“My mom kicked me out of the house using Love and Logic” a father reported during one of my recent parenting classes. Then his wife related the story: When my husband was 24-years-old he was still living at home. His parents were really cool and he enjoyed living there rent free. However, because he was living there rent free, he …
Empathy is at the heart of Love and Logic. Jim Fay and Foster W. Cline studied parents to find out why some parents got good results when disciplining, while others, who used the same methods of disciplining, got the opposite. They found that it had everything to do with showing empathy, or sadness, for the kid’s mistakes before applying the …
A common hope as parents is that our kids will do well in high school, go to college, and get an education so that they can compete in the world in which they live. Although this hope is logical, sometimes we are not as logical when it comes to passing this hope on to our kids. Love and logic teaches …
Are you starting to have a hard time dealing with your teen’s behavior? Do you find it a little disturbing that your son/daughter starts to say things that he/she didn’t normally say when he/she was younger? You don’t need to consult Arizona psychiatrists right away, nor feel helpless with your situation. Why is it that our children suddenly become experts …
Do you ever feel like you mess up as a parent? I know I do. Even though I have read plenty of parenting books and, in fact, teach parenting classes, sometimes I still mess up as a parent. Even so, is it nice to know that I don’t have to be a perfect parent to raise great kids; I just …
It’s 6:30am Friday morning. My 4-year-old son comes wandering into my room and asks, “Dad, what day is it?” I respond by saying, “It’s Friday.” “It’s Friday!” he exclaims with a burst of energy. Then he asks, “Can I watch a woovie (movie)?” Because of the research indicating the negative effects that TV watching can have on the developing brain …
During a parenting class, one mother stated, “My kids are so sarcastic. They are constantly being rude to each other and being sarcastic with me.” Then she asked, “Do you think they got that from me?” The simple answer to that question is probably so. Children generally learn how to interact with people by watching their parents (and other adults) …
As a six year old boy, I remember being so scared of the haunted mansion at Disneyland. The ride began as a group of people walked into a large room and listened to a narrator tell us what we were in for. As I remember, the narrator had a deep, spooky voice and he stated we were welcome to come …
One of the major worries parents have as their kids get older is whether or not their kids will make good friends. From their own experience, parents recognize that friends can have such a powerful influence over their kids – for good or for bad. Because of that influence, some parents enter into the trap of trying to control who …
It’s easy to fall into the trap of demanding and threatening as a parent – especially when you want your child to get something done quickly. “If you don’t clean your room right now, you can forget about playing on the IPOD for the rest of the day.” Or “If you don’t finish your chores in the next 30 minutes …
I once worked with a mother and her three-year-old son (who was more like the size of a six-year-old). She told me that she was trying really hard to be consistent with the way she disciplined him but the consistency wasn’t having a positive effect on her child’s behavior. I asked her to share with me the disciplining techniques that …
As a father who works outside the home, I recognize that it is easy for me to get caught up in stress at work. Indeed, sometimes it is difficult to turn off my work focus and turn on my family focus so that I can come home and be the loving husband my wife needs and the playful father my …
Holidays are a great time for families and extended families to get together and strengthen their relationships with each other. During the festivities parents may talk and laugh together while kids play and run around like chickens with their heads cut off. Occasionally, in the midst of a conversation, a parent or two will hear screaming accompanied by one or …
Have you ever seen a kid have a meltdown over something that seemed unimportant? For example, you start to help your toddler get dressed and you grab the Spiderman Shirt rather than the dinosaur shirt and he suddenly goes ballistic. Or maybe you order a hamburger rather than chicken nuggets and your child throws a conniption fit in the back …
In one of my classes, one of the parents shared that he had been at Walmart at 10:30 at night and saw a toddler throwing an inconsolable fit from the isle to the check stand and then all the way out the door. This parent then looked at me baffled and asked, “What can a parent do in that situation?” Good …
As a therapist who works with children and families, I often get questions about how to get a child to stop a bad behavior. Parents will say, “He constantly throws tantrums.” Or “If I tell him ‘no’, he just does it anyway. “ They ask, “How can I get my child to do what I tell him to do?” Before …