Most people with children want to be good parents. The majority of parents want the best for their kids, but at what cost to the kids? If what we are doing as parents is working, then why is the juvenile crime rate so high and gang membership so attractive? Drug and alcohol abuse is wide spread, and AIDS among our youth has become an increasing problem. If you asked teenagers, most would say they don’t feel they are listened to, or honored as the individuals that they are.

Joe’s mother’s and stepfather’s intentions for him were pretty much the same as most parents. They wanted him to get good grades, go to college, and be happy. Their parenting skills differed though. His mother listened to him; she was empathetic and non judgmental. She allowed him to be his own person, make his mistakes and learn from them. His step father, Chuck, on the other hand was the authoritarian, and wasn’t able to hear what Joe wanted or needed. Screaming and yelling was the favored form of communication, and as a result the two are estranged. They have not spoken in over four years.

Children don’t come with manuals, so as parents we

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The Internet, is magnificent in its resources for families. Educational resources abound. Kids can easily find help for their homework blues without venturing to the library. Kids can chat with friends from far away for free; friends who, probably just a few years ago, they would never hear from again. And, of course, there’s plenty of entertainment to satisfy the whole family once the chores and homework are complete.

However, the Internet can often be an inappropriate place for kids to surf unsupervised. Plenty of content is only appropriate for mature audiences. And, sadly, there are ‘bad seeds’, those who the children never should talk to.

Help keep your children away from these unsuitable materials. Many search engines and directories have filters and options that only return pages that have passed a particular profanity or "kid-safe" filter. These types of filters vary from web site to web site, but may do one of the following:

* Only allow you to search a selection of links picked by the site’s editors to be "kid-safe" or free of profanity.

* Not show links containing profane words, these being words designated by a site to be profane. This list may not contain all possible profane words or

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Is it possible to be using our children addictively?

Anything that we use to get love, avoid pain, and fill up inner emptiness can become an addiction ? even our children! If your children are your whole life ? if you don’t have a strong spiritual connection with a personal source of love and guidance, as well as other relationships and interests that you are passionate about, you might be using your children to fill an empty place within you.

If you don’t have a partner or your relationship with your partner is not fulfilling to you, and you don’t have deeply connected and meaningful friendships, then you might be using your kids as your major emotional connection. If you don’t have hobbies or work that are compelling and fulfilling to you, you might be using your children to give meaning to your life. If you don’t have a daily spiritual practice that brings love and comfort to your soul, you might be using your children to fill this need.

If this is what you are doing, it is not good for your children. It is a huge burden on children to be responsible for their parent’s loneliness and sense of purpose. Children

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Often I will hear parents say, “I just ignore Jr. when he has a fit or screams.”

Though there may be times when this is appropriate it is not appropriate when Jr. is less than 5 years of age! Why? Because your child needs to receive training in proper and acceptable behavior. Screaming to get your own way is not proper or acceptable! If your child is screaming to get something, there are reasons he is doing this and I caution you, you may not like them!

First, your child has been taught to scream. That’s right, taught. I know it isn’t pleasant and I know you didn’t do it intentionally, but bear with me…it is true, you taught him to scream! When babies begin to gain their independence they develop personal tastes for foods, people, their environment and even situations. In other words, they start to know what they want in life. The problem? They have a limited number of ways to communicate what they want because they have not mastered language yet. So what do they do? They wave their arms, they kick their feet, they point, they make noise, and when that doesn’t work, they muster up, and let

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Child support is defined as that part of your income you would spend on your children if they lived with you. Custodial parents do not pay child support, because it is assumed that they are spending money on the children, either directly (clothes, entertainment, etc.) and indirectly (rent, food, etc.). Non-custodial parents are ordered to pay child support -usually a fixed amount for a certain period of time, like per week or per month ? to the custodial parent, who is required to spend it for the benefit of the child. This article is written to define a method by which a non-custodial parent can create income that should pay his or her child support obligation, yet not increase the child support obligation.

Two models exist for determining child support. The first, and probably the most prevalent, is the "dual income" model ? the incomes of the custodial and non-custodial parents are combined, a child support amount is calculated from the combined incomes, and then each parent’s portion is determined. The non-custodial parent is ordered to pay his or her portion as child support.

The second and the more straightforward and direct, is the "single income" model. The non-custodial parent is ordered

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Q. We just got our daughter’s progress report, and it looks as if no matter how hard she works she’ll get all C’s and D’s, when she had been getting A’s and B’s. What do you recommend to help her do better next nine weeks?

A. There could be many issues going on, but here’s the best simple, quick-start suggestion I can offer.

You already know what the outcome will be for this report card, so there doesn’t need to be any weeping and gnashing of teeth or high drama when the report card arrives.

When you get her report card, on a separate sheet of paper, make three columns.

In the first column, list her classes.

In the second column, list the grade in each class.

In the third column, list the grade that is the goal for the next report card.

While she certainly may be capable of raising each class more than one letter grade, that’s the goal I suggest you set. If she got a D, then the goal is a C. If she got a C, then the goal is a B, and so on.

In this way, she experiences the task ahead as doable, and you get to see good results, if

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Although many children are picky eaters at some stage in their lives, the experts say not to worry. Unless you are feeding him or her chips and cookies three times each day, these children will most likely meet their weekly nutritional quotas.

However, if you are concerned about their developmental progress, make an appointment with their pediatrician for confirmation. In the meantime, you may want to include a multivitamin in your child’s daily diet to balance his intake of nutrients.

Instead of looking at what types of food your child is eating meal-by-meal or even day-by-day, round out the picture by looking at your child’s diet week-by-week.

Most children do not eat a balanced diet every day, but over the course of a week or so, their diet will usually fall within healthy eating guidelines. This perspective can help provide you with the total nutrient intake and you will probably feel much better after discovering that they really are eating more nutritional foods overall.

Here are some nutritional guidelines that can help you when looking at your child’s dietary needs:

? Children need between 24-28 grams of protein a day, which can be found in just two servings of cheese, beef, chicken, fish, eggs, yogurt,

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When is a person brilliant? When does a person show his genius? When he goes beyond the usual, beyond the obvious. When he goes one step farther in his thinking, understanding and creativity. For example, when you play chess, you plan ahead. You study the moves that are optional to you, and then the moves your opponent can make. You go a few steps deep. My son’s chess teacher once said: “Usual players plan 2 to 3 moves ahead. A grandmaster can plan 6 to 7 moves deep, and that makes grandmasters - grandmasters”. The teacher suggested to my son to look at the chess board, analyze the moves ahead, and then - put a conscious effort into analyzing one more move. Put conscious effort into going one step farther.

When applied to all areas of life - this habit alone can differentiate between the everyday smart person, and an unusually creative, brilliant genius.

How can we teach our children this exceptional practice - as early as possible? This truly takes only a few minutes at a time! Whenever you do an activity with your child, whenever you have a conversation with your child, whatever your child’s age is, encourage him to

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Thank you for all that you do in the classroom! It is hard enough being a classroom teacher today, but when you add to the difficulties two or three children with either Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or minor head injuries from FAS, managing a classroom can be a real challenge!

The ADHD Information Library has designed a web site just for you classroom teachers. We have taken 500 classroom interventions that we have gathered over the years from dozens of sources, and placed them on the site for you to visit, consider, and use if appropriate. Consider it a resource from classroom teachers to classroom teachers. The site is located at http://www.ADDinSchool.com, and we would invite you to visit often.

Here are some of the tips for teachers that are also on the site. They are just a brief look at the 500 interventions available.

1. Use rows for seating arrangement, and avoid tables with groups of students. Having groups at tables maximizes interpersonal distractions for the ADHD child when he is trying to do individual work. Where possible, it may be ideal to provide several tables for group projects and traditional rows for independent work. Some teachers

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Have you ever wondered why toys for babies tend to have so many bells, whistles and lights? Or why they have so many different textures, and materials and colors? It’s almost as if we want to provide young babies with a whole world of stimulation and we can’t quite get it to them fast enough.

Play gyms or activity gyms as they are sometimes called tend to be a firm favorite with babies from newborn up to about 12 months. These play gyms and activity nests mostly come in the form of comfortable, quilted or softly padded playmats, sometimes raised at the edges with a space in the middle for baby (like a ring doughnut). And these play gyms can be either brightly colored or in soft, pastel shades. But don’t be fooled by thinking they are just snug and comfy resting places for babies to fall asleep in! These activity gyms can provide a plethora of visual, audio and tactile stimulation for fast developing young inquisitive minds.

Often decorated with well known and lovable characters, Winnie-the-Pooh, Tigger, Eyore, or farm and zoo animals as well, they can consist of detachable, hanging parts for small babies to try to grasp. They tend

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