Every parent has a little catch in their throat when their child leaves for the first day of a new school year. No matter the age, this event has a lot of hopes attached to it. To get your child off to the best start, cast aside the issues over what kinds of sneakers to wear, backpacks to carry or school supplies everyone else has purchased. Focus on what -really -has the potential to place your child...
How often is it that we see people in our extended families and our community that believe that their family gets along just fine and doesn't have any problems, only to find that screaming, yelling, name calling, and physical aggressiveness is almost the norm? There almost seems to be a denial that there is a deeper issue, and because of this, the conflict continues and people believe that destructive...
Kids may say the darndest things—but toddlers seem to have the market cornered on defiant expressions of opinion. Your once sweet—but inarticulate—baby turns into a fountain of “No!” Sometimes, it may sound as if your two-year-old doesn’t like you much anymore: “No.” “Go Away!” “Mine!” “Stop!” But toddlers aren’t looking to make you mad. They’re just not yet fully fluent—at 24 months they only have...
Oh, yes, they're watching! Teens may not always seem interested in what their parents are doing but when it comes to dating and love, they are watching every move. Here are some tips on how you can model healthy dating and help the next generation steer clear of some tough situations in their own relationships. Money Matters:- Dinner and drinks can add up to over a hundred dollars in no time. Finding...
Let's face it, as parents, we are living in a world where traumatic situations are affecting our children's lives. No parent is prepared or wants to have such conversations about these tragedies with their children, however we are now living in a world where parents must have these conversations with their children so they do not get the wrong information from unreliable sources. Studies show that...
Packing healthy lunches for the kids can be downright stressful. How can you be sure that you are packing your kid's lunch box with foods that are both delicious AND nutritious? These days, food companies can be deliberately deceitful with misleading and seductive marketing. How do you know you're not just feeding your kids sugar, GMOs and chemicals dressed up in "natural" packaging? - Avoid the Scary...
It’s a familiar scene. You’re out at a café at lunch and you see a child and what looks to be their parent sitting at a two-person table. The parent is scrolling through their phone endlessly, picking at their meal, making zero eye-contact with their kid, and the child is playing a mindless game on an iPad or tablet barely touching their food. I feel disheartened when I see a parent and child “spending...
There are no parent manuals that come with all the answers. The first rule that you learn as a good parent is to RELAX! Rest assured that whatever problem that your child is encountering, IT IS NOT THE END OF THE WORLD! - The problem may be new to you and new to your child but the situation is not unknown to mankind. Please understand that in your attempts to do your best as a parent, things will arise....
Our two daughters (Fiona 13 & Sophia 14) appear to be a parenting experiment - gone right (so far). Here are a few observations and reflections in my article 15 Things to Teach Your Children Before They Are 15... We’ve all seen the results of the “easy-going” style of parenting and it seems to produce its share of dependent, unhappy, low-performance, disrespectful children. We’ve seen children of the...
There are few things more worrying – and even heartbreaking – than discovering your child is being bullied at school. Maybe she's been getting stomach aches every Monday morning. Maybe he starts crying as soon as he gets off the bus or is acting out with his siblings. However it begins, seeing the effects of bullying on your child's life is painful, and most parents become desperate to act and to fix...