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It's heartbreaking to watch your kids fail. Learn how to empower your kids when they struggle.

How to empower your kids when they struggle

  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

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Why Checking Your Teens Grades May Be Causing Them to Fail

A 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.

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Do You React or Respond to Your Kids?

    Imagine 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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Tired of the grunts, groans, eye-rolls, and "I don't knows" when you try to talk with your kids? Try these 9 tips instead.

9 Communication Tips to End the Grunts, Groans, and Eye-Rolls from Your Kids

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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How to repair your relationship with your child.

How to Mend a Broken Relationship With Your Son or Daughter

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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Support your child's independence and problem solving using these 5 steps before you correct or suggest a better solution.

5 Things to Check Before You Correct a Child

  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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11 Mixed Messages Parents Send (And How to Stop)

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

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7 Questions to Ask Your Kids Instead of “Why?”

      You 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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My Favorite Parenting Posts from 2013

Happy new year! Welcome to 2014.   If you have decided to make a resolution to change something about your parenting, here are a few posts to get you pointed in the right direction. Communication: Parents: Master the “10-second lecture” in 4 Easy Steps How to Talk with your Children

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How to Cope When the Holidays are Not Merry & Bright

  While the whole world seems to be ringing bells and singing, you are struggling. The holidays are a season of faking a smile and pretending that everything is ok. Things are definitely not ok, but these are things you don’t talk about at the company holiday party. Like how

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