Let's Talk Kids: "The Professional Noticer"
Most parents will tell you that each of their children has a special gift that contributes to the health and wealth of the family. One offspring is the empathic one that senses when another family...
View ArticleLet's Talk Kids: "Parents' Stories"
When we become parents, we bring all the experiences of our prior lives into our work with our children. These stories quietly influence our decisions and patterns of behavior as we raise our kids....
View ArticleLet's Talk Kids: "Parents and Teachers Team Up"
A family I know faces a significant health challenge with their daughter. This typically strong student is underperforming at school on account of her health. Her grades have suffered, adding to the...
View ArticleLet's Talk Kids: "No Instant Success In Parenting"
Nowadays, we expect everything to be fast. Technology has enable us to expect our every effort to be met with an immediate result. And then we become parents. When we’re raising children, no effort is...
View ArticleLet's Talk Kids: "Seeking Sleep"
While their exhausted parents could fall asleep standing on their heads, frustrated four-year-olds and sobbing seven-year-olds fight bedtime to the death. What is it that kids have against sleeping?...
View ArticleLet's Talk Kids: "The Good Samaritan Impact"
It was a truly lousy day at the Osman house. Every member of the family was at a different stage of whatever bug had infested itself in their respiratory tracts. After a long day of sniffling and...
View ArticleLet's Talk Kids: "The Full-time Job"
He’s in the advertising business and she’s a nurse. But in truth, there is for both of them a different role that is never out of their focus, 24/7. They are parents to three pretty wonderful children,...
View ArticleLet's Talk Kids: "Those Dirty Liars"
One morning, four-year-old Devon watches as big brother Andrew prepares to leave for school. Andrew realizes his backpack isn’t where he left it and races around the house frantically, desperate to...
View ArticleLet's Talk Kids: "Parenting Along the Path"
An old friend visited me recently. She’s raising a lovely 18-year-old son who I’ve known since he was an active toddler. During our conversation she shared enthusiastically about her son’s serious...
View ArticleLet's Talk Kids: "Think Today, Not Tomorrow"
Parenting is a task focused on the future. The very nature of raising children is to launch their future lives. Parents want their babies to learn so they can succeed in preschool and get into Harvard...
View ArticleLet's Talk Kids: "Happy Birth-day!"
Recently, I celebrated that universal holiday enjoyed by each of us who sports a belly button, reminiscent of our entry into this world. My birthday was nothing special. After all, each of us...
View ArticleLet's Talk Kids: "Dads in the Present"
A long time ago, most Dads spent their days at work. When they got home to a welcoming home and family where a home-cooked dinner awaited, they may have heard about the day in the past tense: “Tommy...
View ArticleLet's Talk Kids: "It's Paw-ty Time!"
Standing outside in driving rain at 4 am, I’m reminded of something I already know well: teaching someone to manage his bowel and bladder habits represents a significant investment. Eight-week old...
View ArticleLet's Talk Kids: "Mud Day"
Most parents and grandparents remember with fondness their childhood opportunity to play in the mud. Building, slogging, lifting feet with a sucking sound, making mud pies—these sensual experiences of...
View ArticleLet's Talk Kids: "Internalizing the Rules"
His face screwed up in remorse, Joe was one miserable five-year old. His buddy Brandon was crying and holding his sore arm where had Joe grabbed him to get the Lego guy they both wanted for playtime. A...
View ArticleLet's Talk Kids: "The Gatekeeping Game"
Every pair of parents has a subtle competition going on most of the time. Even when they’re deeply committed to each other, daily life with a family provides no shortage of space for skirmishes....
View ArticleLet's Talk Kids: "Don't Just Do Something... Stand There!"
This one is for every adult who’s watched in frustration as a parent or child struggled in some way. Perhaps you’re a caring neighbor who sees the single parent next door work two jobs in order to...
View ArticleLet's Talk Kids: "Guinea Pigs, Hermit Crabs, and Tree Frogs"
Most expectant parents imagine they will be completely different parents than the ones who raised them. And then somehow, in the months following the births of their babies, words come out of their own...
View ArticleLet's Talk Kids: "No Two Are Alike"
The Walters family has two sons, aged four and seven. These sweet boys look so much alike that I do a double take each time I see them. Their mom dresses them in matching outfits for holiday photos,...
View ArticleLet's Talk Kids: "A Grateful Goodbye..."
Under the file marked “My Family’s Quirks” is the knowledge that granddaughter Joslin has a rough time saying goodbye. She loves her family and friends with such fervor that whenever it’s time for her...
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