All posts by Sara Dimerman (aka HelpMeSara)

  • The Valentine Prescription

    ith Valentine’s and Family Day just around the corner, you may not only be thinking of ways to say “I love you” to your partner, but to other members of your immediate family too.Saying “I love you”...

    • Posted February 12, 2014
    • 0
  • Letting Go

    I finally did it! Their furry faces with big black eyes have been sitting in the corner of my basement for many years. Every time I looked at them I experienced a combination of feeling sentimental and...

    • Posted January 1, 2014
    • 0
  • Do as I do – Raising Kids with a character

    10 KEY TRAITS 1. Perseverance “Mom, can I have a cookie?” “Yes. After supper,” you reply. “Pleeeeeez”, your child begs, “I’m so hungry. I promise I’ll eat everything on my plate.” Frustrating, but a sign that your...

    • Posted December 15, 2013
    • 0
  • Driven to Distraction: Cell phones in the high school classroom

    Eight years ago we purchased a cell phone for our now 22-year old daughter when she began grade nine. Our rationale was that being more independent at that time, a cell phone for communication (with us in...

    • Posted November 11, 2013
    • 0
  • Hauntingly helpful hints for Halloween

    It’s that time of year again – to plan ahead for Halloween. For some, this is greeted with excitement and for others, with dread. There are questions to be answered such as: Do we decorate the outside...

    • Posted October 1, 2013
    • 0
  • Tips towards the successful launch of a new school year

    If you visualize time off school during the summer months as a mountain, you may or may not be pleased to realize that you are more or less at the peak, and will soon be making the...

    • Posted September 11, 2013
    • 0
  • “You’re so annoying!”

    When I think of “annoying”, I imagine a tiny mosquito hovering around my head in the dark, as I’m trying to sleep. Apparently, the drone of a mosquito doesn’t even come close to how annoying I can...

    • Posted August 5, 2013
    • 0
  • Spender or saver?: What this reveals about you

    I was recently invited to be a guest on a local television show. The topic: personal debt and how it affects us and our relationships. The more I prepared for the interview, the more I realized how...

    • Posted July 5, 2013
    • 0
  • School’s Out Forever

    As a child, I remember belting out the lyrics from Alice Cooper’s School’s Out Forever – “no more pencils, no more books, no more teachers dirty looks” – on the last day of each school year. I haven’t heard...

    • Posted June 18, 2013
    • 0
  • Raising Kids in an Interfaith family

    , There are a few times during the year that different religious holidays overlap. For example Passover sometimes overlaps with Easter or Christmas with Chanukah. One of the benefits of being a child of an interfaith couple...

    • Posted April 4, 2013
    • 0
  • Beating the winter blahs

    Winter blues. This time of year can leave even the happiest among us feeling a little on the sad side. It’s not just that we’re sick of having to pull on or zipper up boots, or put...

    • Posted March 3, 2013
    • 0
  • Kicking the electronic addiction

    If I had a dime for every time I’ve said to my kids “Can you please look up from your screen and give this the attention it deserves,” I’d be a wealthy woman. We’re all familiar with...

    • Posted February 3, 2013
    • 0
  • Ten tips towards great New Year’s resolutions

    No matter the day on which January 1st falls, it feels like a Monday. Time to begin another diet and exercising daily just like the Monday before. No wonder that weight loss programs and gyms see a...

    • Posted January 2, 2013
    • 0
  • Is your sibling your friend?

    One of the most common concerns amongst parents is sibling rivalry. Sometimes the rivalry is quite innocuous – like when siblings ght over which side of the couch to sit on or who got more French fries....

    • Posted December 3, 2012
    • 0
  • Gratitude can’t be imposed

    Thanks + giving = Thanksgiving. Time to reflect on what you’ve been given and to give thanks back. That’s the idea anyway but gratitude isn’t something that can be imposed.Children are born not wanting more than to...

    • Posted October 31, 2012
    • 0
  • Driving me crazy: coming to terms with your teen behind the wheel

    What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever done as a parent? For me, it’s adapting to being a passenger or observer to my daughter behind the wheel of a car, nervous about her driving on roads alongside people...

    • Posted September 28, 2012
    • 0
  • YOLO

    Sitting together on the couch in our living room, my thirteen-year-old daughter turned to me and with that puppy dog look in her eyes, began “Mom….” and then paused. I knew that she was trying to conjure...

    • Posted August 30, 2012
    • 0
  • Are we there yet? Tips for planning a family road trip

    Last summer my husband and I chose to have a long drive with our two daughters, then aged twelve and nineteen. It was one of the most memorable and awesome summer vacations we had ever experienced as...

    • Posted July 31, 2012
    • 0
  • Schools’ role in restoring calm

    When it comes to restoring calm, what role do the adults in a child’s school play? Especially when the conflict occurs on school property? And what role does the parent play? Should he or she have the...

    • Posted May 31, 2012
    • 0
  • Make your bed!

    You wonder why something that requires as little physical effort as lifting, shaking and smoothing out a duvet cover would warrant as much nagging effort on your part every morning.Yet each day you play out the same...

    • Posted May 1, 2012
    • 0
  • Bubble wrapping mom

    Ok. I admit to bubble wrapping my kids. But in my defense, I also work really hard at considering how much of me saying “no” is fueled by separation anxiety versus what makes logical sense.When I was...

    • Posted March 1, 2012
    • 0