Devon Corneal

"Man often becomes what he believes himself to be. If I keep on saying to myself that I cannot do a certain thing, it is possible that I may end by really becoming incapable of doing it. On the contrary, if I have the belief that I can do it,...

It's almost June and you know what that means. School will be out. Children will be left to their own devices. During hours of endless sun and aimless wandering, you will hear, over and over again, "I'm bored. There's nothing to do." There are only so many times you can...

Little Dude likes to say, "I love you." I don't know if he understands the importance of the words, or if he just likes the reaction he gets, but he uses the phrase easily and often. He loves his friends, his family, his teachers and his favorite toys. Lately, he...

Before I became a parent, I used to travel. I saw Europe. I took planes, trains and automobiles across the United States. When I was pregnant, I dreamed of taking Little Dude with me on memorable family vacations to the places I hadn't yet seen. Motherhood was not going to...

Mother's Day is coming, so it's time to show our appreciation for those amazing women who hold it all together. With poetry, photographs, creepy monsters, and a weird family next door, this month's recommendations give us a chance to celebrate the women who bring home the bacon, tuck kids into...

About four years ago, my now 16-year old stepson started playing lacrosse. Before that, the only thing I knew about the game is that a shirtless Daniel Day Lewis played it in "Last of the Mohicans." In case you're wondering, high school lacrosse is not at all the same thing....

Little Dude, my 4-year-old son, is afraid of the dark. For the first three years of his life, he slept like a rock in a pitch-black room with the door shut. For the past few months, though, he wants the room illuminated. He solemnly counts his two blue Ikea lights,...

Sibling rivalries are legendary. We've all heard about -- or been embroiled in conflict with -- brothers and sisters who fought like cats and dogs. Thankfully, the tragic fratricide of Cain and Abel seems to be an exception. Most of us are more like Lucy and Linus Van Pelt or...

Little Dude has a new routine. Every morning, he wakes up at 6:45 and starts singing "Jingle Bells" and "I Have a Little Dreidel." At the top of his lungs. For an hour. There are many things wrong with this scenario, the most obvious being that it's April and we're...

I don't know about you, but I'm in a good mood lately. The sun is shining, winter is almost over, and even though March went out like a lion, spring is in the air. So choosing books this month was easy -- I picked the books that make me happy....

There is a lot of advice out there for parents these days. You can browse entire parenting sections in your local bookstore, turn to websites and bloggers, watch old Dr. Phil... even some Jon & Kate Plus 8 episodes have a message. When all else fails, you can talk to...

Today I watched Little Dude run to our car, marveling at how tall he's gotten, and how energetic and solidly present in the world he is. In moments like this, when I see how much he's grown and changed, I always flash back to the first year of Little Dude's...

I'm not sure exactly when I realized I wasn't in Kansas anymore. It may have been when the perky Little Gym employees gathered twenty-five kids in the center of a room of miniaturized gymnastic equipment for a half-an-hour of maniacal running, jumping and skipping to insanely loud music. Or it...

I grew up surrounded by grandparents and a host of greats and grands. My mother's parents, Ma-Ma and Pa-Pa, lived on a farm in rural Pennsylvania, with white fences, feral cats and a corn silo. Pa-pa smoked a pipe and stood with me while I watched a calf being born....

Wonder /wəndər/ n. A feeling of surprise mingled with admiration, caused by something beautiful, unexpected, unfamiliar, or inexplicable.

It isn't often that a book makes me cry in public. R.J. Palacio's "Wonder" did just that and more. Ms. Palacio takes readers back to the uncertainty and awkwardness of...

Parenthood makes me nostalgic for all the things I loved as a kid. Butterscotch Krimpets. The Rescuers. Running through the sprinkler. Choose Your Own Adventure books. Jiffy Pop. The Hall of Justice. Mr. Bubble. Cooties. Summer vacation at the Jersey shore. Mini powdered donuts. The Greek myths. Catching fireflies.

When Little Dude learned to talk, I eagerly awaited each addition to his vocabulary. I catalogued new words and phrases, carefully preserving mispronunciations and grammatical errors. "Pick mine up," "aminals," and "fwirrels" (squirrels) gave way to more complex thoughts like "Caterpillars make raccoons" and "I want to be a doctor...

There has been a lot of talk recently about the need for moms to support one another -- to stop judging and start recognizing that we're all in this together. I've seen eloquent columns pleading for each of us to show more understanding, accept each other's...

Having never spent time in a men's locker room, or been a cub scout or played on a boy's sports team, I have little insight into the male psyche. Because I am the only woman in my house, however, I am slowly being exposed to the secret world of men...

I love children's books. I adore the feel of chunky board books, designed to withstand brand-new teeth and chubby uncoordinated baby hands. I have stacks of picture books filled with photographs of apples, balls and cats and bold illustrations meant to capture a toddler or preschooler's imagination. I could sit...