If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!Kari pulls into the fast food restaurant’s drive-thru for the third time this week to get her and her three children dinner before she drives her youngest to baseball practice. She almost never has time to cook and meal for her family, anymore, between soccer and baseball practice for her two sons and dance and gymnastics for daughter. Kari works forty to fifty hours a week, plus her children have a hectic schedule. All three of her children love participating in all the activities they are doing, even if they are... (Read More ...)
Pleading with her seven year old son, Ann feels discouraged when begging him to eat just one more bite of carrots. Instead, her son just continues to play with his food and stare at it. She can’t begin to count the plates of food that have gone to waste because her son does not finish everything on his plate. No matter what she fixes she cannot get her son to eat all the food on his plate. Ann is so frustrated and tired of having an argument with her son over dinner about him not finishing all his food. Ann is desperate and wonders “How can I get my son to eat all his food?” Do you have children... (Read More ...)
Julie opens the freezer to fix dinner and is bombarded with a mountain of chicken nuggets, her son’s favorite. “Can we have chicken nuggets, again?” asks her six year old son from across the house. Sighing, Julie responds, “Yes” and reluctantly pulls out the box of chicken nuggets. Julie knows it’s not healthy for her son to eat chicken nuggets every night, but she knows of the tantrum she is avoiding by preparing this favorite food of her son’s. She wonders, “How do I get my children to try different foods?” Would you like to transform your picky eaters between 5 and 13 into... (Read More ...)
The screams coming from her six month old daughter’s crib launches Jill to her feet and into the bedroom. Jill witnesses her six year old son yanking on his little sister’s hair through the crib. Instantly, Jill pulls the two apart and drags her son to the hallway. After asking her son his reasoning, he simply replies, “Because I felt like it.” Jill has been dealing with behavior like this for the past year and can’t figure out why. After disciplining her son time and time again, Jill wonders if there might be a reason for the behavior and a solution she hasn’t thought of before. Do... (Read More ...)
After an exhausting and repetitive week, Erin finally makes it home late Friday night. Wanting a change, she decides to fix something new for dinner. Erin cooks cauliflower and carrots and adds them to her four-year-old daughter’s plate, next to the macaroni and cheese and hamburger. Instantly, her daughter turns up her nose to the new and foreign vegetable on her plate. Erin begs her daughter and offers bribes with candy to get her to eat the cauliflower and carrots. Her daughter still refuses and Erin throws a way the untouched vegetables. Do you ask yourself, “How do I get my... (Read More ...)
If you like this article, check out the related resources listed below QUESTION: I think that dating age depends on how mature and responsible a teenager is and should not be locked in by some age limit. I know some parents who think it should be whatever age the teen wants to start dating at. I am not quite that liberal though and think it should be a parental decision vs. the teen’s decision. What do you think? What dating standards did you have for your own children? ANSWER: Anyone who has read many of my advice columns knows that I regularly say, “There are no ‘rights’ and ‘wrongs’... (Read More ...)
Stephanie’s son is in first grade. He comes home from school crying almost every day. He loses his recess and is told to stay on “the wall” because he doesn’t finish his work. Stephanie asked him why. He said he didn’t know how to do all the work and is afraid to ask his teacher (although he is usually a very outgoing child). Last year he was excited about school. He asked to have his work put on the fridge. But this year his papers ALL say stuff like “neater please!!” and “stay in the lines,” so he no longer likes to have them put up for family and... (Read More ...)
Rob and Linda have a son in third grade and daughter in fifth grade. Their son has a hard time organizing his desk and getting the correct subject book out during class. Their daughter has a hard time getting homework assignments back to the correct teacher and has received several missed assignment slips because she could not find assignments to turn in. Rob and Linda want their children to learn how to be responsible for their own assignments and school work, but they also want them to succeed in school. What are some ways Rob and Linda can help their children succeed in school without... (Read More ...)
After staying two hours late at work, Leah is frantically trying to make it to her daughter’s daycare. With the continuous growling of her stomach as a constant reminder she thinks about what she can make or pick up for dinner before her eight year old son’s soccer practice. She finally makes it to her daughter’s daycare, racing through the door and apologizing for her tardiness. She rushes to her daughter’s room eagerly awaiting her hug. Stopped by her daughter’s teacher at the door, Leah begins to hear the bad news. Her daughter has bitten another child and this is the third... (Read More ...)
Since the tragic school massacre in Littleton, Colorado, people have been asking the same questions, “Why did this happen?” “How could it have been prevented?” ”Could this happen in our school?” “What can we do to stop the school killings that are occurring nationwide?” The answers to these questions are neither simple nor absolute. School violence affects every person and it will take everyone’s involvement to solve the problem. There are specific, practical steps each of us can take TODAY to minimize the risks to our children and start... (Read More ...)
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