The formula is pretty straightforward: energy in/energy out. This is the term nutritionists use to describe the intended balance between calories consumed and calories burned. If the level of physical activity is not great enough to burn the amount of calories taken in, weight increases. If this imbalance continues, overweight and possibly obesity result.
Given our […]

Life is funny.
My twenty-year-old daughter, Melanie, has a her new summer job as a nanny for three small children. She’s an aspiring operatic soprano who was whisked off to a rich suburb near Manhattan the day after her finals had ended at the Eastman School of Music. Her mother and I miss her dreadfully. Thank […]

Having a baby is one of the most exciting times of your life. It is also one of the most stressful. So many decisions have to be made about nearly every aspect of your baby’s comfort, safety, and happiness. You spend hours pouring over pregnancy and child rearing books, picking out the perfect crib, finding […]

Do you live with an ADD / ADHD child? If so– my hat is off to you! ADD / ADHD children are brilliant, full of energy, smart as a whip (as grandma says), and tons of work. They are also the rising sun and the setting star: meaning much of life revolves around them in […]

Here’s a scene: A parent “might suddenly grab a happliy playing child and shower him with excited hugs and kisses without warning.” What’s wrong with this picture?
I would say that, simply, the parent is not in synch with the child in the case described above. The parent is not on the same page. Yes, parents […]

In seminars I am often asked about pocket-money and whether it should be earned or only given when children behave well.
My belief is that children should receive pocket-money as their small share of the family-wealth just as they should share the workload at home. This is not to say that the family income is divided […]

I have always found the notion of toilet training a toddler to be a bit much. I didn’t feel right about pushing my girls to do something I felt would eventually come naturally. At three years old, both my girls were potty trained … not because I read books and raced them to the porcelain […]

Something eerily familiar happened in KwaZulu-Natal’s Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Park in Africa recently.
The adult elephants were taken away and the orphaned youngsters were left to fend for themselves.
The youngsters started the path to sexual maturity. The young boys were going into lengthy ‘musths’, as a dog would go into heat, much longer than a normal elephant in […]

When it comes to exams, or indeed any academic work, parents feel that they should be encouraging their teen to try hard and do well. The problem is that in trying to achieve this, many parents end up causing stress either for themselves, their teen or both.
So what causes this stress? Basically, it boils down […]

MYTH: All teens have to rebel, and the teen years will be miserable years for a family.
REALITY: Teens do have to separate from their parents and families. That’s good - otherwise kids would be living at home when they are 35.
They do, however, have to earn the privilege of being in charge.
MYTH: Once teens rebel, […]