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Making The Most Of Summer Birthdays (Even If It’s An Un-Birthday)

Andrea Ramsay Speers

happy families, holidays, parenting, teens, tweens

As a winter baby, I never had to experience the disappointment of inviting friends to a party but having them all at the cottage on the appointed day. Or of not knowing how [...]

Say What You Mean And Mean What You Say

Andrea Ramsay Speers

chores, communication, happy families, nagging, parenting, Pet Peeves, teens, tweens

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 [...]

Terrible Teens

Andrea Ramsay Speers

anxiety, happy families, parenting, teens

Many of my parenting clients with young children are already worrying about the teen years. They’ve heard horror stories – or remember being a horror story to their own [...]

Books And Teens

Andrea Ramsay Speers

parenting, Pet Peeves, teens, tweens

I remember reading a series of books when I was a preteen and young teen, whose series name I can’t remember. The protagonists (mostly teen girls) were plagued by such [...]

Whose Work Is Housework?

Andrea Ramsay Speers

chores, entitlement, happy families, parenting, Pet Peeves, self esteem, teens, tweens

Not many of us relish doing housework. Most of us hardly get a kick out of cleaning the mini-blinds and baseboards. Kids? They tend to enjoy it even less. But if we all [...]

Time To Think

Andrea Ramsay Speers

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

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 [...]

Fears And Phobias

Andrea Ramsay Speers

anxiety, happy families, mental health, nagging, parenting, Pet Peeves, self esteem, stress, teens, tweens

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 [...]

Whose Work Is Homework?

Andrea Ramsay Speers

communication, nagging, parenting, Pet Peeves, school, self esteem, stress, teens, tweens

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 [...]

Bribes Versus Rewards

Andrea Ramsay Speers

communication, gratitude, happy families, nagging, parenting, school, self esteem, teens, tweens, Uncategorised

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 [...]

The Importance Of Attachment

Andrea Ramsay Speers

communication, happy families, parenting, self esteem, teens, tweens

“Attachment” is something that parents, particularly of babies, think about. How do we help our kids develop healthy attachment, and how do we know if we’re doing it right? [...]