I hosted a webinar this week on how to stop using rewards to gain your child’s compliance, and judging by the number of people who showed up and how many questions they had, this is a hot-button topic. Seems as though a lot of parents really want to find a better way to work…
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by Jen Lumanlan of Your Parenting Mojo and Lee and Elise Procida of Parentifact Only a few generations ago, it made sense to ignore expert parenting advice. Most of it was nonsense. In the early 20th century, parents were instructed by books and manuals to always keep their childrens’ heads pointed north,…
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(Photo credit: Saul Loeb) I don’t normally write political posts. It’s not my expertise, and while four of my top five StrengthsFinder strengths are related to learning the fifth is Harmony, which means that while I enjoy a conversation about ideas, I can’t stand feeling attacked. Political discussion just seems to often bring out…
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The new school year is now well underway; my daughter moved up to a new preschool class this year and we certainly seeing some changes. She’s in with the fours, fives, and some sixes now and relational aggression is rearing its ugly head. Almost every day we’re hearing some version of “[Friend] said she didn’t…
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School’s in! How’s it going for you and your child? On the first day of school, did your child give you a sweet hug and run off cheerfully to play with their friends? Or were they stuck to you like a limpet, screaming “Don’t go! Don’t go!” as you tried to extricate yourself, highly ambivalent…
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Key Takeaways Most children develop sharing abilities around 3.5-4 years old, not at 1-2 years as many parents expect. Use “taking turns” instead of “sharing” and model sharing behavior yourself rather than forcing children to give up toys. Children under 3 lack understanding of others’ perspectives and time concepts, making sharing difficult developmentally. Forcing sharing…
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Ever been in any of these scenarios? “I took my children on a fantastic vacation to Disney World. My youngest ate it up but my five-year-old pouted the whole time. The lines were too long; the weather was too hot; the food sucked. Why can’t he appreciate the sacrifices we make for him? It’s…
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We’ve all been there. Your preschooler wakes up in a foul mood (don’t we all, every once in a while?), and starts crying before she even gets out of bed. Nothing you do can make it right: she doesn’t want the same thing she has for breakfast every morning; she can’t choose something she…
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One of the most-often asked questions in parenting groups that I’m in is “My child WILL NOT let me brush his/her teeth. How can I get through this?” Oh my goodness; I feel your pain. We went through this too when my daughter was about 15 months old, and it persisted for several…
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Dramatic responses are understandable after traumatic events because want to distance ourselves from the pain, and ‘make sure it never happens again.’ I saw a lot of articles in the weeks immediately after the Florida school shooting discussing how parents were considering homeschooling because they were afraid; another recent spate of articles note that there…
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