Published Articles on Parenting

Back to Basic Toys

Before shopping for the child in your life, check this list of back-to-basic toys for some of your own childhood favorites. Better yet, why not take the time to introduce your child to something from your past? Jacks and finger paints are as much fun as an adult as they were as a child.
 
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The Chore Game

Few people, adults and kids alike, actually enjoy doing chores, but they’re a necessity we can’t avoid. What can make things easier is doing a chore you like instead of the one you dread. Try using the chore game as a way to make what has to be done a little easier.
 
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A Different Drummer

Mom, I can’t find my baseball glove.
 
I looked up as my eight-year-old daughter came into the room. She had on her uniform but her feet were bare. Her hat was nowhere in sight.
  I don’t want to play anymore, she mumbled.
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Don’t Throw That Away

Build a log cabin. Use the cardboard tube rolls from paper towels, toilet paper, and foil tubes for your logs. You can glue them to each other. Or you can glue them to the outside of a box. Then take small pieces of newspaper. When you wad them up, they make great stones. You can make a chimmney. When the cabin is complete, paint it.
 
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Family Mailbox

The day I knew the vet was coming to put my old horse to sleep, my son wrote me this note.
 
Mom, I know today will be rough for you and you’ll probably cry a whole bunch. I’ll try and stay out of your way. Just remember all the fun you had with Chica and what a neat horse she was and how she liked to nibble on your hat. But most of all, remember how much I love you.
 
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Help Your Child Make Friends

How come I don’t have any friends?
 
Has your child ever asked you that question? Unfortunately, there is no quick-fix answer to make a child instantly popular. As parents, the best we can do, is guide our children in the right direction and teach them the proper skills necessary for making friends
 
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My Son’s Best Friend is a Rat

Mom, can Ralph spend the weekend with us?
 
Ryan posed the question while I was in the middle of cooking dinner. This is a difficult feat he knows requires all of my attention, making me an easy mark for granting requests. But when Ryan went off to do his homework, the truth hit me. Ryan doesn’t have a friend named Ralph.
 
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The Paper Route

Why don’t you just admit it. You think I’m too dumb and stupid to handle it. You just don’t trust me.
 
I didn’t call him dumb or stupid—those were his words, not mine. But was that the message I gave him? After weeks of pressure, I finally caved in, sure that I would be vindicated in mere weeks at my son’s inability to cope with the daily pressures.
 
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Piercing the Barriers

At least once a week, my son asked me if he could pierce his ear.
 
You just don’t understand, do you Mom? It’s not your ear, it’s mine. And it’s not you people will make fun of, it’s me. I think you’re more worried about what people are going to think about you, then what they’ll say about me.
 
I gulped hard at the truth in his words.
 
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Uprooted and Transplanted

Moving creates significant stress for parents. There’s a home to sell and a new home to buy or rent. Not to mention a change of job, packing, unpacking and then learning your way around a new neighborhood. What parents might not realize is that it is also an extremely stressful time for a child.
 
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Whose Dream Is It?

For two solid years, four times a week, I had willingly driven thirty miles to the nearest karate dojo. Ryan exhibited a natural ability that quickly moved him up the ranks. He had earned the first black stripe on his Brown Belt. Only two more tests until he would have his Black Belt. And now, he wanted to quit.
 
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