Although it’s still technically winter, I have been seeing flyers all over recently for the spring “crop” of extra-curricular activities: Little League, Scouts, soccer camps, and more.  Extra-curricular activities help mold children into the balanced, well-rounded adults that we all want to raise, but how do you choose which activities are best for your particular child?

Read more on Which Extra-Curricular Activities are Best for Your Child?…

Parents often wonder, “What can I do to help my child do well in mathematics?” Skip the workbooks. Set the flashcards aside (although they have a place). Play games.

The trick to finding games your children will love to play even as they teach some key concepts is in understanding those concepts yourself. Here are a few examples.

Read more on The “Sorry” Edge…

“My toddler won’t sit still for reading,” is a common lament. Or, “My child wants to turn the pages randomly, won’t listen to a story.” If you have trouble reading a book from start to finish with your 14-month old, don’t worry—you aren’t alone.

Read more on How to Read to a Toddler…

“That’s what happens when you…”, “Be sure to…”, “Because I asked you to do it, that’s why…”.  These sentences have certainly been uttered to our children once or twice (okay, maybe more!) in our home.  They may sound quite harmless, and even may be the same sentences you remember hearing from your parents when you were a child, but using these types of words and phrases actually creates barriers and causes power struggles in your relationships, which obviously leads to less than desirable outcomes.  Putting up barriers or engaging in power struggles with your children not only creates distance instead of fostering closeness and trust, but can also cultivate feelings of hostility, worthlessness, and incapability.  So how can parents break these patterns of speech and start on better paths to more trusting, teaching, and open conversations?

Read more on Barriers and Power Struggles from a Mothers Perspective…

If there’s one thing a child learns early on in life, it’s how to push his or her parents’ buttons.  Children seem to have an uncanny ability to say just the right thing when they’re angry to also get us riled up, often leaving us feeling out of control, exhausted, and defeated.   Anger can be a tricky emotion; thankfully, Carole Banks, MSW, gives some suggestions in her post “Angry Child Outbursts: The 10 Rules of Dealing with an Angry Child” to help us keep our cool and teach our children (and ourselves) how to deal with anger appropriately, including:

Read more on Ten Tips for Coping with an Angry Child…

I once got a classroom full of struggling 8^th graders to finish a complicated assignment by promising to read a Dr. Seuss book to them. A high school English teacher reduced tardies to zero by beginning each class with a short chapter from a children’s book. I’ve finished conference talks with a read-aloud, and at the close there’s a contented sigh from the entire audience. We’re never too old to enjoy a read-aloud.

Read more on Reading Aloud to Tweens and Teens…

“MOOOOOOMM!!!  Charlie keeps looking at me and I don’t want him to!”  “DAAAAAADD!!!!!  Joanna won’t play with me!”   As parents, we’re all familiar with the tone, the complaints, and the whine in the voice that may even cause some of you to cringe just by reading this post.  Although there have been times when I’ve appreciated my older son telling me that my younger son just dumped the entire bin of Legos in the laundry room as I was rounding the corner with an armful of laundry, for example, it is tiring hearing of every small complaint he has regarding his brother’s behavior.  Tattling is definitely one of those hot button items that can leave the whole family feeling frustrated.

Read more on Tackling Tattling…

One of my colleagues is as in to great novels and epic tales as I am. Guess what her eldest son enjoys reading? Instruction manuals for building skyscrapers and airplanes! It took her a long time to realize that he wasn’t that interested in reading because their tastes were so different that he disliked just about everything she suggested!

Read more on “Other” Kinds of Books…