Why Your Kids Need Five Other Adults in Their Lives
I have something like 1,300 contacts in my phone. No doubt, 1,300 is a crazy number. You might have double that, or half that. It's just the world we live in. But even if you only had 100, you wouldn't really know each of them well. Not deeply. Not personally. You...
Giving Your Kids Permission to Break the Rules
“Resist much, obey little.”― Walt Whitman It’s really not the advice I thought I would pass to my daughters when I imagined them before they were born. Even so, as I walked the streets of Brooklyn tonight, a grown adult, wife and mother of two, I felt Whitman’s words...
Shutting Down Gossip and Building Character
It was one of those major learning lessons in my parenting life. My wife Cathy and I were “speculating” at the kitchen table one day that one of our neighbors were probably getting a divorce. The husband hadn’t been around, and Cathy had heard from one of the other...
The First Social Media Challenge Your Kid Will Face
The news is often full of terrible stories about horrible things that happened to kids because of social media. These things do happen and there’s a long list of them to keep in mind as your kids navigate this digital world. The reality though is that more than...
What to Do With the Curiosity of a Three-Year-Old
If you ask me, any phase that involves sleeping through the night is far superior to any that don’t. Add uninterrupted REM to the fact that most three-year-olds are beginning to learn how to dress themselves, go to the bathroom in an actual toilet, and tell you what they want for dinner (granted, it’s usually chicken nuggets). A parent may get to this phase and think . . . Whew. Those first three years were nuts. Now maybe I can relax a little.
4 Ways to Teach Kids to Be Good Stewards
When it comes to money, no parent decides they want their kids to grow up and be greedy penny-pinchers or uncontrollable debt-inducing consumers. Yet statistics will tell us that’s what happens. According to Business Insider, Millennials hold an estimated $1.1...
31 Things to Say to Help Teens Navigate Relationships
Helping teens learn to navigate relationships is one of the best gifts we can give. When we don’t give up, the rewards are 100% worth it.
The Gridlock that Happens in the Minds of Eleventh Graders
I absolutely love this phase. Sure, junior year can be exhausting. Most high school educators will tell you this is the most academically challenging year. Most athletic coaches expect their juniors to be at peak performance. And most juniors begin to feel as if they carry increasingly more adult responsibilities.
5 Ways to Help Teens Cope with Change
I am a planner and always have been. I carefully constructed a plan for almost every life milestone. Choosing a graduate school program in high school? Check. Wedding dress selection? Check (as soon as he proposed) Birth plan? Check (as detailed as it could possibly...
Does My Child Measure Up? A Milestone Comparison Trap
Google “developmental milestones” and you may be surprised to see 1.5 million results. Are there that many milestones in the 18-year lifespan of a child from birth until they graduate from high school? No, definitely not. 1.5 million results tells us that common...
The Sunny Side of Second Grade
Welcome to the wonderful year of second grade! You’re in the phase that is the very essence of childhood. I’ve been working with children for over forty years now, and I’ve been a parent for more than thirty. In my experience, this is the age that brings a smile to my heart more than any other. This up-for-anything, sounds-like-fun bunch is always ready to go.
How to Talk to Your Kids About Tragedy
The news is heartbreaking enough to take in as a parent. Terrorist attacks. Mass killings. Planes blowing up. Beheadings. I know…please just stop right there. Add to that the political chaos that seems to dominate the headlines, climate change, job losses and more....