The “Calmer Family” Challenge: Are you ready to for Family Vow of Yellibacy?
Parenting advice to help families reduce temper, boost family harmony and achieve yellibacy! New research shows our kids are picking up on our stress far more than we recognize. Holidays just egg on those tempers. So are you ready to take the Vow of Yellibacy? Here are the steps! Let’s face it, yelling is one way to let off steam. And we seem to be letting off more than our share these days. Unfortunately, the holidays is a time when stress builds and we let off steam with one another. Studies...
Raising Charitable Kids
Parenting advice to encourage kids to lend a hand, do service, and make the world a kinder place The TODAY Show asked me to share parenting advice that will encourage kids to catch that glorious “Volunteer Spirit.” I’ll share more tips this Friday, December 3 during the 8 am hour on TODAY. You’ll also meet an incredible high school student who is clearly making a difference in the world with her own unique service project. I'll try to post that link after the segment on Friday. Our Greatest...
Raising Tobacco-Free Kids
Parenting tips based on proven research that help raise tobacco-free kids and save their lives REALITY CHECK: One in five high school students smoke. More than 3 million U.S. teens are cigarette smokers. The biggest increase in cigarette users are teen girls. Did you know .... In California (my state), 18 to 24 year olds are smoking at an increasing rate and are now recognized as the fastest-growing age group using tobacco. Nine out of the adults took their first puff in their teens or...
ADHD on Rise? Report finds 1 in 10 kids with attention deficit
Parenting advice to help you know the signs of ADHD, the difference between ADHD and ADD, what to expect age by age, and when to seek help for your child. A government survey released this weeks finds that one in ten children in the United States have ADHD (or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). That number is a sizable increase from just a few years earlier. Studies in the past found that less than 8 percent of kids had been diagnosed with ADHD. Most researchers attribute the rise to...
The Spoiled-Kid Makeover
Five steps to stopping the Big Brat Factor by curbing selfish and spoiled kid attitudes If you think self-centered and selfish kids are on the rise, you’re right. National surveys show most parents feel they’re raising selfish kids. The truth is kids don’t arrive in this world with all the symptoms of the “Big Brat Factor.” Research show that our children are born with the marvelous gift to care and be concerned about others. But unless we nurture those virtues they will lie dormant. Sure,...
Is your child spoiled? A quick test to find out
Parenting advice that helps you see the dangers of raising a spoiled kid and a four-word review to assess whether your child just may be even a tad bit spoiled. “Spoiled! Not my kid!” Right??? Or would you admit that your child is just a tad bit spoiled? All the polls say that most Americans feel kids today are more spoiled than ever. A TIME/CNN poll found that two out of three parents feel their kids are spoiled. A poll by the New American Dream showed 70 percent of parents believe kids are...
Teaching Teens About Date Rape Drugs and Staying Safe
News at Central Washington University is a parent wake-up call: we have skills to teach. Parenting advice to help you talk to your teen about date rape drugs and what you can help them learn to keep them safer and savvier Scene: Fifty unconscious and semi-conscious party goers. Vomit everywhere. One man engaging in sexual acts with a semiconscious female. Ambulances transporting 11 unconscious females (who are mostly college freshmen) and one unconscious male to the hospital. Date and place:...
6 Week Parent Check-Up: 4 areas you can’t overlook in school success
Four crucial--and sometimes overlooked--areas that affect learning and how to check them to see how your child is doing. Parenting advice and simple tips I shared this morning on the TODAY show to help your child have a more successful school year The honeymoon period is over and the school year is in full swing. At this point most parents have a good idea about how their children get along with the teacher and which subjects are hard or easy. But school success is more than just our kids'...
ABCs of Decreasing Stress
I loved this article by Lori Lite and she graciously let me post it for you. Stress is mounting with our kids and they need to learn healthy ways to reduce it. These ideas are so simple but also doable...and you can have fun reinforcing the alphabet with your younger kids. Why not hang a copy of this on your fridge so you can refer to it throughout the day and remind everyone to find their favorite letter to bust their stress! Thanks Lori! (You can follow her on twitter @StressFreeKids ) By...
5 Answers About School Problems
NBC is featuring a week-long focus on education. This morning on the TODAY show parents had the opportunity to call, email or skype in parenting questions about their children’s education. I appeared as the TODAY parenting contributor along with a fabulous high school chemistry teacher from Los Angeles and an incredible principal from the Baltimore area. The Today Show website was flooded with queries, but here are the top five the producers chose to be answered live of the set because they...
The 30-Day Back-to-School Parent Check-in
Parenting tips to nip school problems and kid stress in the bud now for a better year School is now in full swing, the “honeymoon period” is over and studies say kid stress is mounting. This is the time to check in on how your child is doing and nip any problems in the bud. According to a recent poll from the University of Michigan, childhood stress is now a top-5 concern for parents, ahead of bullying and just behind Internet safety. And 56% of parents believe the stress levels are getting...
Effect of Early Child Care Extend to Age 15: How to Find Quality Caregivers
Research finds quality childcare tied to academic gains and risk-taking 15 years later...10 questions to help you find quality caregivers for your child. Over 2.3 million American kids under years five of age are cared for at day care centers. If you’re like most parents, I’m sure you’ve pondered the age-old question: “What impact does child care have on my child? Well, now there’s an answer. Recent findings from a federally funded study will have parents and educators alike on alert. Since...
Grandparents Raising Grandkids
All the job losses and foreclosures that mark the recession are contributing to a new parenting trend: 1 in 10 Grandparents now raise their children’s kids. The TODAY Weekend Edition asked me on to report on the Pew Research findings, the impact those findings may have on children, and tips for grandparents. Here are portions of the report I gave to Lester Holt on Saturday and parenting advice for grandparents. A new poll by Pew Research finds that the number of children being raised by their...
Top 10 Behavior Principles Parent Should Know
Worried about your child's behavior? Not getting the results you hope? Then maybe--just maybe--the strategies you're using aren't based on solid research. Bad behaviors can be changed if parents remember to apply ten basic and proven principles. Here are my “Top 10” that I repeatedly share with parents who are trying to alter their kids’ behavior – but because they aren’t using them, they don’t get the results. Most behaviors … (not temperament or personality)... 1. Are learned. Some behaviors...
Building Children’s Moral Intelligence
10 Parenting Tips for Raising Good Kids in a Racy, Raunchy World Home is always the best school for teaching moral behaviors, but in today's racy, raunchy world parents need to be far more intentional in their efforts to building their children's moral intelligence. Here are 10 tips from my book, Building Moral Intelligence: The Seven Essential Virtues That Teach Kids to Do the Right Thing, to help you raise your child to know right from wrong, internalize your values and act right without...
The Greedy Kid Cure
Parenting advice to reduce kid greed and reopen generosity “But I’ve got to have a clown and a pony at my birthday. That’s what Tiffany had.” “Sure, I have six pairs but the more shoes the better!” “Grandma only gave me fifty dollars for an A!” Have you noticed that we seem to have a lot of greedy kids these days? If so, you’re not alone. The general public agrees and feels that increased numbers of today’s youth are self-centered, spoiled. greedy and materialistic. Instead of being...
Getting Kids to Open Up
Parenting advice that helps kids open up, talk more, and let us know what's going on in their world Before I had kids, I was a teacher. I know probably figured out that there are certain students teachers will never forget, there’s one more part to the equation. There are also some mothers we will never – as in ever - forget. (And I'm betting I have every teacher who reads this nodding and smiling. Right?) Over the years I’ve watched how some moms just seem to have the knack of getting their...
Easing Back-to-School Jitters
Parenting advice I shared with Matt Lauer this morning on the TODAY show: ways to help reduce kid's back to school jitters, minimize anxieties and ease those transitions so they can focus on the real subject: learning! Heading back to school is exciting for most kids but can be a bit traumatic for others. It’s only natural for children to feel a little anxious especially if you’ve just moved to town, are changing schools, repeating a grade, have never left mom’s side, are a shyer-more...
More Teens Getting Botox
Parenting advice to raise girls from inside out and stop the outside wrinkle-free, large-breasted, pencil thin craze. Enough! Ask teen girls what is on their birthday wish list these days, and you may get a surprise answer: Botox! Yep, that appointed “youth wonder treatment” by the 40 something set (who rave how Botox temporarily reduces those dreaded wrinkles and winds back the face clock) is now a hot item for adolescent girls. Botox is the brand name for botulinum toxin. When injected...
Back-Seat Sanity Savers for Road Trips
Parenting advice to help you survive and (just maybe) even enjoy that Family Road Trip ... Tips I shared this morning on the TODAY show. The family road trip is as Americana as apple pie. It appears this summer more parents are doing just that -- buckling up with their kids and taking mini or extended vacations via the automobile. While most parents dream about the perfect road trip adventure, a 2010 summer travel survey found that 42% of parents rate its stress level a five or higher (based...
What really makes teens happy? Surprise survey results: We’re at the top!
If you haven’t heard the news this should make you and every other parent smile. (And it’s about time). A seven-month study conducted by MTV and Associated Press interviewed nearly 1,300 young people aged 13 to 24 years old. The results revealed that the majority of teens find the most happiness in their family and listed their parents as their heroes. And—(it gets even better)—most young people (over three-quarters!) said being with their parents brought them even more joy than being with...