Sometimes a change of perspective can make a huge difference for parents when their children’s behaviour worries them. This point was evident recently when I was involved in a minor disagreement with one of my daughters. I was annoyed that she dug her heels in and refused to give me any ground while we discussing [...]

Saying no to our children is not always easy or pleasant. Sometimes it is very hard work and we don’t want to face the struggle. Most of us at some time will find ourselves saying yes when we know we should have said no. Some people almost never say no. The funny thing is though, [...]

A parent writes in, “We are having a hard time in our family deciding on appropriate punishments when our teen-ager breaks family rules. We can’t tell if we are too strict or too lenient. What can we do?” This seems to be a place where many parents get stuck. Questions about appropriate punishment and consequences [...]

Most of us can agree that there is a lack of ethics standards within professional sports today. The fact that many of today’s sports heroes are ethical is a stroke of luck. The fact is – many sports superstars are good people, but what about the “bad apples” that shame their sport, teammates, communities, fans, [...]

If a person can’t control his/her anger, then the anger controls him/her. Bear in mind that anger is difficult to master. So it’s never too early to teach your child to manage his/her anger. If a child easily gets irritated, he/she needs more practice than other children. Joshua D. Sparrow posted 5 strategies of managing [...]

Not surprising that many preschoolers behave like little tyrants at home but turn sweet, cooperative in school. Why? Asbury Park Press explains that: Children, especially very young ones, feel safer when they are with their loving parents than they do with anyone else. This is why they let their hair down at home by being [...]

Taking care of a toddler at home is not easy at all especially when he/she continues to ignore your words. How can we be firm without losing our temper? Our children will learn from our example if we can be firm but stay calm in front of them. Jo Douglas posted several ways to stop [...]

In Alfie Kohn’s excellent article, he stressed that there are five reasons to stop saying “Good Job!” 1. Manipulating children. 2. Creating praise junkies. 3. Stealing a child’s pleasure. 4. Losing interest. 5. Reducing achievement. I couldn’t agree more. Indeed the phrase of “Good Job” is so vague that the praised child won’t know what [...]

Not only do we adults may have the problem of procrastination, our children also drag on doing something that they have to do, that they even agree with their parents to do. How do we help our children to get things done? Over at ClubMom Linn Sperry wrote some practical tips to replace nagging in [...]

Whining is hard to take for many parents because it’s irritating: That pleading, grating voice. That tortured expression. Goldsack sums it up when she says, “It’s like a million little nails on a chalkboard.” No doubt about it, whining drives parents nuts. Still, kids have a variety of not-always-charming habits. So why is this one [...]