How tempting to want to save our children and teens from the mistakes we made. Some of what we consider “mistakes” may be things that kept us from doing something that we valued, or got in the way of our dream. But our children have their own dreams and what may have been a mistake for [...]
Thank you to Rebecca Plum for sharing her article with us, Talking to your Child about your New Baby. You can click on the title and access it to read and print out. The concise one page article would make a nice baby shower gift enclosure or something to pass along when the occasion presents itself. Since [...]
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Re. Whose Homework, someone pointed out that actually Merriam-Webster did become rich and famous for being a good speller. “But no problem” she said, “I just tell the kids that I already passed the 4th grade and now it’s their turn.” (This mom knew that her kids were doing fine.)
Keeping a sense of humor is [...]
How hard it is to let our kid’s homework just belong to them.
If you were the kind of student that cared about how many words you missed on the spelling test, how hard it is to have your child be unconcerned, or satisfied with a ‘C-’. Or conversely, if you weren’t concerned about your [...]
Who doesn’t like getting a good deal? Well, here’s one…
Sometimes a book title can be misleading. The Mindful Way through Depression is just such a book. How many people wouldn’t even look at a book because it sounds like it’s only for depressed people? The subtitle helps, Freeing Yourself from Chronic Unhappiness, but still doesn’t [...]
Why did I put good in quotation marks? Well, because I think everyone has his or her own judgment about what is “good” behavior. So, what I will be referring to are the behaviors that are important to you, the ones you consider positive. And naturally, most parents would like to see more of those [...]
Misbehaviors that are attention seeking will usually go away if ignored. Desirable behaviors will also go away if ignored. So, being sure what you DO like and what is acceptable, is important. Let’s first talk about the behaviors you don’t like.
If the behavior is dangerous you can’t ignore it of course. Or if the behavior rewards itself, you [...]
I often hear parents or teachers observe bad behavior and say, “Oh, they just want attention.”
I think the suggestion is that the child should therefore be ignored and they would stop. Interesting when you think about it. Don’t we want children to learn that the environment is responsive to them when they have a need? Or [...]
When parents first care for their infant, they make nearly all of the decisions for the infant. What to dress the baby in and how to put the baby down in the crib. And then, when the baby is grown, say 18 years old, the youth makes most of the decisions.
Somewhere in between, the child [...]
With 30-45% of young people involved in bullying, as victims or bullies, the problem is finally being recognized. Incidents of being bullied stay with us well into adulthood. And for many, so do the times when they were the bully. How often have we wished we could go back and be kinder than we were [...]