Category Archives: Parenting

When kids come home with A’s and B’s in reading writing and math, parents feel a sense of security that their children are building the skills that will help them succeed in life. Then there is another set of important skills, which help our kids get smarter about the emotions they feel and encounter on [...]
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When you want your kids to make better decisions, and especially teens and tweens, they are not going to change until they see that what they are currently doing is not helping them. To help them refashion their vision, you can be the catalyst without being the bad guy. Use the questions that follow to [...]
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Teenagers have a lot on the go and sometimes, despite their good intentions, their goals slip away as other events steal the limelight. Following are ten tips for parents to share with their teens, to keep goals in the forefront and stay with them while life is happening in other places. 1. Put it in [...]
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Trust in the power of just one single sentence to get your child quickly back on track. When you are trying to get your children to pay better attention to their responsibilities, make a brief, very specific sentence your first and main strategy instead of revving up for the drain of debate, confrontation and consequencing. [...]
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Let’s presume you have covered these first two basic steps in your behavior change program: 1. You have worked with your child to establish The Rules and why they are important. [Rules may be specifically set out poster- style guidelines or agreements, or they may be less specifically stated but understood limits and boundaries.] 2. [...]
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The heartbeat of your behavior change program is your consequences because they help you keep your rules alive. Think of rules as the brains of the operation because they have the information about what behavior is expected. Think of rewards as the legs of the program because they keep things running nicely. And be sure [...]
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Fathers, whom did you look up to? How do you want your child to look up to you? Though he is no longer here, my dad left me with wonderful memories of qualities I wanted to have, and behaviors I wanted to choose. It is with a smile in my heart that I remember what [...]
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What used to be taboo, ‘not for children’ is in the media mainstream. Keeping your parental controls on all the violence, sexuality and other inappropriate information being marketed at your child every day is like chopping down a forest while new trees are sprouting behind you. Exasperated parents wonder how to counteract all the negative [...]
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Some kids and adults need clear information about the strengths and talents you know they have. This is especially true for children and many adults who have Asperger Syndrome, Autism, or ADHD. They may need to get their knowledge about where they shine, in a more direct way than you have been communicating so far. [...]
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What do we adults do when our friends call us with problems in their lives? We listen. We sympathize. We support. We validate their feelings. Maybe, just maybe, we carefully step in with a little advice. When your kids have problems, do you abandon those wonderful listening skills and jump in to tell them how [...]
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