Nobody likes to make mistakes. They’re annoying, frustrating, and sometimes even embarrassing. And they often make us feel like we’ve done something wrong. Unless we change the way we think about them. And when we do, we can discover that mistakes are one of the most powerful teaching tools we have. Consider your child being in charge of making a class poster for the school play. He brings home the poster board and stencils and begins to work. “Do you…
Needs vs. Wants: Let’s say you’re in the dentist’s office with your child and you’re waiting for your “turn”. 🙂 You pick up a magazine and start flipping through it. This is the perfect opportunity to play the needs vs wants game. By the way, this works best if you use a child-friendly magazine like Parents or FamilyFun. “Hey, look at this cool yo-yo. I like the designs on it. What d’ya think? Would they be a need or a…
Have you ever thought about how kids learn to speak a pretty complex language? And when I say ‘speak’, I mean all the intricacies that go along with it…body language, inflection, nuance, …in addition to vocabulary and sentence structure. It’s a pretty amazing feat and, yet, we all learn how to do it pretty seamlessly and without formal instruction. Much of it happens indirectly. Our kids are absorbing what we do – it’s how they learn to operate in the world. And while absorbing…
Saying no to our kids can be hard for a myriad reasons…we don’t want our kids to feel bad, we want to avoid power struggles, we don’t want to feel “rejection” from our kids, we want to avoid conflict. But, as my friend Kathleen Burns Kingsbury says, saying no is a gift. It prepares our kids for the disappointments that life will inevitably throw their way, much as we’d like to protect them. When we say no to our kids, we are setting boundaries. …
Making decisions can be tough for kids. Especially when they’re confronted with two very appealing choices. I can go to my friend’s sleepover birthday party or attend the premiere to the new Harry Potter movie with my family. If they choose to go to the sleepover, they’ll be able to hang out with their friends and stay up late. On the other hand, if they go to the movie, they’ll be a part of an elite group that has insider scoop on the popular new flick. …