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Teaching Your Kids to be Good Sports

Last night was our biggest football game of the year here in Utah. It’s something fans look forward to all year long. It is jokingly referred to as the “Holy War” around here; BYU vs. Utah. Fans banter back and forth about who is better constantly and believe it or not it can become quite heated. This used to be an exciting time at our house. The whole family would get together to watch the game. My entire family bleeds blue and always has (roots very strongly for BYU for those of you not familiar with the lingo). When my … Continue reading →

Turning Your Child into a Self-Advocate

How does your child do when you turn her loose? In school, kids have to self-advocate. In fact, in all groups children have to self-advocate to a large degree, especially if you are not around all of the time. Self-advocacy is a good skill to learn, but it’s one that is hard for young children. In fact, it’s one of the reasons that I’m tentative about letting my daughter loose into the school system. She’ll have to navigate large groups of children on her own. As an introvert, she doesn’t have the natural inclination to introduce herself to many other … Continue reading →

Enjoyment and Empathy—Good Social Adjustment

Many parents worry about whether or not their child is developing appropriately when it comes to social skills. This can be a hard one since all children are different and our kids may be very different from us, and/or very different from their siblings socially. Some like to play in big groups, others are happier playing alone or with one other friend. Overall, I think that if a child is showing signs of enjoyment—enjoying playing with other children at least some of the time, and empathy—caring how other people feel or if they get hurt or upset, then social skills … Continue reading →

Are You A Snowplow Parent?

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There are many different kinds of parenting styles to choose from. Some of them are very beneficial both to the children and the parents. Others are disadvantageous to not only the children, but also to their parents. Among the worst is the “snowplow parent”. Actual snow is not required for a parent to choose this parenting style. Emma Waverman, writing for Today’s Parent defined a snowplow parent as “a person who constantly forces obstacles out of their kids’ paths. They have their eye on the future success of their child, and anyone or anything that stands in their way has … Continue reading →

Can’t Win for Losing

My daughter’s second grade teacher has come up with a novel way to teach kids about losing gracefully. And it’s killing me. Each day, just minutes before dismissal, the teacher pulls a name from a hat. If the child, whose name is pulled has behaved that day, he or she is awarded a small prize, be it a bookmark, a key chain or sports trading cards. But here’s the catch: Once you win a prize your name is placed back into the hat and you are eligible to win the next day, and the next, and the next. Basically, the … Continue reading →

Family Game Night

Between everyone’s busy schedules it’s important to take some time out once a week to spend together as a family. No distractions! Turn the cell phones off, no TV, no computers, just the family! Pick a night of the week to be a special night to spend just you and the kids. For us growing up, we all knew that Monday night was family night. As we got older and our schedules got busier with school and work, family night became less and less frequent. Now that I have my own family, I’d love to start it up again. Have … Continue reading →

Giving Time

One of the most virtuous things that you can teach your children is how to give of themselves to those that are less fortunate. Teaching them how to do this will help them not to focus on themselves only. Volunteering and other acts of kindness will help them to learn many other wonderful and humble traits, such as being patient. Volunteering our time was commonplace in our house. With deliberation I made sure that we had a new project each year to do something nice for someone less fortunate. Some of our projects included raising money for the local animal … Continue reading →

Green Parenting Tips

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Being green starts at home and if you are like many of us, you have children. But, you can adopt green parenting strategies that can help the environment. Here are a few green parenting tips: Swap Kid’s Clothes Most kids outgrow clothes before they can stain them or tear them up, so swapping your child’s clothes with family and friends is a great recycling idea. Unfortunately for me, most of my son’s friends are girls, but there are a few younger boys he knows that we give good condition hand-me-downs to. Another great recycling idea is, as your child ages … Continue reading →

Beware of Bad Homeschooling Advice

One thing a new homeschooler needs to be especially careful about is bad homeschool advice. We often get “advice” about homeschooling that is unsolicited, but sometimes we go to the wrong people for advice. As homeschoolers it is important to be careful where we go and who was ask for homeschooling. In this instance I am referring to John Rosemond, family psychologist who says “The most effective home schooling generally takes place in the context of a collaborative effort on the part of two or more home schooling parents, each of whom accepts certain teaching responsibilities, and the children in … Continue reading →

Getting Paid to Do What You Love

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You’ll often hear when you first start out that the way to go about finding a career is figuring out what you love to do and finding someone who will pay you to do it. Makes sense–but it’s often easier said than done. However, taking the time necessary to figure out what you love to do and then developing a strategy to get there is well worth the effort. My Husband Yes, today I’m going to write about my husband, who started out as a Psychology major. His goal has always been to work with children and having had some … Continue reading →