Category Archive:
Constructive discipline

Learning To Speak Effectively

learning to speak effectively

Over the past few posts we’ve been discussing tools for our children’s success in a future that we may have difficulty imagining. We do know that there are timeless learning tools that have enabled humans to adapt to new challenges. We are in the middle of a decade of uncommon problems. Unfailing tools are needed. […]


Learning to Engage

Learning to engage

Knowing and not doing, is really not to know at all.  To truly know and experience something, we must engage.  We can watch all the football games in the world, but until we learn to throw an accurate pass, run past a halfback, or have been tackled, we really don’t know football, we only know […]


Creating Clear Expectations for Our Children

creating clear expectations

“Last night Dustin asked me what rules we had at home. I’m embarrassed to say that I didn’t have a ready answer. Dustin told me, ‘At school we have these rules, Mommy. Choose your work. Don’t touch anybody’s work. Work at a rug or table. And put your work away when you’re finished.’ See, even […]


The Power of Touch

power of touch

We all need a certain amount of attention from others to thrive and survive. The late Virginia Satir, a family therapist, said that we need four hugs a day to survive, eight hugs per day to stay at a strong emotional level and twelve a day to grow. Unfortunately in our busy world, the time […]


Dealing with Tantrums

dealing with tantrums

The day that your child turns red then blue while writhing on the floor in an attempt to get his or her way, is a day when you earn perhaps your first parenting medal, “valor under stress.” Joan, a mother of two, related to me her ordeal of a temper tantrum with three-year-old, Robbie. “It […]


Think Win/Win

In our busy day-to-day lives, as we try to do everything–jobs, children, home, marriage–stopping to think what everyone in our family needs may not be a high priority. When we’re caring for small children, there never seems to be enough time, enough money, enough sleep, or enough hours in the day. It’s difficult to find […]


In a Twitter

The most important help to life we can offer to our children is to provide opportunities to develop concentration and independence. With the development of concentration and independence, our children can take these strengths and apply them to any activity they wish to pursue. With concentration and independence a subset of other skills comes along, […]


Kids Love Monkey Bread

kids love monkey bread

As the Christmas holidays and our winter season begin, a nice warm yummy treat to share creates fun and memories. One of my favorite activities for those cold dark afternoons of winter is to whip up a batch of Monkey Bread with my favorite group of monkeys, who affectionately call me Momma Monkey or Ms. […]


Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?

five why problem solving tool

”For whatever reasons my eight-year-old, Eric, is critical of everything his younger siblings do. Eric tells his sister that her coloring stinks. He tells his brother that his handwriting is messy. Last night Eric burst into tears because the peas touched his mashed potatoes. Nothing seems to make him happy right now,” Michael told me. […]


Ain’t Misbehavin’

ain't misbehavin'

Children don’t misbehave, says Dr. Thomas Gordon, author of the best-selling book, Parent Effectiveness Training (P.E.T). Wait a second, you say. Whoa! Everywhere you look there are children misbehaving. Dr. Gordon says that children’s actions are judged as misbehaviors when those behaviors come into conflict with the desires of parents and other adults. What we […]