As you can imagine, sibling conflict is inevitable because unlike other relationships, your kids don’t choose each other. They are “thrown into” a relationship. Some siblings have lots of conflicts, some have none. Some have conflict with one sibling and not another. But all siblings have conflict. There is a way to avoid it but […]
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Q: We have ten grandchildren, spread between three of our kids. They all live within an hour’s drive, so we see them often. We want to be involved in their lives and to be good influences. Our problem is with the parents. None of them are receptive to any advice or information we try to […]
As the current school year kicked off, I began hearing the same-old, same-old report from teachers and principals: children who have never lied. At least, that is what the parents of said children claim. When one of these highly-evolved kids is accused of misbehaving at school, his parents ask him for his side of the […]
Make ‘Em an Offer They Can’t Refuse When I was a child, my most important possession was my bicycle, followed closely by my radio. My bike was how I got around. I rode it to school, friend’s houses, pick-up baseball games, shopping centers, and just about anywhere else my heart desired and my parents would […]
Are parents responsible for the sort of people their children become? That’s this week’s question, and the answer is no, albeit equivocally. Several parents have recently written me bemoaning the lifestyles their adult children have chosen to lead – lifestyles that feature addictions, criminality, and flagrant irresponsibility. (The operative word in the previous sentence, by […]
Parent Question My younger boy, age 5 is on the ticket system. When he loses his tickets he go upstairs to his room for the rest of the day except meals. Problem is he doesn’t stay in his room. He sits at the top of the stairs right outside his bedroom door and has a […]
Effective Parents They Know What They Are Doing I’ve said it before, but it cannot be said often enough: The discipline of a child is not accomplished by manipulating reward and punishment.Yes, a child needs to understand that behavior results in consequences, but that understanding alone is not sufficient to grow a well-behaved, well-mannered child.Besides, […]
Ending the power struggles between you and your teenager, or any child is in your power! Yes, you the parent control arguments in your home. Isn’t that glorious news? You have conflict relief at your fingertips. As John would say, you can defang your teen and tweenager! What is the amazing defanging procedure? Read on.First, […]
Today’s parents are trying to have wonderful relationships with their children. Our foremothers and forefathers were not, realizing that a child required leadership first. And that while the parent/child relationship should by no means be “bad,” a parent could not provide proper leadership if the parent’s energies were focused primarily on having a “wonderful” relationship […]
In an opinion piece recently featured on FoxNews.com., Jonathan Pokluda explicates his Ten Habits of Extraordinary Parents. Pokluda, a teaching pastor at a mega-church in Texas, and his wife are in the midst of what he terms “the parenting experiment” with three young children. In the introduction to his Ten Habits, Pokluda says that according to […]