What if Someone Thinks I’m a Bad Parent Because I Don’t Spank My Kids?
In working to support both parents and teachers in using sound principles of child development in the home and classroom, I hear a lot of concerns.
The Positive Parenting Workbook
When Rebecca Eanes had her second son, her oldest had just passed his second birthday. As is the case in many families, when the new stranger arrived on the scene, wrapped in blankets and capturing the attention and admiration of all of his favorite people, Rebecca’s firstborn began to act out.
Seeing the Best in Children…Even in Challenges
Sometimes the very thing that we find most challenging about a child can become their greatest strength. Or, as my friend Dayna would say, their “superpower”.
But I’ve Told Him A Million Times: Why A Child’s Defiant Behavior Isn’t Always What You Think It Is
I have my finger in many technology-laden pots. But technology is NOT my jam. This site where you’re reading this, the Facebook page where you likely found it, the podcast you may have listened to, the resources you may have used — these all require SOME degree of technical acumen. And it is honestly the hardest part of the work I do.
Why Telling Kids What NOT to Do Tends to Backfire
One of my favorite stories from my parents’ early experiences as a young married couple at law school ends with my mom opening her front door to find a friendly neighbor standing there next to my sister (a young preschooler at the time), who had stripped down to her nothings and was covered in mud.
My sister was elated.
Real Help for Childhood Fears
12 Powerful Parenting Phrases that Make Talking to Kids Easier (Even When the Situation is Anything But Easy…)
Talking to kids can come so easily. They have thoughts about everything and stories for miles. They see the world in a completely different light, and could ask enough questions to fill an afternoon. I, for example, could ask my second oldest son to tell me what he thinks about Star Wars, and I’ll have to schedule out the next four days to listen to his stories, conjectures, questions, analyses, and highlights. My contribution will be simply to say, “Yes!”, “Wow!”, and “I hadn’t thought of that.”
Friendship in the Culture of Childhood
I have really been enjoying my podcast conversations with Emily Plank, author of Discovering the Culture of Childhood. Because her book is the NJC Read Along Book this year, we’ve had the chance to have several in-depth discussions about the observations she writes about.
(If you’re new to the Read Along, read more about it here. Catch up on the podcasts here.)
I wasn’t surprised by how much I’ve enjoyed talking with Emily, but I was surprised by some of the feedback I got about our conversation in Episode 5, specifically about friendships in early childhood. Listeners mentioned that they had several light-bulb moments as Emily flipped their perspectives of childhood friendships, so I wanted to address that topic here on the blog as well. [Read more…]
How Big is Your Worry? Helping Anxious Kids Find Calm.
The realization dawned on me as my husband was driving (because with four kids, it seems we can only have complete conversations when we leave the house alone). I had been rattling off some of the behaviors I’d been observing in one of our sons. Behaviors that were really getting under my skin.
He was worrying. Not just normal day-to-day worrying, but taking those little worries and blowing them out of proportion, then adding a few more unrealistic worries on top of them for good measure. He was tying himself in knots over situations he couldn’t control or change, situations that would likely never come to fruition anyway.
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