In large measure, what is causing this crisis of American childhood is a lack of connectedness. We mean two kinds of connectedness—close connections to other people, and deep connections to moral and spiritual meaning.
Parenting is about shaping the adult your child will and is becoming. Parenting is about building trust and teaching real, honest vulnerability. Parenting is about inviting your children into adulthood, which means we have to teach them to think. This means they may grow up to think differently than we do. Parenting is about teaching…
Train them to be gentlemen and not label such as misogyny. It’s not, it’s being classy, romantic, and civil. And yes, part of that means we can say: “Man up!” and not be accused of meaning “UFC fighting, beer guzzling, BBQ dripping from mouth barbarian.”
I have random memories from first days of school. I suppose that’s true for many people. One positive one is cutting grass the night before. Back then, ABC or some such station had Monday Night Baseball and I wanted to watch the Dodgers play with my mom. She loved Tommy Lasorda, him being Italian sealed…
The sensible alternative to overparenting is not less parenting but better parenting. The alternative to permissiveness is not to be more controlling but more responsive. And the alternative to narcissism is not conformity but reflective rebelliousness. In short, if we want to raise psychologically healthy and spirited children, we’ll need to start by questioning the…
Two words can change your relationship? Admit it, you’re a touch skeptical. I admit that I was when the principle was first shared with me. But not now, because now I’ve seen it work. When I was in grad school studying to become a counselor, I would often have people engage me via social media…
This is part three of three in a short series dealing with parent guilt, commonly referred to as mommy guilt. Part one can be found here, and part two can be found here. For all of the parents feeling guilty about being away from their child, I want to offer these four simple steps to…
In my last post, we dealt with mommy (parent) guilt that stems from envy. While, I believe this type of guilt is not the majority, I do think it has too much space in our world. Today, I’d like to discuss parent guilt that comes from not being able to do the things that we’d…
This is the first post in a series of posts dealing with "mommy" guilt. The other posts are written and ready to go so be sure to come back over the next few days to read them. You can also always subscribe to this blog's feed by adding your email address to the subscribe button…
At our office we talk a lot about emotional intelligence in children and adults. We talk a lot about the increased rate of children needing help to regulate their emotions. Recently, I read a book by John Gottman, and Daniel Goleman, which had this very disturbing quote in the beginning of the book. They offer…
