Power Struggles

From Homework Struggles to Success

These are questions that can help your child become more aware of their choices. First, you are encouraging your kids to choose for themselves what kind of self-discipline, what kind of work effort, and what kind of responsibility they want to bring to their schoolwork. Secondly, you are helping your children understand that there are both friendly and unfriendly, effective and ineffective ways they can motivate themselves—and that how they do this is also a choice they can make for themselves.

Dealing With Difficult People

Many people know someone who is difficult to deal with—it may be a difficult neighbor, a difficult co-worker, or even one of your own difficult family members.  Perhaps this is […]

Winning Agreement With Limits

Setting and upholding limits may be the toughest job of being a parent.  It wasn’t my favorite part of being a Mom, and I can understand if you don’t like […]

Creating Cooperation

How do you talk to your child when you want her to get ready, get started, and get going?  Perhaps you are in the habit of mostly talking to your […]

Sibling Fights

It can be really hard to listen to two or more people—especially little people whom you love very much–being mean and hurtful to each other. One of the questions I […]

Who’s In Charge Here?

When you think about your family and the concept of “power,” what comes to mind?  Is it trying to make your children do something?  Are you using yelling, pleas, bribes […]

Your Drama Loving 4-year-old

Jamal has a cape tied around his shoulders, and while his mother shops, he flexes his biceps like a weight-lifter, fixes his face in a scowl, and stalks up and […]