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In today's digital world, it's common for scenarios like this to play out: A teenage girl comes into the kitchen obviously upset. When her dad asks what's wrong, she says she is having a fight with a friend who said hurtful things to her.Her dad can't believe the friend would say some of the things his daughter told him about. For proof, she takes out her cell phone so he can "read" the argument. The entire thing was happening via text messages, and they hadn't actually spoken about the problem …

The world-wide pandemic changed many things in our lives. One of those big changes was school closures which thrust parents into a new role as educator and therapist. This may seem scary and you may want to react in a big way. When you stop to think about it, as a parent you are one of the best possible teachers for your children. Not only do you know them so well but you spend many more hours a day with them. Instead of just thirty minutes of language or social skills practice, with …

A few weeks ago, I walked all three of my sons down to the end of the block and watched as the oldest two, ages seven and five, climbed onto a yellow school bus. The five-year-old, who started Kindergarten this year, sat by the window, waving and blowing kisses. My oldest, who is now a second grader, settled in next to him, gave us a brief head nod, and turned to talk to his friends. We waited until the bus disappeared around the corner, then my two-year-old and I walked back up the sidewa …

Earlier this month, I discussed how one of my son’s middle-school teachers focused on his kindness towards others as the highlight of our parent-teacher conference, and how it inspired me to look at my own behavior and seek ways to choose kindness and reinforce the same with our children. In this week’s post, the story continues with a reflection on kindness and tips for teaching children to choose kindness. Our son has always been a kind soul. From the time he was young, he had wha …

School conferences have generally been good experiences for my husband and me. With few exceptions, we often hear about our kids’ achievements, how they seem to be doing in class or at school, and hear very positive things about their behavior.But when our son (who is now entering 10th grade) was in sixth grade, he hit a rough patch in school. He was doing fine overall, but definitely not living up to his potential in some classes. Homework had been missed, projects not done to completion, …