Parenting tips, advice, kid’s activities and how to manage a family.
Middle school was complete hell.
When my daughter entered sixth grade this year, I was terrified.
I didn’t want her to think it was her fault that other people were mean to her. I wanted her to know how to confront problems and the typical, stupid ways that people would react.
Ways that had nothing to do with her.
Girl drama is one of those things.
“I can’t do it!
My gosh, there is nothing that hurts me more than hearing my kids say that. It’s not the give-up fast “can’t do it”.
Rather its said after comparing themselves with everyone else around them and thinking they suck.
I want to cry.
I want to hug my child, to hold her, but she pulls away.
No matter what I say.
No matter what I tell her.
She doesn’t believe me. I am completely and utterly wrong. Because I’m not there and I don’t see the other kids.
Meanwhile, I know that she’s being too hard on herself.
You walk in the door from school. Your nine-year-old comes in after you.
Everything seems fine. She’s happy. All is well and good.
Then, you remind her that the dishwasher needs unloading.
Boom. It’s like something inside her detonates.
“Noooo… I don’t have time to do that. That’s so unfair. I can’t believe you’re making me do this!:
She glares at you, stomps over to the kitchen sink and starts crying.
WHA-ATT just happened? She was happy. I didn’t blame her. I just had a simple request.
Every week, your daughter tells you of a new conflict with a particular friend at school. You are losing your mind and feel helpless. Here’s how to help your daughter deal with friend drama.
“Noooo… I can’t do it. I don’t have the time!!”
Have you heard this from your child when she sits down to do homework? My gosh, it wrecks me.
I can feel her overwhelm and so relate to it.
I know what it feels like to have so much to do and what seems like no time to do it.
So, I jump in and try to help.
“It’s ok sweetie, let’s write down all the things you have to do to get it out of your head.”
“NO!” she pouts back, “That won’t help. I don’t know any of this and I have to get started now.”
What do you do with that? You see the problem, you know the steps to take to fix it and yet your child pushes you away like you couldn’t possibly know what she’s talking about or what she’s dealing with.
School districts “no homework” policies miss the point.
It’s not that black and white. In fact, the research many journalists cite is frequently misinterpreted for a clickbait headline or to get people riled up.
As parents, we get frustrated with the amount or type of homework that our kids bring home.
But how can we tell if it’s just our mood or if the work is appropriate?
Also, what to do about it?
Is homework getting you down?
You dread it as soon as you see your child take his backpack to the kitchen table or maybe even get in the car.
You anticipate the fights, the struggle and sometimes the necessary bribing and manipulation to get the homework done.
Just the other night, your child cried at the kitchen table for 20 minutes because he didn’t want to even try a hard math problem.
You had no idea how to help him. Maybe you tried Youtube, you tried googling, but nothing.
Or perhaps your daughter sat there with the assignment of writing a 5 paragraph essay but refused to actually write something.
She sat.
She stared.
It was painful.
There are times when I’m driving my kids to dance and I want to scream.
Something about the traffic, mixed with the end of the day and oh yeah…
They’re fighting in the backseat.
“STOP IT SISSY!!!”
“I was just asking you a question (a very pointed, “why don’t you know the answer to this? Are you stupid?” question)
“I SAID STOP”
At this point, I either start talking to myself or my knuckles turn white because I’m gripping the steering wheel too hard.
We’re all stuck in a car together. I can’t escape. What do I do?
Do your kids whine?
Does the whining make your head hurt? Do you want to dig a tunnel through your kitchen floor and burrow inside until the whining stops?
Me too.
Looking for a very simple science experiment to do at home with your kids? Maybe you need some ideas for summer or a rainy day. These are the coolest science projects I found that are unique, magical and use only household items.
Not more than 2 seconds after they hop in the car, the screaming begins.
“No, that’s not what happened Erik. My lunch is at 11:35am, not 11:30.”
I brace myself.
“NO SISSY! YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOUR TALKING ABOUT”
And then, WHAP!
He reaches his little arm across the space in the bucket seats between them and hits her.
“Erik, DON’T HIT ME!!!”
That’s when I intervene.
I don’t know how school bus drivers do it. How do you discipline 30 kids when you’re trying to keep safe and focus on not veering your large yellow, monstrosity off the road
I’m in a Toyota Highlander with only two children and I’m ready to lose my mind.
They’re driving you crazy. The yelling. The screaming. Here’s a quick way on how to stop sibling fighting in your home.
It’s the fifth temper tantrum of the morning.
Your son is mad at you because you poured milk on his cereal when he only wanted it on the side.
Your daughter huffs past you in a little ball of rage because her brother is taking all the attention… AGAIN.
And you?
You are fed up.
Vitriol.
Anger.
All seemingly directed at me.
But its not about me. And its not about you either when your child turns on you with the rage of emotions and backtalk.
Ever walk in your house and become immediately overwhelmed with the stuff lying around?
Its bad enough when you have a kitchen junk counter stacked with 3 layers deep with kid’s artwork, random books and those gadgets for your door that you don’t want to throw away but you don’t really know how to install.
But then is all the stuff your kids leave laying in the living room or crammed onto the top of the family room game shelf.
Sassiness.
What can I say, sometimes we bring it on ourselves…
I walked into the kitchen this morning where my son was sitting perfectly happy, until he saw me…
It feels like all the behaviors your kids have are challenging.
But what if I told you those challenges are actually life skills that just need a little guidance?
This is how you can tell.
It’s no secret that a strong family foundation is key to a happy and successful life. But perhaps when you try to have good communication…
As moms, we’re so used to doing things for our kids that we find it hard to sit down and do something for ourselves. How…
Mean kids. They’re everywhere.
Let’s face it. These kids who tease aren’t horrible human beings (although our mama bear senses want to say they are), they just lack social skills.
So if we want our kids to avoid these mean kids and seek out positive relationships, we as parents, need to teach them social skills.
Kid movies – that also entertain you as a parent – are almost impossible to find.
There are times when all I want to do on a Saturday afternoon is sit in a dark movie theater with my kids happily by my side.
But usually, that experience starts well and then 30-minutes in, my five-year-old son tells me he’s bored.
Or, I start mapping the plot points in the movie calculating when it will be over.
(Yes I think, here’s the rising action and this is the climax. We have 15-minutes until closing credits)
But, Wonder Park from Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon movies is a film that we all enjoyed. I highly recommend it.
We all get into arguments with our kids that make us feel stressed and anxious. But how do we get out of that and move on to a solution with our kids? We give easy calm down strategies for your and your kids. You both will be able to cool down in no time flat!
These tips are perfect for parents and kids!
These simple DIY outdoor pillows take less than an hour to make.
Let’s do crafting therapy and give your porch some personality!
I’m going to be blunt.
Right now, your child’s homework time just plain sucks.
It does.
You dread it every night. “Hey, have you done your math homework yet?
“NO! I can’t do my homework. I don’t want to do it yet. Can’t I watch TV? I’ll do it after dinner.”
So much back and forth and back and forth. It’s become too much.
The question is, how do you make your child want to do homework?
How do you make homework less boring?
It can be hard finding your authentic self when we put so much energy into our family every day. It becomes so difficult to untangle where your identity ends and your identity as a parent begins (news flash- they are different)! We’re going to share 3 things you can do to have healthy boundaries with our kids and family and help you find your authentic self.
NO!! Give that back!”
“I’m looking at it right now, I’ll give it back in a little bit.”
“NOOO!!,” my son screams, “GIVE IT BACK NOW!!”
As usual, I grip the steering wheel and take a few deep breaths. My kids are fighting in the car… again.
It’s hard enough when you are trying to pick a place to go out to eat and no one is on the same page, but when you and your partner or co-parent aren’t on the same page…it can be downright agonizing! We discuss with Amy how parents can identify what the real issue is causing their parenting struggles and how to best get on the same page and become a united front.
When you have anxiety, you feel like you’re all alone. But you’re not.
Here are 5 tips to cope with the anxiety we feel as moms.
Every day feels like a fight. Whether you ask your kids to pick up their shoes off the floor, to go get dressed for school, or simply to come join the family for dinner. It often feels like our kids simply don’t listen to us! But if we did just 3 simple things, we would see much different results.
Want to stop yelling at home? You’re not alone. Some of us grew up in ultra loud households where raised voices were just the normal…
When it comes to parenting, so many of us want to raise “good kids”. Kids who will be kind to others, who can problem solve, kids who truly understand and act out of compassion, and who understand inclusivity, justice, and equality. But there is often a space between raising “good kids” and raising pro-justice kids. That’s where the concept of Social Justice Parenting comes in.
Too often, we fall into the trap of punishing our kids in the heat of the moment after something’s happened. But that hardly ever works. Here, we’ll discuss the difference between logical consequences and punishments, as well as how to make effective logical consequences that will have a positive impact on your discipline at home.
Have you ever thought that being a parent should carry some training? How about spy training? I mean, who doesn’t want to learn how to parent like a spy? Meet Christina Hillsberg, former CIA agent and author who shares how her training as a spy has influenced her parenting with her 5 kids.
Want a simple method to get kids to stop fighting and start figuring out their problems like actual human beings? I swear it’s possible. Here we go.
It’s 6pm on a Thursday and I get a frantic text from a friend. Her daughter goes to the same school as mine.
“Hey, does your daughter have the math test from 2 months ago? The teacher is letting Celina retake it but she can’t find it.”
“Yeah, hold on, let me ask her.”
My daughter does have the test – which she doesn’t hand over right away because she wants to know exactly why she needs it, what it will be used for… third degree basically.
Satisfied with all my answers,she opens her binder to the math section, pulls out the test and hands it to me.
“Thanks,” my friend texts back, “I don’t know what Celina did with it.”
Do you wonder how to teach good coping skills to your kids? We talk with Janine Halloran, LMHC, about everything parents should and shouldn’t do when learning and teaching good coping skills to kids.
As a mom, I put hobbies on the backburner.
I didn’t know I was doing it at the time. It wasn’t a conscious decision.
It’s the fifth time your son has whined this morning.
The screeching sounds causes every single muscle in your neck to tighten. Your head feels dizzy. Seriously, whining kids could’ve been a form of medieval torture.
You take a deep breath and let it out.
You will not yell.
You will not yell.
You will not yell.
We share our thoughts on motherhood, the ups and downs of it all, and 3 essential tips on how to reclaim your joy as a mom during those rough days in parenting.
Do you feel like you’re too nice?
One of my students called me out for that my first year of teaching.
In her very astute, wise little fifth grade voice she told me, “Mrs. Crohn, you are too nice”
But wait… don’t you want to be nice? Isn’t that something to aim for?
Kind yes. But nice…nice is taking on the full responsibility of other people’s feelings and adapting your behavior to make others happy.
That’s what I was doing when an 11-year-old called me out.
Why do so many of us feel a little squeamish when we even think about talking with our kids about sex? But it doesn’t need to and we have the answers.
If you have hard time trying to stop yelling as a mom, please know you’re not alone. You’re not a horrible person – or parent….
In the midst of this strange season of social distancing and change, money may well be a scary topic for you. Maybe you’re like my family and you’re working through a big loss of income due to the pandemic? Maybe overwhelm and anxiety define your money situation in this season of uncertainty? Maybe you’ve decided to keep your head down and eyes closed, playing the “if I don’t look at it, then it can’t be real game” that our kids played when they were little?
“Five more minutes!” you call into the living room.
Your daughter and son are both engrossed in their tablets. They haven’t left the couch all afternoon.
You feel that you have no control over it either – take away their devices and they become complaining, moping monsters.
Dread your middle schooler’s homework every night? These tips for middle school parents will guide you in effective homework strategies.
There I was, sitting in my son’s 7th grade Parent-Teacher conferences, listening to the Literature teacher tell me the same thing I have heard for the past few years at every single conference…
“Your son is very bright, well-behaved, an absolutely pleasure in class. However, he doesn’t seem to get his homework done. And our first test of the year didn’t go very well for him.”