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communication | sibling rivalry | discipline | emotions | positive parenting
Many parents are surprised to hear my stance against punishment. I often get push-back from parents who feel that their children “can’t learn” or “won’t listen” without force, such as spanking, time-outs or yelling. When I offer another perspective parents sometimes feel that it is “too soft” and that it
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I don’t know about you, but I spend an exhausting amount of time making sure life goes smoothly for my children. I wouldn’t call myself a “helicopter parent” necessarily, but I feel better knowing that my kids are more-or-less heading in the right direction. I can hear it in
Continue ReadingA special thanks to tentotwenty.com for allowing me to submit a guest post: Why Checking Your Teens Grades Online May Be Causing Them To Fail.
Continue ReadingImagine that your oldest kids are fighting…again. Or, your youngest just spilled his juice box on the floor. Or, your daughter is whining that life is “not fair.” What’s your knee-jerk reply? Are you a yeller? Do you criticize? Overreact? Maybe you ignore, walk away or throw up
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Do you ever feel like talking to your kids is harder than it has to be? You: “How was school?” Your Child: “Fine.” You: “So, what did you do?” Your Child: “Nothing.” You: “Come on, I know you did something.” Your Child (rolling his eyes): “Come on Mom. Leave me
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You’re arguing constantly and rarely talk anymore. You’re not sure when things started drifting, but your relationship has definitely changed. Thankfully, you can still repair the relationship! These 7 tips will help you learn how to mend a broken relationship with your son or daughter, even if it seems impossible.
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Correcting starts early… “That book’s upside down” or “Your shoes are on the wrong feet.” As our kids get older, it seems that there are more and more things to correct. “2 plus 3 equals 5, not 6!” “Pour the juice with both hands!” One of our jobs as
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Recently, I was struck by the number of mixed messages parents send to their kids. I believe that most of these are unintentional, and would probably go unnoticed unless someone pointed them out (in a blog post, maybe?). However, some of these are common sources of tension between parents and
Continue ReadingYou walk into your child’s room. Toys are EVERYWHERE. Your son forgot the book he needs for his homework…again. Your daughter refuses to go to her school dance. After you bought the dress. A very normal response to these infuriating situations is to
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Wondering what to do instead of timeouts? Here are 7 positive discipline alternatives to time out you can use starting today! You know all of the “rules” for a timeout. The chair, the timer, the number of minutes per age. It seems like you’re constantly putting your child in time
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