Who’s In Your Village?
Andrea Ramsay Speers
The expression goes, “it takes a village”. Raising kids was never supposed to be a solo endeavour, yet today’s parents often end up feeling very alone. In some ways, it’s [...]
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Building Healthy Self-Esteem In Children
Andrea Ramsay Speers
As parents, we want our kids to feel good about themselves. We want them to feel strong, confident, courageous, and resilient. But even our best efforts can backfire [...]
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No Is Not A Four-Letter Word
Andrea Ramsay Speers
People ask a lot of us. Whether they want us to take on a new project at work, bake a dozen cupcakes for the school bake sale, or water their plants while they’re away, we [...]
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How Can I Get My Toddler To Listen Better?
Andrea Ramsay Speers
Listening doesn’t come naturally to kids this age. Their language skills are still developing, and their attention spans are short. That mix doesn’t lead to meaningful [...]
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Happiness At Home: Develop Your Personal Negotiation Skills
Andrea Ramsay Speers
Negotiating skills can help you manage lots of different kinds of life situations, both at work and in your personal relationships. Here are a few examples of where these [...]
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“Parental Love With Strings Attached”
Andrea Ramsay Speers
I just reread a classic article about the danger in tying parental love and approval with good behaviour. It was written by Alfie Kohn, a well-known critic of and thinker [...]
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“No” Is A Complete Sentence
Andrea Ramsay Speers
As parents (and moms in particular), we often have a hard time saying no. Whether it’s to a sleep over we’re not sure we’re comfortable with or whipping up eight unicorn [...]
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Happiness At Home: 12 Rules For Constructive Communication
Andrea Ramsay Speers
Poor communication patterns erode self-esteem and harm relationships but sadly, plenty of people fall into the trap of indulging in them. If you and your relationship partners [...]
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You Can Have Excellent Listening Skills!
Andrea Ramsay Speers
Any psychotherapist will tell you that one of the biggest problems they see among their clients is poor listening skills. People get into trouble in their relationships [...]
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Happiness At Home: How To Manage Conflict At Work
Andrea Ramsay Speers
Kinds of Workplace Conflicts Let’s start by identifying where conflicts happen. Think about the kinds of conflicts that happen around your workplace. Disagreements over turf [...]
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