Pet Peeves
05Feb
Goals Of Misbehaviour Part 2: Power
Last month we began our quest to answer the question, “What are they thinking?!?” (“they”, of course, being our children). Recognizing that no behaviour happens by accident [...]
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30Jan
What Are You Tolerating?
We all have things that we tolerate in our lives. Some of them are big things (like a nasty neighbour), but many of them are small things (a messy desk is an example), and we [...]
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Goals Of Misbehaviour Part I: Attention
Have you ever looked at your kids and thought, “What are they thinking?!?” It’s a common parental response to outrageous, wacky, disruptive, or hurtful behaviours. But there [...]
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Side-Stepping Power Struggles
“You’re Not The Boss Of Me!” There probably isn’t a parent alive who doesn’t cringe or roll their eyes at the phrase “power struggle”. We’ve all been there – and some of us [...]
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Family Meetings:Your One-Stop Solution For Discipline AND Fun
If you’ve ever had a job, you’ve probably attended a meeting. And although it may seem somewhat unusual to apply this same strategy to “running” your family, family meetings [...]
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Decide What You Will Do
We spend a lot of our time as parents trying to “make” our kids do things. Whether it’s making them hurry up, pick up after themselves, be polite, or make the bed, a lot of [...]
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Ask One, Then The Other
How do you handle a child who doesn’t take “no” for an answer, but instead quietly goes to the other parent and asks the same question? Kids can be crafty, [...]
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Do We Need Intuition In Parenting?
Who do you trust for information about raising your children? Your doctor, your mom, your girlfriends, the internet? Who do you receive information and advice from (whether [...]
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“Because I Said So!”
Who among us did not hear that as a kid? And who finds themselves saying it to their own kids now? Children can really wear you down, and some of them are more persistent [...]
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Catch Them Being Good
It seems to be in our nature to notice the bad. Whether we’re cataloguing the things we would change about ourselves, the mistakes we have made, or why life isn’t perfect, we [...]
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