The 3R’s of Positive Behavior is an excellent manual for educators. There are a lot of GREAT classroom techniques that can transfer to parenting as well. The 3Rs are Respect, Responsibility, and Reliability. If you like the idea of Thematic Parenting, this is a “Go-To” resource. This manual is written by my father, Gailen Keeling. I grew up with first-hand experience of many of
It’s Sunday. Sunny and mild March foothills weather. Sunday is traditionally family day at our house. Today we are all here but doing our own thing. Mu husband is fixing a squeak on his mountain bike (specifically, rear-disc brakes, he just informed me.) My son is building his Lego MindStorms ping pong catapult for Science class. Before I sat down to write this post I
When I took a Positive Discipline parenting class, we were all given this book. What is Positive Discipline? Can you have both those words together in one experience? To begin, Jane Nelson names three adult-child interactions – strictness, permissiveness, and positive discipline – and then provides helpful concepts for understanding their differences. She writes about how punishment DOES work – it stops the immediate
My mother’s death is still so recent – maybe that’s why it’s easier to talk about Zed’s grief instead of my own. He had one small previous experience with death (unless you count rural Grass Valley road kill). Our dog of many years, Ziggy, died when he was two. Fueled by pictures and our stories, he will sometimes use these memories to access a
If you don’t have one already, an accessible basket of musical instruments is a must-have in a home with children under the age of 5. Where to start with your basket? Maracas, Jingle Stick, Castanets, a Drum and stick – these are great basics to start with. Here’s a set that I like: Shake, Rattle and Drum by Sounds like Fun. I give it
In my son’s classroom, the teacher praised a child’s roundly perfect cursive o’s. “Good job, Sienna.” At Little League, the coach told the boy who caught the ball, “Good job, Timothy.” Today, I heard “Good job” at the grocery store when the girl stopped throwing her Cheerios, on the playground when a boy hit the wall with the ball instead of his sister, and
If the child cries for what they want, the answer is always “No.” Always? Yep. Consistency is key with this tool. If you’ve ever found yourself giving into a demand made by your child just to stop the crying, this is a good one. We instilled this practice early on in our parenting and we avoided so many of those kinds of struggles with
The Power of Three is a great parenting tool any time you want your child to understand an expectation or new experience. It’s three simple steps involving REPETITION. 1. Tell or show your child the behavior that you expect in a situation the night before or that morning. Use as few words as possible. 2. Tell or show them again a few hours or
In the “old days,” teachers played the piano in the classroom and the students sang on a daily basis. With budget cuts throughout the country, many music programs have been discontinued. Unless your child goes to a specialized school, music is probably not part of their daily classroom experience. My son has music in his school because I teach it. Not all his friends
