Why We Avoid Community
On Wednesday I held the first meeting of my new peer group. I invited several local police wives to join me once a week to go through A CHiP on my Shoulder chapter by chapter. We enjoyed some goodies, introduced ourselves, talked about the purpose and the rules, and basically learned who each other were.…
Read MoreHello, My Name is Victoria
My daughter and I were watching TV together the other night. She asked me a question about the show, and I started to tear up. She gave me that teenage-are-you-really-getting-emotional-about-HGTV-Mom?-look. It’s a smirk – and from time to time I have to bare my soul and explain my thought process for things I do that…
Read MoreAn LEOW Thanksgiving
Over the freeway and through the neighborhood To my mother’s house we go A well-worn road With kids in tow To spend another holiday alone. Over the freeway and through the neighborhood To mother’s questioning eyes! Oh, LE Wifey dear, Why isn’t he here? For Thanksgiving dinner here lies! Over the freeway and through the…
Read MoreTwo Minutes with Gilmartin
Last week I had the opportunity to attend Dr. Kevin Gilmartin’s training on Emotional Survival for Law Enforcement. It was my first time listening to him teach in person. I was taken in with the way he presented the parts of police officers others rarely see: the biological and chemical reactions to what they are…
Read MoreChp 10: Little Future Cops-Dads and their kids
Dads Need Their Kids When Brent became a highway patrolman, I was the one who comforted him when he came home. But after we started having children, I noticed a little shift. It seemed to me that he was more excited to see them than me when he came home. I used to get a…
Read MoreChp 10: Little Future Cops-Gun Safety
When our oldest son was little, we got a kick out the way he tied his cuddle blanket around his neck, made guns out of whatever was around, and ran off to fight the bad guys. When Brent’s leather holders for badges and guns were retired, our son appointed himself heir to them. Then as…
Read MoreChp 10: Little Future Cops-Kid Communication
Kid Communication Kendra’s six-year-old son knew Daddy went to work to arrest bad guys. Diedra and her husband sat their boys down at the ages of twelve and ten and had a heart to heart about what Dad’s job entailed. Betty’s eight- and nine-year-old kids watched their daddy on television during a standoff. I have…
Read MoreChp 10: Little Future Cops: United Parenting
Mom and Dad: United Front So, what if you have a different parenting philosophy than your husband? What if you don’t match up on the expectations of your children? Who determines what the rules will be? Both of you do. If the two of you have different standards of behavior for your kids, nobody wins.…
Read MoreChp 10: Little Future Cops – Being a kid of a cop
Our three boys grew up knowing the risks. We never lied to them about it, but it wasn’t what we talked about at the dinner table either. But what they also knew was that if Mom or Dad died doing the job, we’d go out with a sense of pride, purpose, and loving what it…
Read MoreBelow 100: Officer Safety 101
On Monday I drove my little Prius to the Bay Area to attend a Below 100 Training. This is the third such training I’ve sat through, and it gets me every time. Below 100 is a campaign to bring our national on-duty death toll down from 140-160 a year to below 100. By simply reminding…
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