Office Phone: 905-491-6949

happy families

Home BlogArchive by Category "happy families" (Page 9)

What’s Your Style?

Andrea Ramsay Speers

communication, happy families, nagging, parenting, Pet Peeves, stress

Dr. Michael Popkin is a parenting expert who also uses the Adlerian “Democratic Parenting” model in his work. He has a quiz on his web site called What’s [...]

Most Of Us Hear, Not All Of Us Listen

Andrea Ramsay Speers

communication, couples, happy families, keeping kids out of trouble, marriage, nagging, parenting, Pet Peeves, self esteem, stress, teens

I use a lot of skills in my work as a psychotherapist in Oakville. Some of these skills are ones that I teach my clients, too, and active listening is probably one of the [...]

Alone…Together

Andrea Ramsay Speers

communication, gratitude, happy families, keeping kids out of trouble, parenting, self esteem, teens

What your kids want more than anything is to spend more time with you. Even your teenagers. Seriously. I can’t point you to any specific studies that prove this (although I’m [...]

Discipline Vs. Punishment

Andrea Ramsay Speers

anxiety, communication, depression, happy families, keeping kids out of trouble, nagging, parenting, self esteem, teens

I found a great explanation of the distinction, taken from Kathy Lynn’s book Who’s In Charge Anyway?: Discipline is not about pain or punishment, nor about revenge [...]

Cyber-Snooping On Our Kids

Andrea Ramsay Speers

communication, happy families, keeping kids out of trouble, parenting, self esteem, teens

Since we entered the digital age in earnest, there has been an explosion of high-tech gadgets parents can get to keep an eye on their kids. From debit cards that allow [...]

Being More Patient

Andrea Ramsay Speers

communication, happy families, marriage, nagging, parenting, Pet Peeves, stress

Most parents I’ve met would say that parenting has taught them to dig into reserves of patience they didn’t even know they had. But they’d also probably admit that they could [...]

Foiling a Manipulation Tactic

Andrea Ramsay Speers

communication, happy families, marriage, nagging, parenting, Pet Peeves, teens

Kids develop a finely tuned awareness of which parent to go to in specific circumstances. Whether they’re looking for money, a ride to the mall, or permission to sleep [...]

Saying What We Mean and Meaning What We Say

Andrea Ramsay Speers

communication, happy families, nagging, parenting, Pet Peeves, stress, teens

Here’s an interesting statistic: Today’s Parent magazine took an online poll, in which 58% of parents responded that they sometimes say yes when they wish [...]

A Listening Experiment

Andrea Ramsay Speers

communication, couples, happy families, marriage, parenting, Pet Peeves

Have you ever given much thought to how much talking you do? I try to be very aware of how much I talk — occupational hazard, I suppose — and I try to [...]

Staying the Course

Andrea Ramsay Speers

communication, entitlement, happy families, nagging, parenting, Pet Peeves, stress, teens

It’s easy to second-guess ourselves as parents. Whatever the situation is — trying to get our little one to sleep through the night, saying no to a 16 year old who [...]