Parenting Tidbits

I’ve talked about encouraging independence and how children are motivated by the desire to please others in my positive discipline articles. I use techniques almost every day that help the kids feel independent, connected and capable. Now that I’m trying to recover from a seriously sprained hip, I’ve needed to lean on them more than […]

Being home and exceptionally limited in my mobility at the moment, I’ve noticed an increase in the kids making bids for attention. Some of it is good, such as really stepping in to help bring me things I need or carry something for me. Some of it is negative bids, acting out to either get […]

I’ve officially been at my new job four weeks now and the kids have started their new childcare/preschool center. A new routine is starting to set in and with it all the stress of change in the little ones and the resulting misbehavior. Time for some positive discipline. The kids don’t like being away from […]

I recently read a wonderful blog post on Pigtail Pals’ website about self esteem that really struck a chord with me. The post, titled Waking Up Full of Awesome, talks about how we girls used to wake up full of awesome every day, knowing we were awesome and beautiful regardless of missing baby teeth, mismatched […]

From time to time I get stumped on how to parent in response to some negative behavior I’m seeing in the kids. I’ve found Jane Nelsen’s Positive Discipline Cards to be a great parenting tool. I’ve bought the iPhone app and have found it mighty useful in a pinch. The app is 52 cards of […]

If you’ve been reading for a while, you know I’m a big fan of Amy McCready. A positive discipline advocate, she studied the Adlerian psychology behind this incredibly empowering parenting technique, then found a way to share it with the world through Positive Parenting Solutions. I found Amy and was so impressed with her instruction […]

We can give kids mountains of toys, but the honest truth is we parents are their very favorite playthings. They want our attention; quality time with just us. They want us to be interested in what they do. Taking some time out of our busy schedule to focus solely on our kids is one of […]

Last week I wrote about the honorable parenting qualities in fictional Transformers character Optimus Prime. One thing that really struck me about him, and was the source of a few reader comments, was his tendency to show an undying belief in those he leads, encouraging them to reach for their potential. As parents, we too […]