...By the time my children were in junior high and high school, my connection to them was always changing, like some sort of emotional kaleidoscope. Feelings of closeness and distance cycled rapidly—nothing seemed guaranteed. It seemed like every time a good conversation began, the telephone would ring with another teen on the other end of the line; it could be days before the next opportunity to talk. During that period of family life, I often felt a deep longing to return to those simpler times of bedtime stories and daily drives in the car...

Tags: communications & discipline, spirituality & values