Put That Away!
Andrea Ramsay Speers
One of most parents’ pet peeves is seeing stuff lying all over the house. Stepping over shoes in the doorway, or seeing dirty dishes on the counter, or the remains of an arts [...]
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Family Meeting How-To’s
Andrea Ramsay Speers
Family meetings can be one of your best discipline strategies as a parent. Here’s what your kids learn from participating in family meetings: Listening skills Brainstorming [...]
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Lowered Expectations
Andrea Ramsay Speers
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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Happiness At Home: Emotional Survival Guide For Teens
Andrea Ramsay Speers
This month’s newsletter is written for teens. If you are a teen, this is for you. If you know a teenager, please pass it along. This month, we will explore the hardest things [...]
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Out-Of-The-Box Encouragement
Andrea Ramsay Speers
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
Andrea Ramsay Speers
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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How Do We Define “Mental Health”?
Andrea Ramsay Speers
How do we know if we are mentally healthy? What exactly is “mental health”? These are questions that maybe we should ask ourselves. It seems hard to expect to achieve a [...]
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Helping Your Child Cope With Divorce
Andrea Ramsay Speers
Divorce is not easy on anyone. When children are involved, the situation can be particularly challenging, but it doesn’t have to be traumatic. Your child’s age will [...]
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Hands-On Parenting: Too Much Of A Good Thing
Andrea Ramsay Speers
I first became aware of the term “helicopter parent” many years ago. It was in an article by Amanda Robb in the July 2008 issue of O Magazine. The term was coined by former [...]
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Happiness At Home: How People Change
Andrea Ramsay Speers
What Is Happiness? If you are thinking about changing your life for the better, one way to start is by identifying your goals. You are probably hoping to find some version of [...]
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