BUILDING ASSERTIVENESS: HOW TO HELP YOUR QUIET CHILD SPEAK UP


A fourth grade girl sits in my office, tears in her eyes. She had a really hard week. She struggles with anxiety and inattention in the classroom, and that makes learning difficult on a good week. That wasn’t what brought her tears, though. She can cope with the mixed emotions that go hand-in-hand with learning problems. What made an average week terrible for this little girl was peer conflict. Continue reading..





4 Things Worse Than Not Learning To Read In Kindergarten

The year Sam started kindergarten, he turned 6 in October. He was one of the oldest children in his class, and he didn’t know how to read. When he started first grade he was almost 7, and he still didn’t know how to read. Fortunately for Sam, he entered first grade in 1999. And his teachers, Mrs. Gantt and Mrs. Floyd, didn’t panic if a child didn’t learn to read in kindergarten. In fact, they expected that most children would learn to read in first grade. (They also supported and encouraged children who learned to read easily in kindergarten, like Sam’s brother Ben.)

Four Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Ignore or Punish Toddler Tantrums

Popular parenting wisdom advises dealing with toddler tantrums in one of two ways. Ignore the ‘attention seeking behaviour’ and reward the toddler when they are good, or discipline the toddler by punishing them through exclusion. The naughty step and time out are commonplace in millions of homes around the world. Do they really work though? Child psychology and neuroscience says otherwise. Here are four reasons why you may want to reconsider your response the next time your toddler has a tantrum.

4 Mentally Damaging Things We Say To Kids All The Time

Kids have fragile brains. If 10 year-old Jimmy bashes his head against concrete, he’ll suffer greater injury than his 35 year-old dad would under the same conditions.

Most of us instinctively know that much. What we often ignore, though, is the fact that kids brains are not only physically more fragile but mentally as well. Psychologists liken a child’s brain to soft, impressionable play-doh. Harsh words that Jimmy’s dad could shrug off might stay with his son for years.

If You Thought Terrible Twos Were Bad Experts Say the ‘Threenager’ Is Way Worse!

Every parent or parent to-be has heard of the 'terrible two' phase but as someone who has been there four times, I can tell you that the twos are nothing compared to the age of three! At two they can be whiny and a bit defiant, but at three they can actually talk a bit more and it seems their attitude is beginning to fully develop!It seems that experts are now agreeing that while those two year old's are getting a bad rap, it's really the 'threenager' that parents need to be wary of!

My Parenting Style: Survivalist

To me, the definition is simple. While most of the time I try to raise my kids in a nurturing, educationally rich, nutritiously sound environment, sometimes, the s*@# just hits the fan (or, more likely, my most expensive rug). And when temper tantrums, fevers, or general fussiness is the order of the day, all bets are off . . . and the cartoons come on. And I am totally, 100 percent OK with that. So how do you become a survivalist mom? Here's my handy guide to my "whatever gets you through the day" philosophy.

5 Activities to Help your Preschooler's Pre-writing Skills

Parents with preschoolers are often on the search for activities that can help prepare their children for the basic or fundamental skills they need for school, usually termed as “the three R’s,” namely reading, writing and `rithmetic (arithmetic).

What some parents don’t know though is that laying the foundation for their skills need not entail enrolling their kids in school as early as 1 or 2 years old. There are actually a lot of activities that young kids can do in the comfort of their own homes – whether under the supervision of Mommy (or Daddy).

Female chief in Malawi breaks up 850 child marriages and sends girls back to school

Theresa Kachindamoto, the senior chief in the Dedza District of Central Malawi, wields power over close to 900,000 people… and she’s not afraid to use her authority to help the women and girls in her district. In the past three years, she has annulled more than 850 child marriages, sent hundreds of young women back to school to continue their education, and made strides to abolish cleansing rituals that require girls as young as seven to go to sexual initiation camps...

How to potty train toddlers

Approximately at the age of two, children learn bowel control first before bladder control or the reverse way. The child’s bowel or bladder control is mostly done in the morning than in the evening. Experts suggested that potty training should only be initiated when your child is already showing certain signs of readiness which is visible in the ages of two to three years old. There are signs when they already exhibiting attitudes of controlling their bowel or bladder.

4 Types of Parenting Styles

The type of discipline you use can have a dramatic effect on your child’s development. Your discipline strategies can have a big impact on the type of relationship you have with your child. The various approaches to discipline can even influence a child’s mood and temperament into adulthood.

Researchers have discovered four types of parenting styles. These different styles are dependent on what the parent feels the child needs from them.


As a result, each parenting style uses a different approach to discipline.

8 Essential Skills You Never Learn In School -- Thus Should Teach Your Child

Here are eight vital life skills that children aren’t taught in school:

1. Independence: Teaching children, a little at a time, to be independent, can show them that they can make decisions on their own. Letting them make their own mistakes can teach them valuable lessons they’ll carry with them.

2. Compassion: Compassion is needed to work well with others, to care for other people and to find happiness through making other people happy.

3. Individuality: They need to be taught that we come in all sizes, shapes and colors, and it is perfectly OK to be unique.

4. Welcoming Change: Teaching children that change isn’t something to be afraid of – just something to prepare for – can help them in so many aspects throughout their life.

5. Happiness: Many parents coddle their children in an attempt to keep them happy and safe, but it can make children rely on their parents for their happiness. Teaching a child from an early age that they can be happy on their own, by things like playing, reading and imagining, is a valuable life lesson.

6. Finding Passion: Many people struggle with finding their passion. Helping a child find what he or she is passionate about by allowing them to try a bunch of different things can help them find a source of lifelong internal happiness and motivation. Encourage the adventure, but let children decide on their own, where they find passion.

7. Asking questions: Teaching children that asking questions is a good thing, can encourage their curiosity and help them continue to seek knowledge in different aspects of life.

8. Solving problems: Constantly solving a child’s problems for them won’t help them as they grow. They need to know that they can solve problems on their own. New skills, a new environment, a new job – they’re all just problems to be solved. Modeling problem solving and allowing children to come up with their solution ideas can help them develop confidence and let them know that whatever comes their way, they are capable of handling it.

Helicopter Parenting Linked To Anxiety And Depression In Children

Raise your hand if you end up doing the majority of your kid’s language arts homework? Or is it just me who spent an entire weekend making a booklet on penguins and writing an essay on Mandela? It isn’t so much that I want to control everything, but I have a fear that if my son hasn’t properly researched a speech or presentation he has to make, he’ll get up in front of his class and make a huge fool of himself. My husband frequently reminds me, “It isn’t your homework, it’s his.” He refuses to get involved, but I just can’t help myself.....