Find out what helps your child be the best version of themselves, and give them the freedom to pursue those activities. Sometimes that means shelving our expectations about what they “should” be doing.

I’m sending these books into the world in hopes that they offer parents one more small way to help kids thrive — to remind children that they are seen, they are known, and they are loved. All the time.

I was lucky enough to publish 34 articles in 2021. Here are five of my favorite — that stretch my thinking in good ways.

Without intending it, “tell the story of hope” has become my parenting mantra, too. I want to offer my children hope for the lost shoes and for the lost moments that the pandemic has stolen away. Hope in their strength and goodness and in the beauty and wonder of the world.

Toni Morrison’s words offer grace. Something simple and sacred that I can do every day. When my kids come down blurry-eyed and cranky in the morning, I can offer them a smile. When they come home from school, my face can be a safe landing place. And when they go to bed at night, I can muster up a final “I love you,” even if the evening went awry.