Behavior is Communication–Video
The Arc of the Tantrum video has been hugely popular, so I've made another one. This one is on a topic I speak about in various ways all the time: Behavior is Communication. Click below for 2 minutes and 38 seconds' worth of coaching on understanding your child's misbehavior. (and see directly below for a rudimentary transcript.) Behavior is Communication, notes from [...]
Children and Funerals
# You are the best person to talk with your child about what has happened. You don't need a professional to break bad news--your child would rather hear it from his parents. (although YOU might feel better if YOU talk to someone first--practicing what you're going to say is a great idea.) # Don't hide the truth, and don't delay too long before telling your child pertinent details. # Regarding funerals, there are a lot of good reasons to allow your child to attend the funeral, including:
News Flash: Marriage + Kids = Stress
it's nice having one's own experiences validated by research
Book Review: Always and Forever
Always and Forever by Alan Durant is a child's picture book about death, grief, and moving on. It's very much the sort of book that I like to review here. But this review came about completely accidentally, and the surprise ultimately made me like it even more.
Kids + Sugar = ?
Ask 10 moms what you get when you mix their kids with a big dose of sugar, and I bet you'll get 10 responses on the same theme: hyperactivity. It's a parenting theory on par with gravity! So imagine my surprise when I read this article in the British Medical Journal, which says that sugar does NOT cause hyperactivity in [...]
What kids really want for the holidays
I originally posted this last year, but it's such good info, I wanted to post it again this year...**********************************In their book Unplug the Christmas Machine, authors Jo Robinson and Jean Staeheli say that kids want the following 4 things for Christmas: A relaxed and loving time with their family.Realistic expectations about giftsAn evenly paced holiday seasonReliable family traditions**********************************Notice it doesn't [...]
Coping Skills for Kids, part 1
A coping skill is any trick, technique, or habit that you use to "deal with" something. For example, when you feel anxious, you might say to yourself: "I'm okay, I can handle this, it's going to be okay." That's called "positive self-talk.
