The Secret Sauce for a Happy Child

Father and kids sitting on wooden dock

Positive and Negative Feedback Do you wonder what the key is to having happy children? Maybe you even wonder about the key to finding happiness in your own life? Turns out we don’t find happiness… it’s not even related to our circumstances.  Surprised? The Research on the Happiness Advantage In Shawn Achor’s  book, The Happiness Advantage, he…

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4 Steps to Better Communication

father and son

Using Communication to Change Misbehavior In my last post, I wrote about connection, the first of the three steps taught in the Parent Encouragement Program by author, Kathryn Reynolds Lewis. The second step outlined in her  book, The Good News about Bad Behavior is communication. It is important to note that communication follows connection. How often…

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What every child wants…

Children playing with painting

Misbehavior and belonging Studies indicate that children today are harder to teach and more difficult to discipline than in previous years.  Diagnoses of ADHD, anxiety and depression are skyrocketing.  What is a parent or educator to do?  How can we cope? Before identifying some approaches to the problem, Katherine Reynolds Lewis, the author of the…

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Parenting and the Word NO

mom and booy

The importance of learning the word: no One of the most important words, we as parents can learn to say is “no”.  I realize that I’m starting this post off on a rather negative note, and it’s certainly not my style, but it’s a hard lesson to learn and I was reminded of it just…

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Creating Summertime Family Fun

happy little girl on beach

Personality Style Counts! Summer vacations are upon us! How do you plan your child’s activities for the summer? Is everyone off to camp or spending the day at the local pool? Are you visiting local parks or exploring a museum? The unstructured days of summer sound heavenly, but sometimes the end result falls short of the…

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Stressed out?

girl and dog

You deserve a break today… Wonder why so many children today are anxious, unmotivated and stressed out? Could it be that the opportunity for play is rapidly becoming extinct? Every day in every way we are all about being productive and busy. Schools are increasingly  focused on academics and data collection (even in preschool). No…

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