Parenting

Choosing the Right Babysitter Parents are usually anxious when trying out a new babysitter for the first time – understandably so. It’s hard to entrust the care of your children to someone you might not know very well. By investing some time and effort in choosing the right babysitter, however, you can ensure a more agreeable experience for yourself, your [...]

Meditating with Children With increasing numbers of Americans – children and adults alike – experiencing stress, it’s no surprise that people are turning to meditation for relief. Meditation and mindfulness practices (the focused awareness of the present moment) are becoming more popular both in school curricula and outside the classroom. Is meditating with children another fad, or can it offer tangible [...]

Talking to children about death can be difficult but is also important. Explaining and discussing difficult topics is pivotal to emotional development. Kids as young as 4 or 5 can have questions about their own mortality and death in general. These questions are often prompted by the death of a friend, relative, or pet. Your child can [...]

Many kids and parents don’t feel comfortable talking about bedwetting, even with a pediatrician. What causes bedwetting and how can you cure it? The Causes of Bedwetting Bedwetting has a number of causes, all of which relate to the development of the body and the brain. Young children have smaller bladders that hold less urine. Furthermore, in many children [...]

Unclinging a Clingy Child What does your child do when you drop them off at day care? Some kids’ natural curiosity kicks in and they wander away towards a peer or toy. Others are more cautious, preferring to stay by mom or dad until a teacher or caregiver invites them to join the fun. Then there's the clingy [...]

Losing trust in your kids is something all parents face, whether they have a 7 year old or a 17 year old. There are countless instances in which parent-child trust can be damaged. Maybe you gave your child money for a school field trip and they spent it on something else? Perhaps they said they were sleeping over at [...]

Knowing When to Praise and Reprimand What did you do when your child broke your favorite coffee mug from college even though you told them never, ever to touch it? Did you yell? What about when the same child made you that adorable picture for Mother’s Day? Did you praise them? Praise and reprimands are the opposite ends [...]

How To Handle a Picky Eater If your child is a picky eater now, they could get into trouble in the future. Making it to adulthood as a picky eater can be downright embarrassing – if you’re getting married, you want to be able to eat the cake. But on the other hand, forcing food on your picky eater [...]

Stop Your Child From Smoking Although rates of smoking have declined from a decade ago, nearly 10% of all 12th graders have used tobacco at some point in the last month. Over the course of a lifetime, smoking can be a very costly habit – negative effects on health and wellness, money spent on tobacco, and social stigma are [...]

Make a New Tradition with Family Movie Night Parents are always on the lookout for ways to increase family time. But if getting your family together can be tougher than it seems. Luckily, a family movie night provides an easy and affordable way to anchor a recurring family activity on everyone’s calendar. Do it right, and family movie [...]