Surviving Sleep-Overs
Andrea Ramsay Speers
Sleep-overs are an important rite of passage for teens and pre-teens. But any parent who’s ever hosted one will tell you that the potential for disaster (spills and [...]
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Happiness At Home: How To Create A Positive Work Environment
Andrea Ramsay Speers
We have all worked in places where we grew to dread getting up in the morning, and a few of us have had the pleasure of working for a boss who makes us feel like we can do [...]
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Eliminate Criticism and Minimize Mistakes
Andrea Ramsay Speers
This is the title of a chapter in Rudolph Dreikurs’ classic parenting book Children: The Challenge. It can be a tough concept for a parent to really grasp, though, [...]
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Conversation Basics
Andrea Ramsay Speers
I think every parent wants to raise a polite child. Sometimes how that is defined varies from family to family, but overall, there are some things that we have as a culture [...]
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“Fighting Fair”?
Andrea Ramsay Speers
All couples disagree at some point. It’s not realistic to think that we’ll see eye-to-eye on everything over the course of a long marriage. Disagreeing isn’t the issue; how [...]
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Interruption Disruption
Andrea Ramsay Speers
I’m of the belief that one of the hardest parts of parenting is the constant interruptions. It could be interruptions while you’re talking, or just the idea that a parent’s [...]
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Happiness At Home: How To Manage Sibling Rivalry
Andrea Ramsay Speers
It is human nature to feel competitive and envious toward others. A moderate spirit of competition is a positive and productive attribute in school and in business. Sibling [...]
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A String on the Finger
Andrea Ramsay Speers
One of the things that never fails to set parents off is when kids are chronically forgetful. And it can be a long haul to get kids to accept the responsibility of [...]
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“So, How Was School?”
Andrea Ramsay Speers
Does that question make your kids clam up? Instead of asking a blanket question like this, try asking about a specific class, for example, or what they did during recess. [...]
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When Big Kids Cry Easily
Andrea Ramsay Speers
Some kids are just very sensitive. They cry easily and often, even over situations that others might not feel are such a big deal, and even as they pass the age where we [...]
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