Cultivating An Attitude of Gratitude

Cultivate an attitude of gratitude

How can we cultivate gratitude in ourselves and others?  A few years ago a friend of mine with young children asked my advice about how to help her children appreciate the good life they had, a life full of love and comfort. She told me that when she looked at the ads of children in […]


Obstacles To Reading

obstacles to reading

“My child is 7 years old and is not reading.”“Help! My child is ten years old and is reading on a second grade level”.“My 7th grader is making D’s and F’s. What can I do?” Over the years, many parents have asked for my help with their children’s academic progress. Time after time, the children […]


The Steps To Reading

steps to reading

“It’s just a miracle!” parents exclaim. “Our son is five years old and he’s reading.” When children begin to read, it does seem miraculous. Remember when your child began to talk? It seemed as if one day she couldn’t say a word and the next day she could, then you could never get her to […]


What? Don’t Teach The ABCs?

don't teach the abc's

Don’t teach your children their abc’s,” I tell surprised parents of three-year-olds. “They’ll learn their abc’s later, but to be wonderful readers they need to learn something else first.” Most of us learned the letter names, as we sang our “abc’s” (aye-bee-sees). To learn to read faster and more efficiently, help your children learn the […]


Reading Begins At Birth

reading begins at birth

Avoid the trap of thinking that the road to reading for your child will begin in kindergarten. Parents tell me, “Oh, I’m too busy. I’ll just let my child learn to read in first grade.” For many children important skills for reading are not developed at the time of their lives when it is the […]


Ideas For Great Parent Teacher Conferences

ideas for great parent teacher conferences

Want some tips for having a productive parent/teacher conference? For many of us, the most dreaded event during our school years was…being sent to the principal’s office. Unfortunately, some of those childhood memories make it difficult for us to be enthusiastic about going to meet with our child’s teacher.  I’ll share a few tips on […]


On The Road To Reading

understanding how children learn to read

Car seat manufacturers announced changing their installation instructions because the reading level was too difficult for over half of their customers in the United States. How high was that reading level? A fifth grade level. As a young mother, I had a knot in my stomach when reading this kind of article, along with a […]


Listening To Ourselves With Compassion

listening to ourselves with compassion

When we do something that later we wished we hadn’t, we rarely give ourselves the level of forgiveness and understanding that we give to others. If we evaluate ourselves and subsequently change our behaviors due to negative emotions–shame, embarrassment or fear, to name only a few–we are feeding self-hatred. We are our own worst critic. […]


Learning To Request What You Need

learning to request what you need

At the heart of our relationships is the need for effective communication. Our objective is to build a relationship based on honesty and empathy. The two basic components of effective communication consists of two skills: Expressing observations, feelings and needs honestly while withholding blame and criticism. Receiving information from others without hearing blame or criticism, […]