do about it. - question - Hi Kendra! My question is this: I've recently begun having my four- and two-year old children set the table for...
Strategies for Mealtime Battles With Toddlers
Mailbag time! Toddlers. They keep us on our toes. One question I get asked quite often, is how we handle toddlers that just. won't. eat. Not to worry, we've got a method for that madness. - question - Hi Kendra, I love your blog! The babies, the Catholic, the parties....
What to do With Unwanted Sacramentals
It's mailbag time! I've received this same question from a number of different readers. So, perhaps you've been wondering about it as well. -question- Dear Kendra, I am cleaning up the house and happened upon some mail that I wanted to ask you about. Namely, ever...
Toddlers and Younger Siblings: How Could YOU Make Our Baby Happy?
Last time, I answered a different mailbag question about this same topic: babies in a house full of their sibling's toys. That post was about babyproofing (or, more specifically, about NOT babyproofing). Today, I'm going to approach that same topic from a slightly...
Babyproofing the House vs Babyproofing the Baby
I've received a couple of related mailbag questions over the past couple of weeks about how we handle the issue of babies in a house full of their siblings' toys. Today I'll discuss the idea of babyproofing, specifically how I DON'T do it, and in a different post,...
Homeschooling is a Scary Proposition
It's the last installment of homeschool week on the blog. For earlier posts see here and here and here. Today we'll be looking at some obstacles to homeschooling, and how to overcome them, if you feel like homeschooling is something you'd like to try. The question: Hi...
Homeschooling Multiple Grades: MODG hacks and other things I’ve learned the hard way
It's still homeschool week on the blog. For earlier posts see here and here, and come back Monday for one last installment. Today, I'm answering another mailbag question, and sharing how I handle six kids preschool through middle school all at once, plus a toddler and...
Homeschooling for Beginners
All this week, I'm sharing questions I've received from readers about homeschooling, and my answers to those questions. Just in case they might help you decide if homeschooling is right for your family. See the first installment here. Today's question is all about...
How to Get Your Husband on Board With Homeschooling
So . . . it's spring, and that means decision time for a lot of folks on how to school the kids next year. Of course, you can always change your mind. We did. Our oldest son went to our parish school for a couple of months, before we decided to give homeschooling a...
How To Introduce Kids to Poetry, Fine Art, and Classical Music
Mailbag time! As school winds down for the year for many of us, homeschoolers and traditional schoolers alike, many of us are looking for ways we can make the summer an educational time for our kids, but without trying to keep up the same rhythm of the school year. ....
How to Celebrate Your Nameday When Your Name Isn’t a Saint’s Name (yet)
Between nearly twenty weeks of all-day morning sickness and my failed going to bed early for Lent experiment, I ended up with quite a backlog of mailbag questions. Over the next few weeks, I'll be sharing them . . . I received this one after linking to my...