With the summer months approaching, it's usually an exciting time for families to start planning their vacations. This year it may not be as exciting with the continual climb of the gas prices. It's almost discouraging to those who desire to take road trips, especially for larger families which involve larger vehicles. These vehicles obviously suck the gas much quicker than the smaller cars out there. How do you plan for a vacation with such a dilemma?

Many families have had the devastating experience of losing someone close to them whether it is a parent, a grandparent, a sibling etc. Shock and denial is something the family may face during this difficult time and this may even burden a family. Marriages get tested and families have a difficult time coping. Where do you go from here?

Once upon a time, there were large homes with front porches. Little children of different ages were seen crawling in the house, playing in the yard or helping around the house. I saw parents, aunts and uncles trying to keep everyone in line and when trouble came about, there were 'family talks'. Everyone gathered around the grandparents to hear how life was when they were young. They told stories of how they walked to school barefoot, 100 miles away, uphill in 3 feet of snow with a 30 degree below zero wind chill factor. I saw those same grandparents rocking in a rocking chair on the front porch, playing checkers or chess, pulling out coins from a child's ears or catching a nose. It didn't matter if anything went wrong in life because the family always stuck together. Family members lived close by.

How we choose to raise our kids is generally a very controversial topic. Everyone has an opinion from your friends and family to random strangers on the street. So how do we choose our parenting styles? Is it really even a conscious choice or is it something that we just fall into as time goes by?