Whether it’s your eight year old saying that her teacher knows more than you or your eleven year old is embarrassed to be seen in public together or your fourteen year old yells at you that you are the worst parent ever or your sixteen year old changes from a lovely conversationalist one moment…
I think of discipline like a growing tree. In the beginning, it needs lots of tending to and constant monitoring and correcting, but as it gets stronger and taller and older, it needs less and less maintenance. It still needs some monitoring and the occasional care, but generally, it can survive on its own.…
We all know this and we’ve all heard it before, but this is the most important part of discipline: follow through. If you say “Please put your shoes on, it’s time to get going” and your child doesn’t do it, gently guide your child by the hand to the shoes and help her put…
Teens are experiencing way more stress than they should. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, NPR, and the Harvard School of Public Health polled parents with teens in high school and found that one third of all teens were experiencing a lot of stress. These teens are becoming physically ill and emotionally compromised. According to…
Today the kids are off school for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The banks and post office are closed and it is -5 degrees here in Rockford, IL. This is a great opportunity to enjoy being stuck at home with the kids. This is a chance to talk about civil rights and courage…
The toddler and teen periods are remarkably similar: a huge surge of brain growth, increased self-centeredness, intense curiosity, misunderstanding of own limitations, defiance… Parenting toddlers and teens is similar in some ways as well. The most notable of these is creating an environment for success. Just as you toddler proof, you should also teen…
It’s hard to let go. They come into the world completely helpless and then spend every day of their next twenty years or so pulling away from and against us. It’s what they’re meant to do. It’s a good thing. From the two year old’s infamous “no” to the teenager’s “I don’t need your…
Happy New Year! It’s a new start, a blank slate, forgiveness, opportunity, a deep breath… Today is your opportunity to do better this year and forgive yourself for your shortcomings last year. Today is the day to love yourself and the people and animals in your life. Today is the day millions of people…
I am against writing letters to Santa for the things you want. I am for writing letters to Santa to thank him for whatever he may bring and to wish him safe travels and tell him how much he means to us. When my sons were small, they didn’t write to Santa to ask him…