Parenting by Strengths

New Year's Resolutions for Stronger Families

Many of us make New Year’s resolutions to lose weight and exercise more, but will you be making any New Year’s resolutions to help your family become even closer and stronger? Not many people do, yet what’s more important than our family?

I’ve invited Barbara Carlson, co-founder or Putting Family First—Making Time for Family Initiative and Anne Naumann, a mother of two, to join me on my radio show and share some New Year’s resolutions we can make (along with strategies for making it happen!) that will help us stay close to our kids in the New Year and give them what they need most – time with us.

Listen to “New Year’s Resolutions to Make Your Family Stronger” live on Wed., Dec. 30 at 12 CT or listen later at your convenience here: http://www.tinyurl.com/realparentsrealsolutions. 

 

Bully Free, Conflict Free, Tech Home Rules

Or --Texting and you and your teen or tween, part 2.

by Mary Ivory

And the holiday is so upon us! The shopping is done, yeah! ... But now what to do about the new technology in your home? I am suggesting we call it a tech plan.

I outlined some background ideas in my last post. I hope you are ready for some fun work... No kidding it's fun work! ... Here are my ideas for first steps to pro-actively make your home safer, happier and tech plan friendly!

Technology is another factor in our kids step toward independence. Tweens and teens have pressures to text, email and exchange pictures or sexting. Along with the anticipation of big fun with the new phone or lap top we need a plan of safety. We will start with some of the dangers-

• Bullying. Check our this short public service ad if you want to get a better understanding of the problem. 
• Nearly "constant need"  for texting/ chatting.
• Homework distractions.
• Important to remember- Texts and emails are not private. Once something is in an email or in text message it remains accessible. Think about the long lasting effect of your words as they do not disappear! Ask all the recent celebrities involved in scandalous behaviors.

What Values are You Teaching Your Kids?

 Honesty. Respect. Self-Discipline. Courage. Self-Reliance. Kindness. These are great values that we want our children to have. The question is what steps are we taking to ensure that our kids are receiving these valuable messages?

Create a Mindset for Success In Your Child

Tune in Wed., Dec. 16 for "Creating a Mindset for Success in Your Child” with Carol Dweck, Stanford researcher and author of “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success” on “Real Parents. Real Solutions." with host Toni Schutta. The proper mindset has been shown to be one of the most important factors for your child to achieve success. There is a link at the end of this post if you want to hear the show at another time.

You’ll learn real-life tips on how to praise your child, how to criticize your child constructively, and how to create a passion for learning that will help nurture a growth mindset. Carol’s groundbreaking work levels the playing field by showing you how to communicate differently to your children to create a growth mindset that can be nurtured to achieve success in all aspects of life.

Adam Lambert vs The Media: Round 2

by Amy Johnson, MSW

Adam Lambert was on The View this morning.  I was nursing a cold and decided to watch to see how they would handle the recent controversy over his performance at the American Music Awards. 

Texting, Dating and You and Your Teen (or tween)!

Remember the small thrill from passing a note in class? I do. Junior High fun...I was a 'good kid' but the excitement of passing a note, hoping not to be found out by the teacher is a feeling I can well up without much pondering.... It was a way to be secretive and be connected with friends while 'breaking a rule' that was, at it's most a dangerous act, a disruption to the teacher's lesson plan. It is normal development for tweens (9-12 year old) and particularly teens to test rules. I can remember what that first step to challenge the rules was like.....

Enough of my reminiscing, you might wonder where I am going with this idea under the topic of teen texting and dating?