It’s OK to struggle. Every parent has struggles, and every child goes through struggles, too. It’s important that we remember that effort and failure are as much a part of learning as ease and success. Our culture creates the illusion that ease and success are the norm—that smooth going is good going in every case.
Whether you are moving across the country or across town, this can be a stressful time for the whole family. Here are a few things to think about as you prepare for and make your way through this major transition. Air your own feelings so you can set an open and positive tone for the
Once they can speak, young children ask lots of questions. “What is on the moon?” “Why do we have to sleep?” “Do worms taste bad?” And a thousand other inquiries help children fill in their picture of how the world works. They learn from our answers, and from the fact that we don’t always know
Connection is essential to raise healthy, capable, successful children. But don’t take my word for it. There is lots of fascinating science on the subject that makes surprisingly good reading. Dr. Daniel Siegel of the UCLA School of Medicine, said in a 2001 article, “the infant is born into the world genetically programmed to connect
Children are not, by nature, racist. Nor are they born with damaging assumptions about people in any definable group. We all begin with a winning trust in others, an expectation that people will be good to each other, and that life with others will be safe and fun. When a child feels close to his
Q. What should I do about my 5-yr-old lying? He’s a bright boy. Sometimes the lies he tells now are imaginative, but more frequently it’s just denying that he did something by saying it was the ghost who lives with us. How can I get him to accept the consequences when he won’t admit he’s
When you have a picky eater, the problem isn’t so much with food, it’s with your child’s feelings about food. This is news to many parents. It is not commonly mentioned in mainstream parenting advice. But, read on. See if the descriptions and situations we talk about here resonate. Do they describe your child? Children
It’s trying when your child has upsets again and again over the same darned issue. Perhaps it’s being afraid to go into an upstairs room alone, perhaps it’s refusing to share during play dates. It could be hating homework, whining first thing every single morning, waking in the night, dawdling endlessly through every transition, or attacking
I recently gave a presentation at the Annual Conference of the National Association for the Education of Young Children with Shelley Macy, Hand in Hand Certified Instructor and Coordinator for Early Childhood Education at Northwest Indian College in Bellingham, WA. We talked about Helping Families with Stress, a timely topic. The Holidays put an added
You can find Part 1 of this article here. When your child rejects you, stay, reassure, and listen. When your child wants his other parent badly, simply stay with her and listen to her feelings. Let’s say, for instance, that you’re the Daddy, and Mommy is going shopping. What your child needs is your confidence
Looking for Part 2 of this article? Go here. Is your child favoring her other parent over you? If you have a child favoring one parent, welcome to a very large club full of spurned but loving parents. Being rejected by your own child is one of the hardest experiences a parent can have, and
I remember vividly the day I stopped a half-second short of slamming my two-year-old into the wall. He had just hurt the baby, and not for the first time. I was livid. I was almost out of control. And after I caught myself, I was scared. Very scared. I’m not sure I would have said, that
Q. My 5 year old is not big on hellos or goodbyes. Most of the time, I have been okay with this, but there are times when it seems inappropriate. For example, when we visited my family on the East Coast. My daughter didn’t connect with my dad too much despite having spent a lot of time
There is an important role you can play in the lives of parents and children from outside the family. There isn’t an accepted name for this role: you aren’t “grandfather” or “aunt” or “godparent” or “cousin.” We use the word “ally” to describe this role. As an ally, you can lend absolutely vital backing to
There are lots of causes for the stress that grows between parenting partners. Oddly enough, we receive no preparation or support for handling these stresses. Although they are predictable, and perhaps even inevitable, we receive little warning and even less help in handling them.
Q. “My five-year-old can’t seem to stay dry at night. We’ve tried and tried, and nothing I do seems to work. They feel bad when they wet the bed, I try not to bother them about it, but I am very tired of the work it takes to deal with this. I get cranky, and
Ahhh, Summer! What do you remember of the lazy days of summer when you were a child? What were the best times? What did you look forward to all year long? What new experiences did you have that taught you new things about the world, your talents, and yourself? For parents in two-job and three-job
It’s no secret that parenting well is a complex art form and each of us brings our own unique style and beliefs into the day to day raising of the children in our lives. But here are ten ways of thinking about your parenting career that can help, no matter what your style or the