The Strong-Willed Child

mad boy

The Strong-Willed Child In a favorite comic strip, a little boy tells his Dad, “You’ll never be as smart as me Dad.  Back when God built your brain…he was using older technology.”  Pretty clever, huh?  Probably hits home for many adults who rely on younger children to tweak their websites, blog posts and download all…

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What to Do About a Student with Angry Outbursts

Angry upset boy, little man

Angry Outbursts: Prevention and Coping Skills On a School Counselor Facebook page, a school counselor asks for help with a 5th grader who regularly has angry outbursts over such things as forgetting his work at home or his Chromebook is missing from the class. During sessions focused on helping him calm down, he’s still very…

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Are Kids Less Disciplined than Ever?

Young girls playing or working on a computer

Kids and Discipline If you have any connection to the educational system as I do, it’s not unusual to hear teachers complain that children today are much harder to teach than in years past. In fact, the job of the teacher has become so difficult that the average length of time that new teachers stay…

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Self discipline and the marshmallow test…

A cute kid eating marshmallow

How to help kids develop self discipline It’s a classic test of self-control and discipline;  The Marshmallow Test was designed by Walter Mischel in the late 1960’s, children were given a marshmallow and told they could either eat it now or wait for a period of time and get two marshmallows to eat.  The antics…

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Teaching kids to manage negative feelings

angry-child

Kids and Self Talk A typical classroom lesson on recognizing feelings is useful and gives kids a common language for expressing their feelings.  However, it is a basic lesson and doesn’t really cover all the bases in helping kids manage feelings, especially negative ones.   What can we teach the child who needs anger management strategies or…

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