Search Results for: pre school parenting techniques 2

Free Range Parenting – Letting Kids Roam Free

There’s a parenting style in the news that has gotten some attention lately. Its called free range parenting. The basic concept is that children should be allowed to roam free while they are unattended by their parents (or other adults). This parenting style was common in the 1970’s and 1980’s. Today, it appears to be causing some controversy. Parents Alexander and Danielle Meitiv are practicing free range parenting. It is pretty much the opposite of helicopter parenting. A helicopter parent wants to hover over their children and step in at the first signs of a problem. A free range parent, … Continue reading →

Bravo’s “Extreme Guide to Parenting”

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How would you describe your parenting style? Some parents will answer that question by stating that their parenting style is traditional, or conservative, or “old-school”. Others might explain their parenting style as “eclectic”. They take some ideas from how their parents raised them, and add in some new concepts that have become popular in the years since they were children. No matter what your parenting style happens to be, it is unlikely that it matches up with the parents on Bravo’s new TV show “Extreme Guide to Parenting”. Season one featured 10 different families whose parenting styles have been described … Continue reading →

Poor Parenting Or Just Evil?

People do stupid things… and parents are no exception. However, there comes a point when you wonder where the line is drawn between poor parenting techniques and seriously deranged moms and dads who are inherently evil. My fellow blogger Andrea and I have written dozens of posts that feature parents who exhibit questionable behavior when it comes to raising their offspring. In some cases it’s hard to tell if their actions—-many of which fuel news headlines and land them in jail-—are the result of in-the-moment bad parenting decision making, stupidity, selfishness or a combination of all three. Case in point: … Continue reading →

Effective School Reading Programs

The importance of instilling a love of reading in my son Tyler is something I take very serious. I am fortunate to have a child who loves reading and being read to. With a mother who is not only a writer but an avid reader you might imagine he would probably love reading. Books and reading have always been a part of his life and like a lot of parents I started reading to him before he was born. Now, that he can read well and independently and he’s just five, well I am sooooo proud of him. Will a … Continue reading →

52 Weeks of Active Parenting

Despite the wealth of information available to parents today, sometimes we run out of interesting and fun things to do with our kids. At other times we long for techniques that will make us more effective parents. Don’t give up yet, help is available. You may have seen him on CNN or perhaps The Oprah Winfrey Show, he’s Dr. Michael “Doc Pop” Popkin, a well-known parenting expert, and he has this great little parenting book you should check out. It’s called Doc Pop’s 52 Weeks of Active Parenting. The book offers week-by-week family activities suitable for parents and children of … Continue reading →

Why Do I Feel Like A Failure?

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My ex husband is great at making me feel like a failure in my daughter’s eyes. When we first divorced he made sure to tell our daughter, over and over again, that I was the one who left him. If it wasn’t for me she would still have her Daddy, her house, her room, her school. This was all my fault. I was not about to share the stories of infidelity that lead to the divorce with my ten year old so when she said “This is your fault, you left Daddy, he didn’t want us to leave.” I had … Continue reading →

Are You Spoiling Your Child?

What do you define as “spoiling”? I have been accused of spoiling my daughter on many occasions, to which I reply: “She isn’t spoiled, she is blessed.” Apparently, my definition of “spoiled” differs from others. To help set the record straight on spoiling, childhood experts have come up with a number of questions parents should ask themselves: *Does your child treat you poorly? *Do you find that you struggle to say “no” to your child? *Do you make idle threats? *Are you afraid of upsetting your child? If you answered “yes” to any of the aforementioned questions, then experts say … Continue reading →

A Mother’s View from the Pool: Why are you Wearing Crocs in the Water?

There’s a fierce debate going on in cyberspace regarding whether “fashionable” people should be wearing Crocs—those plastic clog-like shoes that come in an array of bright colors—in public. I’ll leave that bitter battle to others. However, the popular footwear does play prominently in observations I’ve made this summer as a mom frequenting our local aquatic center. As I mentioned in my previous blog my 4-year-old daughter is learning to swim, thus we have spent quite a bit of time at our community pool in the last 12 weeks. In that time I’ve had the opportunity to view interesting parenting techniques. … Continue reading →

Disciplining Your Kids

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A lot of parents assume that when someone talks about disciplining their kids that they mean spanking. Spanking is only one alternative in a whole arsenal of options for parents. Parents have time-out for younger children. Older children can go to their rooms, have the privileges taken away, and the ever popular grounding from outside, or from certain activities (which sounds a lot like removing privileges). These discipline techniques are all external. By that I mean that these are consequences that a parent imposes on the child as an external measure, while the parent hopes that the child will internalize … Continue reading →

Taking Away Privileges—Making it Work

Once children graduate from the preschool, “time out” phase, the world of discipline can open up for a parent. One of the tried and true methods for many families is the taking away of privileges. This could mean restricting activities, taking away items or possessions, or “grounding.” But, like all discipline techniques—it doesn’t work for every child and it isn’t always appropriate. AND, it can be overused and lose its effectiveness. I think that any discipline technique loses its effectiveness when it is overused. Often, taking away privileges becomes the ONLY thing that parents do and eventually, a child learns … Continue reading →