MyParentingSource Articles

Have you ever wondered when your crying baby will rest peacefully? Tried every game and disciplinary action in the book to get your child to eat peas?

At My Parenting Source, we have expert Parent Coaches on hand to help parents with these and other parenting challenges. Just as a star basketball player needs direction at times, we know parents can sometimes use a little guidance.

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Purchase Maps, Globes, Books and Software that Teach Children About the Cultures of Recent Iimmigrants to the US

This will help them become families with their new neighbors and schoolmates who are ethnically different.

Encourage their teachers to do the same.

Dr. Joyce A. Ladner, Embracing Differences, 2001 Cincinnati For the Love of Kids® Parenting Conference.

Is it safe to say that all of us as parents at one point or another have asked our children to apologize? Apologies are transparent when you think about it. The ‘I just want to get out of trouble and get this over with’ apologies are really obvious. With these types of apologies there is li
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Helicopter Parents

(3.50 after 2 ratings)

Helicopter parents' -- too much of a good thing? It can be tough to decide how best to respond when your child has a problem. On one hand, you don’t want your kids to experience unnecessary pain; on the other hand, you want them to grow up to be responsible.

Besides, it’s a competitive world, and you don’t want your children’s mistakes to cost them opportunities that require a record of high achievement.

In this context, it feels urgent to advocate for your daughter with the soccer coach when she’s benched for missing practice, or complain to the English teacher when your son’s excellent composition is downgraded because it was turned in late. How will she get into Select Soccer if she doesn’t play today? What if he loses his chance for Harvard because of a “B” on this paper? Parents jump into situations like these with the best of intentions, and your “saving the day” may make your child feel more successful and happy in the present.

But in the long run, rescuing kids from their own mistakes prevents them from developing a sense of pride and responsibility that will sustain them throughout their lives. Like medical “air care,” it’s best to save the helicopter for true emergencies.

How do you decide what to do?

Recognize that some of the most important lessons children learn in school and in extracurricular activities relate to responsibility. Owning the consequences of their actions is essential to becoming happy, productive adults.
Children are resilient! Good parenting doesn’t mean trying to prevent your children from ever feeling disappointed or sad. Instead, use your compassion to help your child manage and learn from those feelings when a mistake is made.
Avoid swooping in to “fix” your children’s mistakes – whether it’s dropping off the forgotten lunch or staying up until 4 a.m. to complete their science project. When you take over, it robs your children of the experiences of responsibility and accomplishment that are the building blocks of self-esteem.
Assess your child’s ability to deal with the situation. Unless your child is truly overwhelmed, help him work out a plan rather than solving the problem for him.
Sometimes parents do need to intervene. If your child is upset day after day, dreads school or activities, or is not progressing academically, it’s time to talk with the teacher or coach.