Celebrating your child’s successes is like eating an apple that keeps depression away.  First, it focuses your mind on someone besides you.  Second, it honors your child’s hard work.  The success can be a kindergarten picture, spiritual milestone, or a failure that your child was able to turn into a positive learning experience.  It can be winning a sporting championship or being a gracious loser; or it can be graduating from kindergarten, elementary, middle school, high school, or college.

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This Sunday is Father’s Day.  Don’t forget.  Run out and get those barbecue utensils, wrench set, or last minute gift cards.  At least remember the cake, heavens the cake! 

Since it is Father’s Day weekend I thought I’d do the unthinkable: give advice on how to be a great dad.  Every mental health profession has a list.  I’ll keep mine to five. 

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I totally forgot it was Mother’s Day this coming Sunday.  Actually, I did remember a week or two ago when I got my own mother a card.  I put the card on a shelf all proud for remembering so early, and then left it there.  Lights and buzzers didn’t go off in my head until yesterday afternoon so my mother, who lives across the country from me, will probably get her card on Monday rather than Saturday!  Yikes! 

Our oldest son e-mailed Wednesday to say that he and some friends were going camping this weekend to celebrate the end of the college year.  He probably forgot it was Mother’s Day too.  Of course I said ‘no problem’ because as I said, I forgot.  My husband also totally forgot.  He didn’t even get his mother a card, but he’s exempt since he was away on business.  Double yikes!

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