A parent asked me, “I’ve told my kids to do their homework when they first come home from school. But they just won’t do it, and end up finishing late. What can I do?”
The parent’s thinking is to get homework out of way first, and that is a good study habit. This makes sense…only to [...]
My friend asked for advice as a new mom.
There are volumes written on being a parent. But if I have to simplify it all down to 5 points, because no one likes to read a long post, here is the advice I would give to a mom.
Do these 5 concrete action items everyday. These are [...]
A friend of mine had her first baby last week. On her Facebook status, she said, “Bring on the new parent advice!”
What advice would you give her?
Photo by ephotography
A parent asked me, “Should I allow my 13-year-old to use her cellphone for texting, or should I block that feature?”
To answer that question, I went to my expert advisor, my 14-year-old daughter.
“Do you think kids your age should be allowed to text?”
What do you think is her answer?
She said, “There is no need for [...]
A reader asks, “I’ve made mistakes in my life and am not too proud of what I’ve done in my younger years. When my daughter asks if I was a virgin when I got married, how should I answer?”
I think our kids pretty much know that we don’t live perfect lives, *cough, cough*.
When I teach [...]
When parents ask me for advice for problems they are facing, they are hoping for the cure-all, a guarantee, a silver bullet that would make them the perfect parent with perfect kids in 3 easy steps.
Of course we know there is no such thing, but we keep hoping.
However, in order to satisfy the need for [...]
In the previous post, I talked about whether we should pay our children to do chores. I gave my take on it, which is not to say that it’s the perfect way to do it.
The question now is, “If we don’t pay our children for regular chores, what about paying them for extra chores that [...]
(Read previous posts in this series: Teaching Children About Money, and Teaching Children to Set Priorities for Spending.)
In the previous post, I posed the question “Should we pay our children to do chores to earn money?” Would that teach them lessons about money?
Let me say that there is no perfect right or wrong answer to [...]
“My 11-year-old is disrespectful, talks back to us, and unmotivated in school. We’ve tried talking to her, giving her rewards and punishment, nothing seems to work. What should we do?”
I’ve been answering this parent’s question in the last two posts:
Dealing with difficult tween years
Our teenager is growing up and away!
I’ve stayed away from offering specific [...]
In the previous post, I started to address the question by a parent: “My 11-year-old is disrespectful, talks back to us, and unmotivated in school. We’ve tried talking to her, giving her rewards and punishment, nothing seems to work. What should we do?”
Here’s the 2nd part of the answer where I take a different [...]
A parent asked me, “My 11-year-old is disrespectful, talks back to us, and unmotivated in school. We’ve tried talking to her, giving her rewards and punishment, nothing seems to work. What should we do?”
My son also had a difficult time when he was 11, just going into middle school. I’ve talked to several parents recently [...]
A reader asks, “What do I do with my kids when they complain that they’re bored?”
Does it irk you when kids say, “I’m bored!”?
While substituting a 4th grade class, a girl came up to me during recess and said, “I’m bored!” I looked at her and said, “And your point is…?” My sarcasm was lost [...]
In the first 2 parts of this series in answer to a reader’s question, ““I would LOVE to hear some tips on how to get the kids to do their chores. You know, without making me turn into the Wicked Witch of the West???â€, I wrote about 2 fundamental principles:
1. Stop Nagging!
2. The right way [...]
Last week, I wrote Part 1 in answer to a reader’s question, “I would LOVE to hear some tips on how to get the kids to do their chores. You know, without making me turn into the Wicked Witch of the West???”
There are many good techniques you can use to get your kids to do [...]
A reader asked, “I would LOVE to hear some tips on how to get the kids to do their chores. You know, without making me turn into the Wicked Witch of the West???”
This is one of the most common question I get asked by parents.
First, we all know that mothers are known to be nags. [...]
Is abstinence realistic?
This is a common topic of discussion, most recently triggered by Bristol Palin’s statement that “abstinence is not realistic at all.”
If a teenage couple go out on a date, the girl is dressed in a tight low-cut blouse and low-rise pants, and they go see a romance movie, then end up at his [...]
A reader asked me how she can prepare for Baby #2. Is there anything she can do within the next few months before Baby #2 arrives, perhaps get her life organized in a way that will make it easier when she has to take care of 2 instead of 1?
My son and my daughter [...]
In answer to a reader’s question, How do I pass our values on our children? I posted Part 1 and Part 2.
I conclude this series with some thoughts of what we can do when we feel we’ve failed.
Millie at Christian Values Legacy has an insightful article on “Seven Ways to Tell if Your Child is [...]
In yesterday’s post, I covered Part 1 of a reader’s question, “How do I pass our values on our children?”
Here are some more practical tips on how to pass our values on to our children:
1. Have good reasons for your stand.
“Why is it wrong to have sex before marriage? A lot of people do [...]
A parent asked me, “How do I teach my children good values?”
Actually, teaching values to our children is both easy and hard.
It’s easy because you don’t have to do anything extraordinary or inconvenient. There are no books to buy, no conferences to attend.
But here’s the hard part. You are non-stop teaching your children values, whether [...]
A reader asks, “How do I stop my toddler from whining?”
Honestly, even adults whine! I get whiny when I don’t get what I want. “I want a new kitchen…I want a vacation…I want to eat out every night…”
I whine when I can’t control the circumstances in my favor and get what I want.
So it [...]
A reader asks, “How hard do you push your opinions when your kid has a friend that you really don’t approve of?”
How hard you push depends a lot on the age of your child. You have more influence on a child in single digit age than a teenager. With kids of all ages, this issues [...]
A mom asked me: “My 8-year-old son wants to have a few friends over to play computer games. The kids will each bring their own laptops so they can play online together. Should I let them? Shouldn’t they be doing other things if they are going to spend time together?”
First, let’s consider the bigger picture::
1. [...]
Are you fighting and arguing with your kids to go to sleep at bedtime?
When we took our puppy to Puppy Obedience School, all us new dog owners had the same questions:
How can I get my puppy to behave? How do I get my puppy not to chew? How can I make him stop digging up [...]
A mom asked me, “How do I talk to my daughter in college about sex?”
This mom wanted to warn her daughter not to have promiscuous sex.
As with many subjects that we want our kids to learn, a straight lecture is usually not the best method. Don’t we simply tune out people that we don’t want [...]
