I have been working with families—teaching children, directing schools, and consulting with parents—for 45 years. Yikes!  Accompanying parents on their parenting pathways became my life’s work. As the years have crept by and I have worked with hundreds of families, a core set of beliefs has become... Read more...

School has begun (at last!)  Every parent wants to help her child get off to a good start. Every parent wants her child to have a great school experience. Every parent wants to be the best parent of a student that she can be with her child’s... Read more...

Just thinking about the start of school can be stressful for kids. New teachers, new classrooms, new friends, new expectations, new routines.  On top of that,  getting back into the school year swing of things, the school day routines, is not only stress producing but it can... Read more...

How I wish I weren’t writing this particular blog…again. How I wish you didn’t need this blog…again.  How I wish I actually had an explanation for this madness. I don’t. There is no explanation. So how in the world do we explain it to our children? Too many... Read more...

“I’m going to punish you” admonished the 4 year old “mommy” to her 4 year old “daughter,” both children at play in the “Housekeeping Center” of their preschool classroom. That is my favorite place to observe kids at work, reenacting scenes from their lives. “Playing” out their real... Read more...

Kids of all ages are getting a whiff of election politics at its worst. It’s unavoidable. I'll bet you think I am going to say, “Shelter them! Turn off the radio, TV, computer.” Not this time. This 2016 presidential election (which seems interminable) is an opportunity. It is... Read more...

In case you didn’t know, tattling should be illegal in your family. Many parents don’t realize that. When parents come to me for help with their kids’ fighting, I always ask is if their kids are tattletales. Just about 100% of the time the answer is YES! And... Read more...

Boy, do I ever dislike having to write this, the safety threat which caused the Los Angeles Unified School District wide school closure today, December 15, 2015 But to help you and all our children, may I remind you of a few things. 1. No one knows all the... Read more...

Sadly and not surprisingly, I have received a rash of emails from parents wondering how to explain to their children the heinous, violent terrorism that happened in Paris. These were parents of children of all ages. How I wish one could actually explain something that is so monstrous... Read more...

It's mid-August... that means summer vacation is creeping to an end, depending upon your child's first day of school. For some it even starts next week. Summer time and the livin' was easy! Just thinking about the start of school can be stressful for kids. New teachers, new... Read more...