I remember my just-hours-old newborn, swaddled up tight, propped on a pillow, fast asleep. Right then and there, I wanted to communicate with him. And it wasn’t long (2 hours when he woke up hungry) before he made his needs known. I learned his language as fast as I could: there was crying (a LOT of crying), smiles, eye and body movements, facial expressions,
I have often caught myself using wants and needs with my son. “Zed, I need you to take out the trash,” or “I want you to stop playing that video game.” These statements seem pretty harmless. They will often jump start Zed into doing what I ask. However, by using want or need, it sounds like I want or need something personal for myself.
“Time’s up. Turn off your iPad,” I yell from the kitchen to another part of the house. “What, Mom?” my son yells back. “No more Minecraft!” I yell a little louder. “WHAT?” I am agitated now. He must be ignoring me. At full-throttle volume: “TURN IT OFF!” Has this ever happened to you? Daily, maybe? One of the biggest changes we made as a
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
Parents, Grandparents, Educators, Friends of Parents, and anyone who interacts with children: Welcome to a site devoted to distilling massive amounts of parenting information into nuggets of gold. All with the intent of helping parents get into and stay in their parenting groove. You can start using what you learn here right away. And parenting will become easier, more enjoyable, and even more of
