Parenting Articles

The city of Delphi was in the center of Ancient Greece. Delphi means “navel” as in “belly button” as if this were the center of the universe where human life somehow connected with the source of wisdom, the way a baby is connected to her mother before she’s born. There was a temple of Apollo in Delphi with a priestess known as the “Delphic Oracle” where people went to ask their questions and seek wisdom.

Have you ever been fascinated by certain people and wanted to truly understand what motivates them, what scares them and what keeps them up at night? Over the last couple of years, I’ve noticed that working mothers come to coaching looking for solutions to very specific challenges, not the least of which is balancing work and family. The more I coach working mothers, the more passionate I’ve become about helping them with their challenges. So, I decided to conduct in-depth i

Internet is full of free kids online games but finding the right one can be a task which can take hours. Some simply fall short on the quality of graphics and visuals whereas some may not be age appropriate for your young one.nnBut there are some very good sites on the internet which are worth the effort and time.There are some really good sites where you will find some very good games and activities, songs, stories, rhymes, recipes for kids, jigsaws and puzzles and plenty of

This month has certainly brought back memories for me as my daughter, Melissa, graduates from high school. It seems that the last 18 years have gone by in a flash as I can still remember, so vividly, my own experience of the prom and all the peripheral, but all too important details such as the dress…the shoes…accessories…hair…make-up…and of course the date! Things have changed a bit though since 1979…and in one area in particular, for the better! Personally, my self-worth was very low when I was in high school.

It’s hard to get most adolescents to comply, but when you’re dealing with a hostile teen, it can be almost impossible. In part two of this series on anger and hostility in kids, James Lehman discusses concrete ways for you to break through your child’s force field of anger and defuse his hostility. Don’t give up yet—it really is possible to bring peace to your home.

THE KEYS TO EFFECTIVE STUDYING Larry F. Waldman, Ph.D., ABPP Parents regularly tell their children to “study hard” so they can get good grades, get into a good college, get a good job, and be successful. While children are encouraged to study, do they truly know what they should do? Researchers on an effective studying generally recommend the following: 1) Organize the material conceptually rather than attempt to memorize many bits of unrelated information.

One of the biggest hurdles that nontraditional parents must jump over in society is the feeling of being "less than" traditional, two-parent families. Nontraditional families suffer under the weight of guilt and grief as a result of their particular family structure. They often feel isolated and ...

I’m at the point where I don’t want to watch the news anymore. All I ever hear about is how gas prices keep going up and up and how it’s going to cripple our economy. It’s depressing and seems like a losing battle. We can decrease the demand but there is only so much one person can do. Add ...

Q: “I’ve been reading your column, and I like a lot of what you say. Most of the time I think I am a respectful parent, but not always. Sometimes I really don’t feel like being respectful. What can I do then?” V.H., Briceland, CA A: When you are feeling frustrated, disappointed, frightened, tired, hungry, it is more difficult to treat others with respect. If you don’t want to do or say things which you might regret later, have several plans of action to help prevent this.

One of the most difficult parts of being a father is learning to accept your children's mistakes. It's certainly easy to be loving, supportive, and helpful when your children are mistake-free, but most fathers who are paying attention don't find too many mistake-free periods of their children's ...

"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus." Galatians 3:28 (New King James Version) As human beings we grow up perceiving the world around us as a structured system of competing dualities. We are either male or female, free or enslaved, Christian or non-Christian. Every action is judged as good or bad, with an emphasis on being good. Aren’t we all taught that we should do the right thing? Isn’t “doing good” the best anyone can do?

There’s an old urban legend that if you put a frog in a pot of boiling water, he’ll naturally hop out; however, if you place a frog in a pot of cool water and gradually increase the heat, you’ll end up with a cooked frog. I can’t say whether this is true for frogs, but it certainly is true for many children who are sexually molested. The gradual cooking process is known as “grooming,” and the increased heat is the evaporation of physical and emotional boundaries.

Every single surrogate mother and intended parent is faced together with the prospect of how they may be going to find a possible match to perform with for the duration of a surrogacy. There are actually typically two methods to come across a match: via a surrogacy agency or locating a match independently. There is certainly no rule stating that a surrogate mother or intended parent demands to operate using a surrogacy agency. They may be free to find a match on their very ow

If you find that disciplining your children and fostering a sense of responsibility in them is stressful or unsuccessful, the use of traditional parenting approaches may be the problem. Why? Because traditional parenting approaches, including using lectures, rewards, and punishments, rely on exte al motivators to change the child’s behavior and aim to obtain obedience and compliance.

Every month, when I go to write my newsletter, I don’t have a plan necessarily…I just see what transpires in my life around that time and, without fail; there is an event or theme that presents itself.

If learning is what we value, then we ought to value the process of learning as much as the result of learning. By nature, people are attracted to activities where they feel free of psychological or emotional pain. Learning is promoted in a climate where people feel safe and cared for. The adage, “People don’t care what you know until they know you care,” is applicable.

Cutting back on expenses? Most families are. Asking children to share the burden of spending less is a reasonable choice to make. If you’ve lost your job and huge cuts need to be made, it’s reasonable to explain to children that the family will be making major cutbacks. The key is to reassure them that your family is safe, that you’re in control of the family finances and that their basic needs will be met.

Letter to my children, just before the start of their college year A father reflects upon his first 50 years in a letter to his college age children about how to wisely choose their friends. It started as private, family email. But the children realized the potential of this Life Lessons letter for mentoring people - throughout life - and encouraged their father to share it widely. rnAugust 24, 2008 Dear Danielle and Jonathan,rn rnGood luck tomorrow on your first day of sch

Keeping your Teenage Daughter Safe is as Easy as it is to Smile during your Mammogram Mom, are you standing on the sidelines of your teenage daughter's life? Have you thought about cell phone safety, dating safety, or on-line safety? What you learn may have you stunned. "The Secrets to Having ...

We always do the best we can with what we have – Ronit Baras A very common human expression is "I wish I could go back in time and change . Then my life would be different. I wish I could have a second chance". Let's explore this a bit, shall we? Pick an event in your life, which you would ...

The Death of a Childr Originally Posted on July 14, blog Indestructible Relationship by Kimberly Pryor Today, I’m turning The Indestructible Relationship blog over to an award-winning author and therapist I met recently at a conference in Philadelphia. Her name is Dr. Jane A. Simington, PhD, but she’s more often known as Dr. Jane, The Woman of Hope. When you read her entry below, about grieving after the death of a child, I think you’ll see why. By Dr. Jane A. Simington, Ph

There are many tips for effective parent/teacher communication. Communication is an essential element when it comes to the overall success that your child experiences in their educational development. It is important to understand that, as a parent, you are truly the first teacher that your child ever has. By the time that your child starts school, you know and understand many of the strengths and weaknesses that your child has, and also have a good grasp on their developing skills and abilities.

The 5 Skills of Listening! It’s frustrating when our children don’t seem to listen, isn’t it? And when they don’t pay attention to what you are saying in the home, you have to wonder how much they are missing at school! In 10+ years of teaching Martial Arts in our community, ...

With the rise of social media there seems to be a sad trend emerging - public humiliation as a tactic for disciplining children. I was shocked and disturbed by how many of my own Facebook contacts were hitting "like" recently on a video of a father shooting his daughter's laptop as a form of discipline for being disrespectful on Facebook. As friends reposted the viral video their comments included such things as "finally someone got it right". My reaction was an equal mix of

He made me do it! There’s a battle going on and by the time you get to the next room something is broken and two kids are angry. After a bit of detective work you figure out who did what. The problem is that the usual suspect is blaming bis brother for his own bad behavior. . .again! He made me do it! He made me mad! Sigh. .

Brain compatible learning infers that learning will take place in a manner that is "natural." Unfortunately, however, many teachers expect students to learn in an "unnatural" way. Let me explain by asking you to visualize the last time you dreamed. Not that you remember your dream, but did you dream in letters, in words, in sentences, in paragraphs? Or did you dream in pictures? We often forget that the act of reading is a relatively recent development in human development. Until recent years, very few people read. Reading is not a "natural" brain activity as is visualization.

Teething twins - double the drool! Teething is very different for every baby and twins are no different. You may find that one of your babies sails through teething without a fuss, while the other has a long, drawn out, painful experience. Sometimes you can see the little lumps under the ...

It was a good Internet Safety Month (June) this year! Did you know that nowadays children as young as 7 years old have their own smartphones/digital devices and about 90% have had access to the Internet since the age of 9 or younger? That said, it’s crucial to educate your kids on the importance of online safety before letting them loose in the digital world. There’s a lot to see and learn from the Internet; I’m not going to deny it’s incredibly useful and chock full

As a parenting expert to the media, I usually do extra media interviews during the holidays. Usually the topics focus on the extra stress of hectic holiday schedules or my “Taming the Holiday Gimmees” article. This year, I've been getting some thought-provoking questions about ...

There are a lot of fairly sophisticated parentingtechniques and ideas out there that are attractingattention. To be an effective father, you can skipmost of them and concentrate on common sense rulesthat have always worked. They won’t always makeyou the most popular Dad, but they’ll always ...

There are several simple but critically important keys for raising empowered children. We can give our kids the tools they need, starting at a very young age. These tools will empower them throughout their lives as they grow, yet they are core values that will evolve more fully as time passes. Let me first state that by core values, I am referring to values that develop and mature from within the child and are not imposed upon the child from the outside.

The demand for newborn, infant and toddler fashions that are made with organic fabric is taking off as parents become more concerned with effects of chemicals on their children. Organic baby clothes use pesticide-free fabrics as well as manufacturing processes that avoid harsh chemicals. The market for this niche is growing every day. Here's how to break in to the business. While the organic clothes market is a relatively new one, still there is a competition out there. It is

Parents, are you being blackmailed? You are if you motivate your kids with money. Every time you want your kids to do their best or you ask for help, they want money. As your kids grow older, they'll want even more money. Giving money isn't the way to build great character. I know you don't want your kids to be materialistic or only do things if they get paid. Wouldn't it be nice if they did things for love?

Most people will have heard by now about Elizabeth Fritzl who was drugged and kidnapped by her father Josef Fritzl at the age of 18 and repeatedly raped over the 24 years he held her captive in a garage cellar behind the family home. It is hard to imagine what Elizabeth must have been going ...

Teach these 3 simple social skills to your child and stop worrying whether kids like him. Most kids say or do things that turn other kids off. This doesn't have to be your child when he learns the social skills you are about to teach him. n "Chris, 9, ordered his best friend to help him do his ...

We have the freedom to choose how we act, what we say, how we respond to situations, how we treat other people, and how we deal with an impulse. We also choose our self-talk.

As I was watching yet another news story on bullying, I just wanted to crawl into the tv and say, “Why can’t you see the solution??” I felt like I had bought my glasses from a different store than anyone else! Our children are not born bullies…a phrase that I hope one day becomes a mantra for every single parent, teacher, coach and person working with kids.

Spirituality was not a word that you would have found in my vocabulary for the first three decades of my life, but there came a point when I was ready and open to shifting my perspective. I was tired of living the way I was; merely existing, going through the motions.

The job description for Parent is overwhelmingly long. One of the trickier tasks involves helping to guide children’s behavior in a constructive and effective way. It requires vast amounts of patience, self control and perseverance. To be successful, it needs a pocket full of tricks able to be applied in a variety of planned and surprise circumstances. Here are suggestions and tips to keep in mind to make these encounters more successful: 1. Set the Example

Every once in a while parents are embarrassed by their child's behavior or the factual remarks they make, such as pointing to a person next to you in line and claiming, "she's fat!" Moments like this can be very uncomfortable but fortunately do not occur often, but the risk may be higher if you are a parent of a child with Autism.

It’s possibly the most over-used gag on family sit-coms spanning the TV airwaves from the days of Leave it to Beaver till our own 8 Simple Rules: a parent tries to lay down a message of authority to a errant child, and the other parent uses the opportunity to joke about the parent’s own childishness. The reason we laugh at this joke over and over is that it reflects the tension we often feel in our own family situations. But don’t laugh to hard, because the issue reflected by the joke can be one of the most serious threats to successful parenting.

"Dad, you always said I could ask anything, right?" "Sure, shoot!" "Well I know all about how sex is explained in the book you gave me, but not how it really is. How was sex for you when you were young? Was it fun, scary? And how is having sex now? Because when you're my age, it is hard to ...

Easing your young child out of your care and into school can be stressful and emotional for parents and children alike and end in crying and clingy behaviour. As parents we would all really like to see our children walk into their new environment with some confidence and eage ess to make friends and learn new things. Here are five tried and tested tips to help. 1. Be prepared;

We’re introducing a new monthly feature in Empowering Parents called "Gut Check"—articles that take an up close and honest look at the way we parent our children, ask the tough questions about what’s not effective, and provide real solutions you can use today. This month: how we use money in parenting our kids. Do you parent with your wallet? (Or know someone who does?) What kid doesn’t love it when Mom or Dad spends money on them? When you can afford it, buying things for your children is fun.

Obtaining help for troubled teenagers can be a real challenge. First of all, teens in this category often don't want help. They are quite sure they have life all figured out, thank you very much. Moms, dads and the siblings of troubled teenagers know better. They understand they are living with a powder keg which can go off at any second. And frequently does. Consequences are often touted as the way to deal with a troubled teen and rightly so. However, the real goal is to h

Remember how you felt when you brought your baby home from the hospital for the first time? When your child was an infant, you probably acknowledged that you were anxious and unsure of what you were doing at times—most new parents are. In my experience, those kinds of feelings continue as we raise our kids—we just stop expressing them to others.

The GR8X Baby Traveller bag is a unique diaper bag in that it contains a built in change pad for changing your baby. The GR8X Baby Traveller diaper bag is manufactured in Australia. This bag is destined to become the hottest diaper bag on the market within the next year. It is starting to get some justified recognition. Recently on a review site called Baby Scoop it out rated all other diaper bags as the most versatile diaper bag on the market. The GR8X Baby Traveller diap

In a consumer-driven society that broadcasts values that don’t reflect what you believe, how can you teach values to your kids? Here are ten ideas to help you: 1. Tell them your life stories and teach through your stories Kids love to hear stories about your childhood. Weave in some moral ...

The terrible twos are, to say the least, an extremely stressful time for the parents of one of these young people whose actions are totally unpredictable from moment to moment. Those of us who live in constant fear of our trips away from home, who hasn't tried to comfort a screaming toddler at the grocery store or other public place? Welcome to the terrible twos. Not a day goes by that my wife and I don't ask ourselves "whatever happened to our little bundle of joy" The terri