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…
Separation is a challenging time for many parents because it is an adjustment to a new way of life. There are both positive and negative factors to separation and the corresponding changes, but one of the issues that can arise is the differences that parents may have in the ways…
It seems like just yesterday that you brought home your new bundle of joy in your carefully chosen, backward facing car seat. After miles of spills, tantrums, and on-the road snoozing, you’ve cycled through the forward facing car seat and are ready to shop for a booster seat. The booster…
Parents, family, and child care professionals devote themselves to the welfare of children. Yet, even with love and devotion, 80 percent of deaths of children under five-years of age are avoidable. More then half of those deaths are caused by mistakes in the administration of medications given to benefit the…
Child discipline and logical consequences demand you learn to think before you act. You take the time you need. You get your feelings under control. You come up with a simple plan. You execute that plan. When kids are careless, rage can explode and it can feel great. Later shame…
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…
The arrival of a newborn baby is not exactly full of fun and excitement. First-time parents, most especially, have a propensity to experience mixed emotions about the whole thing. This is probably the reason why most people turn to experienced parents such as friends or relatives for some much-needed parenting…
Most financial experts believe that children should receive an allowance. The earlier children are taught financial skills, the better. Money management is a skill that many adults struggle with. By teaching children early on how to manage their money, it can go a long way into their adult years. Allowances…
David’s mother explained, “Whenever David doesn’t get his way he throws himself on the floor, screams, kicks and cries incessantly. What can we do to help him overcome this behavior?” TIP: What is David getting out of this behavior? First make sure that you are not rewarding this type of…
It is not a surprise to most people that health studies point to popular culture as a perpetrator of body image which has corresponded to the self image and well being of women AND men. What may surprise you is that this is not a new phenomenon. Is the rail…