Summer is a great time for children. School is out for most of them and it’s time to play. Running, climbing, building sand castles, swimming… Sweating, sunburns, complaining. It isn’t necessarily all that easy to keep the kids busy all summer long, especially on particularly hot days, the days when…
Kids don’t come with an instruction manual, and there’s no such thing as a perfect parent. You can read as many books as possible, talk to all the moms on the playground and pay for weekly therapy sessions, and you still might feel like you don’t know what you are…
Do you know the difference between discipline and punishment with their Latin roots? Punishment implies inflicting pain, while discipline means to teach. Parents who use punishment are missing important opportunities to teach their children better behaviors and help them self-discipline. Children can actually be taught responsible behaviors to help them…
None of us want “spoiled” kids – kids who are bratty, self-centered, demanding, inconsiderate. So, what spoils children and what doesn’t? When I was raising my children, I was often told that I would spoil them if I didn’t let them cry – if I held them a lot. Fortunately,…
In order for us to get restful sleep, we need to be relaxed. In order to relax, a number of things have to happen. First of all, we need to feel safe and secure. Obviously, if there is tension in the house – abuse, parents rowing, problems with finances or…
You’ve had the familiar pang of longing while looking at the babies of friends and family. Heck, diaper commercials may even bring a tear to your eye. But it’s not all emotions; you’ve done the math, weighed your options and decided: it’s time to have a baby. Women of childbearing…
We all know the feeling…the moment of pride when someone notices how outspoken or articulate our child is. We bask in the knowledge that our child is smart, has a great sense of self-esteem and succeeds at virtually everything they attempt to do. There is a fine line between confidence…
It’s every parent’s worst nightmare. We’re talking about that heart-stopping moment when a child chokes on food. In an instant, you have a life-or-death situation on your hands. Perhaps the most frightening aspect is that choking is unpredictable and can stem from what seems like the most innocuous foods, everyday…
Bad behavior is often an effective way to attract attention of parents. The conflicting time will probably start at the stage during her third year: tears and tantrums often go hand in hand with being two years old. Phrasing limits in a positive way focuses on what to do, rather…
I learned the truth about Santa Claus from our big brother. I was skeptical at first, so we sneaked out to my grandparents’ trailer and he showed me all the gifts we had asked Santa to bring. He was telling the truth! My brother had somehow stumbled upon an amazing…