Setting clear expectations with a strong-willed child can be challenging. When they’re young, they have big tantrums that parents often want to avoid. This desire to avoid tantrums creates a pattern of parents giving in to appease the tantrum rather than remaining firm and implementing the clear, strong limit the child needs. The following…
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“I do so much for my children, and they just don’t appreciate it. They think only about themselves. Sometimes, I feel like I’m here simply to give them what they want. Why don’t they think about me?” If you’re thinking this way, there’s a good chance you have not set clear personal boundaries. Personal boundaries…
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In the summer issue of Parenting on the Peninsula magazine, my article, The Art of Listening Openly, is published. Most parents just don’t know how to listen without giving advice, commanding, placating, interrogating, distracting and other communication blocks. I invite you to read the entire article. Here is a beginning teaser: Children’s emotions can often surge…
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I’m a divorced dad with two boys ages 9 and 11. My youngest son has challenges with transitions and wanting his own way. This causes power struggles with getting him out of bed. I came to Cynthia for help with his defiant behavior. Cynthia’s been teaching me how to state an expectation or limit on…
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I’m a mom of an 11-year-old girl. Because of parenting challenges, I came to Cynthia for private parenting help to learn how to reduce my daughter’s jealousy of family members, to understand each other better, and to eliminate rude interactions. Even though, this is a lot to change, I was determined to learn what to…
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Dimitri Christakis is a pediatrician, researcher, and parent whose influential findings are helping identify optimal media exposure for children. His research with mice shows us how over stimulation through “intense” t.v. watching can negatively influence children’s ability to pay attention in school. It makes me wonder how video games are impacting kid’s ability to pay…
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I was raised in a culture that emphasizes kids’ academic success. Because of this, I was not taught the importance of parents and children playing together to create emotional bonds. As a result, I constantly told my children what to do to become successful in my eyes. We rarely had fun together. By the time…
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I started working with Cynthia because I wanted to reduce the conflict in my home with my two teenagers. I knew I needed to change how I approached situations and the way I was giving instructions or making “suggestions.” I was really suffering and I didn’t know what I was doing wrong, but whatever it…
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For Ally Parenting strategies to work, children need to feel connected to the adult giving a directive. It isn’t enough for you to just learn, for example, the after-then strategy, to win cooperation. There needs to be a balance between focusing on nurturing and structuring the relationship. There are many situations where parents need to…
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this excerpt is from a newsletter from Denise Pope of Challenge Success. These are her thoughts on schools offering year end awards and assemblies. This is very important. December, 2015 Several administrators at a recent conference asked my opinion on year-end student awards and assemblies. At their schools, they typically rewarded students who had straight…
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