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Lowered Expectations
As parents, we set pretty high standards for ourselves. When we’re expecting our first child, we plan on having a child who listens, who is patient while we’re shopping, who [...]
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18Nov
Out-Of-The-Box Encouragement
We’ve talked before about how important encouragement is for kids. It contributes to healthy self esteem, it fosters courage and a willingness to make a mistake but try again, [...]
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7 Habits Of Highly Effective Communicators
Many of us take our communication style for granted. We just say what we’re thinking. We might assume that what we’re thinking is “common sense.” Maybe we don’t give much [...]
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Say What You Mean And Mean What You Say
Following through as a parent is hard. Who among us has not threatened to cancel Christmas or a vacation, knowing full well that we’d never do it? Who hasn’t said to [...]
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Time To Think
In the daily grind of making lunches, arriving on time, homework, and all of the other activities that fill our days, it can be easy to lose sight of our big-picture parenting [...]
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Fears And Phobias
Kids develop fears. It could be separation anxiety as a toddler, a fear of clowns as a preschooler, or a dread of public speaking as a school-ager. About one in 30 children [...]
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Whose Work Is Homework?
If it was meant to be fun, it wouldn’t be called homework, right? But does getting assignments and essays done have to be such a battle? In fact, that’s the last thing it [...]
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Bribes Versus Rewards
Here’s an interesting question: what’s the difference between a reward and a bribe? Many would say that the distinction comes down to the use of the word [...]
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Encouraging Respect In Our Kids
“Respect” is an important word for parents. We want our kids to respect us as parents, respect all we do for them, and respect other people. We want them to [...]
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Raising Responsible Children
When I ask parents what kind of adults they hope their children will grow to be, they often use words like responsible, respectful, and independent. Which is a worthy goal, [...]
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