Metal Mouth
Andrea Ramsay Speers
I’m seeing a lot of kids these days with braces. Not that there’s anything new about that — history is filled with teenaged orthodontics. Not mine, [...]
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“Lucky” Parents
Andrea Ramsay Speers
I had an interesting conversation with a business advisor who was learning more about what I do. He asked if I thought that some parents were just “lucky” in [...]
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Men At Work
Andrea Ramsay Speers
A lot of ink has been devoted to the work/life balance for moms, but are dads feeling the crunch too? I think they might be. While programs such as paternity leave have [...]
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In Praise Of Girlfriends
Andrea Ramsay Speers
Where would we be without our girlfriends? We go through cycles in our lives, and I think are friendships are no exception. When we first have kids, we tend to gravitate [...]
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Marriage Advice
Andrea Ramsay Speers
I do a lot of work with parents, that’s true, but I also see a lot of couples looking for marriage advice. Sometimes people come to see me specifically because their marriage [...]
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Dealing With Strong Emotions
Andrea Ramsay Speers
Kids say a lot of stuff over the course of a day. Some of it we listen to, some of it we hear and dismiss, some of it we ignore. But what we listen to and how we respond can [...]
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Assertive Communication: 20 Tips
Andrea Ramsay Speers
Most of us know that assertiveness will get you further in life than being passive or aggressive. But few of us were actually taught how to be assertive. Here are some helpful [...]
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“Children Don’t Really Misbehave”
Andrea Ramsay Speers
This great article was brought to my attention by Alyson Schafer’s email update (Alyson, if you don’t know, is a parenting expert regularly featured on CTV News, the Ask An [...]
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Effort Versus Result
Andrea Ramsay Speers
With report cards comes a whole host of anxiety. For both parents and kids. I’ve seen parents in my office wield their children’s grades as though they are daring me to not be [...]
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Sass, Back Talk, and Smart Mouths
Andrea Ramsay Speers
When your child says something spiteful and hurtful to you, how do you handle it? Our response is key to determining whether or not your child will use that behaviour again, [...]
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