Naughty or Nice: The Trouble with Using Santa for Behavior Modification

Thanksgiving was nowhere in sight. Where has Thanksgiving gone, and why are we so eager to skip the season of Thanksgiving?

Is your child clingy? Do you worry that she’s “too attached?” Is his behavior attention-seeking?

Perhaps the problem doesn’t lie in disciplinary actions but in critical words spoken or lack of quality time spent.

Pediatric obesity has reached epidemic proportions which has both immediate and long-term consequences for children.

Before you send your eye-rolling kid to his room, consider this. School is stressful, and children’s developing brains aren’t yet fully equipped to handle it.

The transition to middle school is an important milestone. It’s a time of tremendous change, not only to a new school building, but also physically, emotionally, and mentally for your child.

On the outside, I probably looked like a mom who had it all together.

Here’s how to tell if you are parenting from a fear-based mindset. Do you use time-outs, counting to three, or threats of punishment to change behavior? Do you physically punish your child? Do you set no limits or weak limits because you want your child to like you? Do you fail to discipline altogether?

Goal-setting is a simple way for kids to build confidence and self-esteem, learn responsibility, and gain a can-do attitude!

With no school lunches to pack or homework to complete, there’s finally a little more time to connect heart to heart with our kids.

“A happy life is made of a million little happy moments stitched together with great purpose.” – Rebecca Eanes, The Gift of a Happy Mother

Sometimes in the middle of a power struggle, our parenting strategy dissolves into one-upping our kids and aiming to get the last word.

The thing is, your child’s friends rarely love without conditions, and jumping through the conditions of acceptance and approval is exhausting every single day.

The benefits of play has been well-documented, but are you aware that play is a powerful parenting tool? We can use play to teach lessons, heal and process emotions, and connect with our children’s hearts. Why is play so effective? Because children are wired to learn this way!

We say, “Don’t do that,” and they do it anyway. We say, “Stop” and they continue. We say, “Pick that up” and they do so just to throw it back down again.

Self-discipline is such a challenge because parenting uncovers all of our triggers and brings up fears, hurts, and feelings from our pasts that cause real emotional reactions that we may not understand or be able to control until we bring awareness to those reactions. Our children show us where we need to heal and how we need to grow ourselves to reach our own full potentials so that we can help guide them toward reaching theirs.

Do you hold regular family meetings? If not, today may be a great day to begin because the benefits of family meetings are numerous.

Great summers are made of a mix of creativity, adventure, togetherness, and downtime, and it all begins with a good plan. Here’s how to make the most of summer with your kids.

The need for closeness with a parent does not disintegrate when the bridge to adolescence is crossed. We must remain their compass point, and this is true for both boys and girls.

Self-concept is still developing, and while they are more independent in this stage, connection with you is still vital. Here’s how to build trust and connection in these important years.