Peer relationships carry increasing influence as children grow up. And sometimes, these relationships can be reason for parents to feel increasingly anxious. Kids may choose good friends or they may not. Parents, wanting what’s best for their kids, have a…
When kids fight, parents typically try to resolve things by telling the kids they have to say they’re sorry. While parents may be aware that this can be a very shallow, “go through the motions” sort of consequence for kids, they may…
Parents can get in ruts. That’s true for me and I’m pretty sure it is for you, too. One rut that is familiar to many is the hurried race out the door because “we’re going to be late!!” Or how…
We’ve all done it. Our kids misbehave. Then, we get angry. We raise our voices a bit to get our kids’ attention. We furrow our brows and perhaps put our hands on our hips (which makes us look even more…
One of the biggest deterrents to effective discipline is that parents get upset. Then they use their big upset emotions to push outcomes. The younger kids are, the more this works to manage behavior. But over time, as kids tire of…
“…whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute – if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise – let your mind dwell on these things”…
Parents sometimes feel like hostages to the intense demands of their children, intimidated into submission with the threat of “the big gun” – a deafening meltdown. One of our online course participants asked for help: Our 3 1/2 year old…
Ever roll your eyes and and internally judge a child as a “drama queen” or “king”? Time to stop judging and start guiding that drama talent to empower kids to turn their misbehavior around! And here’s why:
When kids melt down, we often counsel parents to respond with empathy. When you truly understand your struggling child, it strongly communicates the essential message, “You are loved no matter what!” Often, communicating empathy in the midst of misbehavior takes…
We have been trained to think in black-and-white terms about a lot of things. Kids’ misbehavior is one of them. When kids misbehave we say to ourselves and to our kids, “That was bad! It needs to stop!” The opposite…