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    Jeri Nowlin Shaffer

    Jeri Nowlin Shaffer

  • Parenting Guru: Heading back to school

    The start of school this year is a little different for our family. Of course there is the usual concern for our children. Ben is venturing to pre-school for the very first time, Maggie is entering first grade, Levi is starting middle school as Caleb embarks on the 8th grade. I always worry about th

  • Parenting Guru: Do your kids know how to swim?

    Our oldest child had his first swim lesson before he was two months old. Okay, so it was more a Lamaze class reunion than a swim lesson (though a friend hired a certified swim instructor). Caleb was enrolled in some form of swim class every year until after he turned 5 years old. We moved from Flori

  • Parenting Guru: What not to say when a friend loses a baby

    A couple of weeks ago, a teacher at my child's school lost her baby 37 weeks into her pregnancy. The details are unbearably sad, but it isn't my story to tell. I will say that I have not been able to get this woman and her devastating loss out of my head. I know her heartbreak first hand. I delivere

  • Parenting Guru: Lessons Learned at Camp Corn

    I have never been to an over-night summer camp. Actually, I don't think I ever went to a summer camp of any kind as a child. None of our four children have ever gone away to camp either. To the best of my knowledge, all of my childhood friends also stayed local (meaning in their parents' living room

  • Parenting Guru: What I learned from our children's school year

    As the school year winds to a close, it is natural to look back and consider how much your child has learned and how he has grown during the school year. This year has been especially educational. For me. This year, Maggie started kindergarten and Caleb started middle school. Levi was placed in a fu

  • Parenting Guru: More sleep + less laundry= Spring Break

    A couple of weeks ago, I was lounging pool side with some of my closest mommy friends. Eventually the topic of Spring Break rolled around. My friends had plans for everything from Disney World to camping in the Smokey Mountains on the calendar for Spring Break. It seems there is no shortage of ideas

  • Parenting Guru: My biggest parenting mistake: I allowed my child to be bullied

    Three years ago our oldest child came home from school upset because he was teased by a classmate. He said that a boy was calling him names like "shrimp" and "small fry". At nine years old, he was wearing a size 6 slim and had to look up at most of his classmates. I tried to console him and explained that he is in fact small for his age and that he should ignore it. I hoped that would be the end of the issue, but it wasn't.

  • Parenting Guru: 10 little things I love about coming home to raise our children

    It never really occurred to me that one day I might live somewhere other than Pensacola, Florida. Of course, I considered going away to college and even attended Auburn University. I think I made it all the way to day 10 at Auburn before crying uncle and going home.In 2003, my husband accepted a gre

  • Parenting Guru: Setting goals for your children and yourself

    Like many stay-at-home mothers, I tend to put the needs of everyone else in the house before my own. I don't eat or sleep well, I don't remember the last time I exercised, I haven't seen my doctor in three years, and taking time for myself is usually not an option. This level of self-neglect might b

  • User post: Saying thanks to a great teacher

    I really try not to brag about the children's school accomplishments and grades. I don't like to brag about student achievements for several reasons, but I will just share the top two. First and foremost, I want our children to understand that we are proud of who they are, not what they do. I think

  • Not Technically a Fire

    I have noticed recently that my satisfaction and productivity is directly related to how long it has been since my last shower. It seems like this would be an easy thing to control, right? Wrong. Taking a shower takes planning, coordination and luck. Case in point:

  • Parenting Guru: Taking advantage of Christmas madness

    [Editor's note: This month, Shine Parenting Gurus are sharing their tips on how they get through the holiday season without losing their wits and patience. Have a tip to add? We'd love to know!]

  • User post: Teaching my kids to deal with disappointment

    Disappointments big and small are part of daily life. We can be disappointed by anything from a recipe being a dinnertime flop to not getting the job we thought would be perfect. How well we bounce back from life's disappointments matters as much, if not more than, the actual disappointments. More i

  • Parenting Guru: Grief and Gratitude

    [Editor's note: This month, Shine Parenting Gurus were asked to write about a moment over the last year that they are genuinely thankful for, whether that was a good time with their family, or a more difficult experience that made reflect upon their lives in a new way.]

  • Christmas Shopping Shaffer Style

    When our two boys were old enough to grasp the concept of Christmas giving, we decided to give them a budget and take them shopping to choose a gift for each parent and his brother. We went together to a department store without much of a plan. We decided that my husband would take Caleb to choose a