Do you remember a television show called Kids Say the Darndest Things? It aired from 1998 to 2000. Well, I propose that often times parents say the darndest things. I used to say them myself until I learned to improve my communication skills. Good parenting starts with awareness and then choosing better. Here we will […]
She bent down and tied up her 9-year-old’s shoe strings. Remarkably, the little guy is a bright, and potentially capable, boy. Millennials (those born between the mid-1990s to early 2000s) are often times called The Me Me Me Generation. They tend to be over-protected from challenge, consequences, and tears. As the family researcher, Jean Illsley […]
While happiness is a desirable emotional state, compassion and empathy are developed through opportunities to feel disappointment, sorrow and pain. Parents weaken their children’s resilience when they protect them from experiencing the uncomfortable consequences of life’s hard bits. Consequently, I invited parents to resign from believing or attempting to make happy children. I am not […]
Most parents want to be joyful, encouraging and wise with their children
Children have a moral right to be loved. S. Matthew Lia, New York University If all children have a moral right to be loved, then I and I imagine you have let them down. Absolutely, there have been times I have let my children down in the love department. They were when I was also letting […]
My colleague Bernie Fitterer from Inspiring Developments specializes in helping fathers adapt to the challenges of their role. Recently, Bernie invited me and three other mothers to an event aimed at fathers. During this event, we were presented with questions from attendees seeking insights from a woman’s perspective. It was a tremendous honor for us. […]
Adults better influence when children feel a deep sense of connection, bonding, and caring relationship. It is the adult’s responsibility to build that parent-child relationship. In an ideal world, children would have a close physical, attaching, and bonding experience from birth forward. But sometimes this ideal picture is disrupted due to a range of family […]
“We are abusing our children in new ways. We are diminishing their resilience, their ability to deal with small or large challenges by overindulging them.” Jean Illsley Clarke, author of How Much Is Enough? This was the basic message Jean Illsley Clarke delivered at a Calgary public seminar. She and her colleagues have published their […]
Haven’t you had a moment, hour or day that you desired recognition? Here we will explore a loving curiosity question. Seldom is there a person who does not long to be seen, heard and acknowledged. Yet, many people feel unseen, unheard, unacknowledged and neglected. In my years of facilitating parent education, family counseling, marriage counseling, group […]
Dr. Seuss was correct, You have a brain in your head. Use it well. Wipe out the cobwebs. Nourish it with wisdom and compassion. Our present culture tends to fill our children’s brains will commercialism, greedy, sugar, violent images, mean-spirited competition, contempt, discontent, and trivia. What really matters are the deep virtues that are expressed over and […]
Our culture is laced with lies. Movies, TV shows, advertising and the rest of us typically exaggerate, twist facts, create stories, and deny the truth. On a particularly bad day many of us have answered, “Fine, thank you,” when asked, “How are you?” How many of us have told a lie because we didn’t want […]
When bullying is happening, our culture wants to move into an anti-bullying mode of defence. But maybe there is a more effective strategy. When our son, Benjamin was 15 years old we moved to Calgary. We had no idea he was bullied until one day he came home with a whack of hair cut out of […]