Author of Better By Mistake: The Unexpected Benefits of Being Wrong
It’s crucial that we, as parents, allow our children to make mistakes and fail and figure out how to recover from them. We can’t rush in and fix every problem, whether it be forgotten homework, an awkward social encounter or not getting a part in the school play.
We know from research that building children’s self-esteem and self-worth is much less about praise and gold stars and trophies for everyone and much more about creating resilience. Children who know how to screw up and fail and try again.
“While we do not want our children to face ongoing failure, to attempt to overprotect them and rush in whenever we fear they might fail at a task robs them of an important lesson, namely that mistakes are experiences from which to learn,” writes Robert Brooks and Sam Goldstein in their book Nurturing Resilience in Our Children. “It also communicates another subtle or perhaps not-so-subtle message to a child: We don’t think you are strong enough to deal with obstacles and mistakes.” Read the rest of this entry »
By Dr. John Duffy,
Author of The Available Parent: Radical Optimism for Raising Teens and Tweens
We are on vacation in Florida with another family. Three young teenagers are on board, my 13-year-old included. A number of times over the past week, I have peered over to see each of their beautiful faces lost in a 3 ½ inch screen: a Nintendo DS, iPhone, iPod Touch, or any other thing!
One might be texting friends back home, another might be selecting a new song, while yet another is playing the latest downloaded game. There they were in the car last night, screens lighting their faces. There they were on the couch, in front of the giant TV screen! Even in bed, all faces illuminated, eyes entranced.
So how is a parent to counteract the draw of the tiny, sophisticated, intoxicating hand-held plaything? Read the rest of this entry »
Did you know 160,000 kids miss school every day out of fear of being bullied? The recent cases of young people who have tragically ended their lives because they were so badly bullied are a painful example that there is a serious problem in America today. There is no better time than the present to start changing these statistics…and we can do so through education!
By Kirsten Olson,
Author of Wounded by School: Recapturing the Joy in Learning and Standing Up to Old School Culture
Schools can be frustrating and difficult places to learn, as many parents of children and young adults know. From a kid’s point of view, feedback on schoolwork is often negative, red-pencilly and snarly. Learning tasks are flattening, and opportunities to choose what will be learned are few and far between. “I’m one taco short of a combination plate,” a middle schooler recently told his mom. Fostering a kid’s potential, especially if that kid is unusual or offbeat, can be daunting. Read the rest of this entry »
By Caroline Taggart,
Author of I Used to Know That: Stuff You Forgot From School
Back to school can be stressful for kids and parents alike, so here are Ten Helpful Hints for busy moms (and dads). The aim is to make the whole thing a bit more fun and perhaps teach the kids something at the same time. Some of this program needs to run through the vacation, so set a good example — don’t leave everything till the night before school starts! Read the rest of this entry »
