Would you allow your child to eat and eat and eat, whatever and whenever he wanted? Of course not. It’s not much different with a child’s media intake. Just like a parent implements portion and quality control with food, so must he implement the same controls with media. It is a child’s rightful job to try to get the very most of whatever he likes the most, be it candy, television, computer time. It takes many years for a child to develop the ability to see the big picture, thinking about … [Read more...] about Balancing Your Child’s Media Diet
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Stop Screaming at Me!
You asked your child come to dinner, and he didn't respond. So you ask him again, this time with a voice that's quite clear, direct, and firm. "Put your Leggos down and come to dinner now, please." And your child responds, "Stop screaming at me!" You are quite sure you didn't scream, you didn't even shout or yell, but it sure sounded that way to your child. He didn't even hear your words. Very often parents are not aware of the power of their tone. But children hear tone more loudly than … [Read more...] about Stop Screaming at Me!
BEWARE OF HALLOWEEN!
One of the joys of being a parent is getting to do the fun kid stuff all over again. Stuff like sharing Easter baskets, making Valentines, and dressing up for Halloween. You can hardly wait to dress up your nine month old in that lion costume and parade her around the neighborhood, right? But you aren’t remembering Halloween from the perspective of a two or three or four year old. You remember it from when you were nine or ten years old, when it really was all fun and there wasn’t much that … [Read more...] about BEWARE OF HALLOWEEN!
Watch Out for the Wild Things
Where the Wild Things Are, the beloved children's book by Maurice Sendak, has been made into a movie. When I first heard about it, I was excited...then worried. An article in this morning's Los Angeles Times about the movie fueled my worries. Granted, I haven't seen the movie, but I am still worried. I just know that hundreds of cool, thirty-something parents are going to line up to take their young children to see it. Is this really a movie for young children? In today's world, children … [Read more...] about Watch Out for the Wild Things
“My child got the bad teacher.”
Every one of us had a teacher she will never forget. She was the best teacher ever! And each of us had a teacher who was, well, not a favorite at all. How great it would be if every teacher was special, was a winner. Welcome to the world of education. That's just not going to happen, and maybe that's a good thing. As parents we begin to experience the good and the not-so-good teachers that will fill our children's educational experience as soon as the child starts preschool. The good … [Read more...] about “My child got the bad teacher.”
A Spirit of Optimism
My teacher friend, Barbara, retold the wonderful story of a little boy in her new Pre K class. She was reading the class a particular book the plot of which was getting tense. The little guy interrupted her reading and announced, "Let's look on the bright side, guys. I'm pretty sure there's going to be a good ending to this story!" Call it half empty-half full or just plain having an optimistic attitude, this little boy had it. The optimistic child (and adult, for that matter), is the one who … [Read more...] about A Spirit of Optimism