“He ended up in prison because he was conditioned for it from childhood,” a motivational speaker said, when talking about the importance of the words we say.  He explained that parents who tell their children they’re no good, they’re a failure, they’ll end up in jail, etc. are conditioning them for these goals.
 The words we say to our children and the way we say them have a great effect.  That’s not to say that we’re to ignore discipline and sugar coat everything.  But if youngsters hear repeated emphasis on their failures and where these will lead, they’re encouraged to plan …read more

Did you know that showing stress or fighting in front of your kids can actually lower their immune system capabilities and cause physiological side effects? With the economy in a sad state of affairs, gas prices soaring toward that dreaded five dollar per gallon mark and so many home owners being foreclosed on, there is a lot of potential for marital tension and individual stress. It is common knowledge that stress about finances is the number one reason for divorce. Are you letting your own financial stress or other such issues, ruin marital bliss and cause anxiety? If so, do …read more

I remember, all too vividly, the day that my parents told us about my dad’s affair. I knew that something wasn’t right, because the night before, the sounds of my mother’s sobbing could be heard through the walls. It kept me awake all night, pondering the meaning behind those agonized, yet muffled sounds of a woman’s heart being broken. My mother never cried, so I knew that something was seriously wrong. The next morning, my parents sat my sister and I down in the living room. I do not remember much about the details of what they said, but I do remember …read more

My son has been different from my other children, all his life. Even as a baby, I would notice that he was difficult to calm, impulsive, hyperactive and very angry. I discussed these matters with the pediatrician, very early in his toddler years. He assured me that it was probably just normal boy characteristics. Being that my oldest was a girl and my youngest was an infant, I had no idea what to expect from a toddler boy. So I dismissed my worries and figured that things would change. They did not.

 My kids have a clear cut bedtime routine. They know our expectations and rarely fight us on matters of sleeping arrangements. There is one thing, however, that I allow them to have a say in… the use of a night light. About half of my kids are afraid of the dark. I see no problem with allowing a night light in the room, as long as it is safe and doesn’t lead to messing around. My husband disagrees with me on this matter. He thinks that I am giving them the okay to have an irrational fear. He believes that the lights …read more

When my kids have friends over, which is quite often, they are expected to follow the same rules that my own adhere to. We don’t have a formal rule orientation, of course, but if there is a minor infraction then I usually let the friend know that “In our house, we have a rule about…”. Usually the offending child acknowledges the rule from that point on. There have been instances, however, when the friend completely ignores my requests to comply with our rules. There are two reasons why this usually happens.
1. The friend’s family does not set down house rules.
2. The …read more

But try keeping a child who has ADHD and is recovering from an injury, down for a few days. It is a feat that requires some very creative thinking! During the past few days, I’ve had to keep my son home while he recovered from last Friday’s dog attack. Getting my son to sit still for more than a few minutes is a task that we have trouble with, at times. I had no idea how I was supposed to keep him at rest, without the use of sedation. So I turned to my blogosphere friends for their advice. Here …read more