Helping Families Find Freedom
Last week Christopher finished middle school and received his first cell phone on his last day of 8th grade. Needless to say, he was thrilled. Wide smile and eyes beaming. According to him, he only knew of a handful of kids who did not have a cell phone in his large middle school. Has he read more…
I was so blessed by the mom of a preschooler who posted on Facebook this picture of her son in the very front row of his preschool concert, sitting on his bottom refusing to sing a note. Apparently he had warned his mom, “If you come to my concert then I am sitting down and read more…
To the Girl Staying Home on Prom Night: You bold girls who wanted no part of prom from the beginning, enjoy your night–this note is not for you. Go have a blast! This is a note to the girl who wishes she were at the prom tonight. I wanted to send you a note to read more…
I received the story below from a local mom. She shared her dilemma of when to intervene with her special needs son and when to step back and observe. What would you have done? Marianne, I was hoping that you could tell me what you would have done in this situation. I have a five-year-old read more…
Perhaps the greatest challenge of being “popular” or “cool” is maintaining honest, loyal friendships. By its very nature, cool is fickle. It changes with regularity and to stay cool you have to work to be able to keep up. For two decades, I’ve been observing friendship dramas in middle schools and little has changed over read more…
I’ll never forget the advice I heard from a mom of teens when all four of my boys were not even in school yet. She told me, “Trust me, you don’t want your kids to be popular.” At first this surprised me. Of course I wanted other kids to like my boys. I sure liked read more…
Wow, in the two discipline workshops I did this weekend at Hearts at Home, women clamored for my “Whammy List.” Apparently moms love new tools that will improve kids’ behavior. But here’s the trick—no guarantees come with the “Whammy List.” This is simply a part of your role in parenting. Your child has a part read more…
Yesterday I overheard an 8th grade girl trying to convince a middle school administrator that it was “appropriate” to makeout on the middle school bus since “it is not the same as school and there is nothing wrong with kissing.” Where to begin, precious young teen? Let me start by addressing the teen herself since read more…
Stop Letting School Sabotage Your Relationship with Your Child I’m not sure how many times I have said this, but the most important part of parenting is the relationship we have with our kids. Is it honest? Loving? Respectful? Joy-filled? Secure? If it is, then parenting will be much easier–maybe even fun! But I read more…
The Power We Wield: After the Game—on the Ride Home I have seen article after article about parents behaving badly during kids’ sporting events. Sure, it’s frustrating and hard to hear sometimes. It’s tough to see the looks on kids’ faces as they respond to the criticism or the embarrassment. But what about when these read more…
