My child often disrespects me. Perhaps you feel that way because your child talks to you rudely or hatefully. How do you handle it? Do you raise your voice and yell back? That approach usually escalates the situation until both of you are speaking angrily. Or maybe you choose to ignore it, thinking that they…
How to Raise Adults, Not Kids
The parent who focuses only on raising kids could end up with children who are immature people in grown-up bodies. I have met 35-year-olds–and OLDER–who are running around still treating others in childish ways. Your job, parents, is to raise adults. By the time your kids reach their teenage years, you should have young adults…
How to Teach Problem-Solving to Your Kids
Problem-solving is a skill that will not only give your child confidence, it will save you some headaches long-term. Perhaps this scenario has played out in your home on numerous occasions: “Don’t do that,” says Mom or Dad hundreds of times a day (or at least it FEELS like 100 times). Parents then become frustrated…
Parent-Child Contracts: Do They Work?
Parent-child contracts: Do they work? Are they worth the time? Are they good for your relationship with your child?To answer those questions, let’s start with reality in your home. Does it sound like this? “You’re grounded for a month!” Perhaps you’ve yelled that at your child when they broke one of your rules. However, by…
Are You Transmitting Your Stress to Your Kids?
As parents, you often see how your stress affects your kids–maybe you see it in their eyes or in their behavior. There are even studies that suggest that a parent’s stress level can affect a child’s makeup, including their risk for mood disorders, addiction, or learning disorders. It’s not something parents want to hear, but…
Managing Your Anger When Your Child Pushes Your Buttons
Managing your anger when your child does something that royally ticks you off is a huge challenge for most parents. But disciplining your kids in the heat of anger often causes more harm than good. You see, when parents react, they often say things they later regret. The honest truth is that what you say…
Your Kids are NOT Listening if You Do This
When your kids are not listening, do you have any idea why? Maybe you feel like you are the only one listening to yourself when you are talking to them about something you feel is very important. Let’s be honest, if you are doing a lot of talking, they may very well NOT be listening….
9 Steps to Being a Full-time Parent
Are you a full-time parent? This has nothing to do with whether you have a job/stay at home or homeschool/send them to school. It has everything to do with building a healthy, whole relationship with your child. With all that you do every day for your kids, you know that parenting is very demanding. Parenting…
What is Your Child Thinking About? 12 Tugs-of-War That are Going on in Your Child’s Mind Every Day
What is your child thinking? Ever wish you could read their minds? Every day, there is a tug of war going on in your child’s mind and heart. No, it’s not “should I play video games or do my homework?” or “should I hit my sister or not?”. The conflicts go deeper; however, they are…
10 Parenting Principles That Will Help You to “Lay Down the Law” for Your Kids
What are your parenting principles? Have you taken the time to think through them? I’d like to suggest 10 parenting principles that will help you “lay down the law” for your kids. Your ultimate goal as a parent is to help your child learn how to manage their behavior so that when you are not…