How Parenting Styles
Shape Our Children - Everybody is familiar
with the concept of helicopter parents, so-called because they hover around
their toddlers. But what happens when kids get a little older and helping
them develop gets more complicated than simply to hover or not to hover?
Persuading Kids to Put a Lid on the Potty Talk -
Your child thinks toilet humor is hilarious, and nothing you've
tried can convince him otherwise. Here are some tips.
A Rise in Efforts to Spot Abuse in
Youth Dating - She was 17 when she met her
boyfriend, and 20 when she died at his hands. In between, Heather Norris tried
several times to leave the relationship, which was fraught with control and
abuse, before she was killed — stabbed, dismembered and discarded in trash bags.
Her death in 2007 in Indianapolis is one of several stemming from abuse in
teenage dating relationships that have spurred states and communities to search
for new ways to impress on adolescents — and their parents and teachers — the
warning signs of dangerous dating behavior and what actions are not acceptable
or healthy.
New Study Shows
Time Spent Online Important for Teen Development - Results
from the most extensive U.S. study on teens and their use of digital media show
that America’s youth are developing important social and technical skills online
– often in ways adults do not understand or value.
Stacking the Deck
for Family Holidays - It’s family holiday
gatherings season. So, do you feel anticipation or anxiety? If you have a child
with an autism spectrum disorder, you might feel a bit of both.
Expecting Longer Lives With Greater Risk, Reward -
Longer lives brings new demands as first generation of kids With disabilities
set to outlive their parents.
New Foster Care Law Seeks To
Increase Stability - Bill provides incentives
for adoption, requires 'reasonable efforts' to keep siblings together.
Western Michigan University Helps
ex-Foster Kids with College; Program Provides Money and Support
- Perhaps it should have been an odd feeling -- being delivered to
your freshman year at college by a caseworker rather than parents. o matter,
said Mike Baker. He had other things on his mind.
Speaking Slowly Helps Children
Learn - The average adult speaks at a rate of
almost 170 words per minute, but the average 5- to 7- year-old processes speech
at a rate of only 120 words per minute. The gap between what a child hears and
what he or she understands can appear to parents and teachers as inattention,
confusion or outright defiance.
Saying what We'd Want to Say -
My wife, Julie, and I lost a close friend recently. Bella died quickly and
unexpectedly of a heart attack. It was a real shock. The kind that makes you
look at your life and how you're living it. Bella and her husband, Mike, were
very close. So much so that it's hard to imagine one without the other. Mike
told us that he only regretted not being able to say goodbye.
New School Year Brings New Class:
Parenting - Sandwiched between lessons on
counting calories and staving off disease, high school health teachers will
offer hefty doses of parenting advice in the next school year.
A new state law requires that parenting and paternity awareness be
included in the high school health curriculum by 2008-09.
The Power of Apology -
When's the last time you apologized to one of your kids? Of course, maybe
you don't ever do anything that requires an apology. If so, you are a very
rare person.
Get Real - Will next year
be better for you and your kids with special needs? "Gosh, I hope so," I
hear you say. Me too. I want things to get better every year. With two kids
who have special needs, some years have been tough for our family. Recently,
even with new challenges, things have been pretty darn good.
Surviving the Holiday Season
- The holiday season, full of joy and cheer, is just around the
corner. But for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders, the class parties,
family get-togethers and other gatherings that so many of us look forward to
at this time of year are fraught with scary social interactions and sensory
overload.
Parenting
Information Handouts - Dozens of handouts containing information on
General Parenting Information, Specific Concerns/Problems,
Discipline/Intervention Strategies, Injury Prevention, Parental Involvement
in Education, and Children’s Development.
RAND Study Finds
Adolescents Who Listen to a Great Deal of Music with Degrading Sexual Lyrics
Have Sex Sooner - A RAND Corporation study
issued today presents the strongest evidence yet that sexually degrading
lyrics in music encourage adolescents to more quickly initiate sexual
intercourse and other sexual activities.
Children of
Yesterday, Today, are in Different Worlds -
To the best of my recollection, the year before I turned 12, I was 11. My
daughter, who turns 12 in October, is now eleventeen. There's a difference.
Jenna is at an age where she seems to have all the answers. I don't remember
being all-knowing until I was at least 14. And let it be known that none of
her sophisticated knowledge was derived from her super-annoying parents. She
got her hands on a fashion magazine geared toward teen girls.
Parenting: Sending
Clear Signals - Communicating poorly seems
so obviously wrong and annoying when someone does it to us -- and so
innocent when we do it to others. Like my son, I’m in the habit of using my
turn signals, but there have been plenty of times when I could have
communicated my thoughts more clearly.
Edwatch by Julia Steiny:
Education Policies That Bully Don't Attack Root of Problems
- On a visit to my parents' home years ago, I took my
twin boys to a nearby park because everything in my mother's
house was begging to be broken. Along with the makeshift toys
cobbled from the kitchen, I installed their rambunctious bodies
in a large sandbox where they could make roads, hills and sundry
destinations. Other women with kids came, and soon a little peer
group was sharing toys and space.
Can Shyness in Children be
Serious? (PDF) - In a very
general sense you might say there are three kinds of childhood
temperaments: aggressive, normal or anxious. Aggressive children
have serious social skills problems, but, ironically, don’t seem
to be able to appreciate this fact. “Normal” kids get along
reasonably well with others and are easier to like.
First Day of
School Success Tips - Most of
us can remember some wonderful and terrible things about school.
In many ways, the first day of class can set the tone for a
whole school year. If you have a child with special needs, or
one who is new to the school or district, you can help lay the
groundwork for a successful year's launch with some basic
preparations.
Parenting Teens and Young Adults with Disabilities
- The passage from childhood to adulthood is a passage
for families as well as individuals. As young people with
disabilities move from their teen to adult years, they and their
families experience many growing pains in common with all
families at that stage of life. In addition, there are often
milestones, questions, concerns, needs, and challenges unique to
individuals with disabilities and their families. In this issue
of Impact we explore strategies for families of teens and young
adults with disabilities to consider in navigating the
transition years with their young person, and share stories of
those who are in the middle of it or have come out the other
side.
Cheerleading for
Parents - I've had a taste of
acclaim a number of times in my life. The first time that stands
out was riding on the bus to an "away" basketball game in junior
high school. The cheerleaders were doing that "Bill, Bill, he's
our man, if he can't do it, David can..." thing where they go
through the names of everyone on the team.
Kids Count on
Consistency - If you're a
parent or a teacher, can your kids or students count on you? I
mean, do you think about being consistent so they know what to
expect? Kids who have Autism Spectrum Disorders, in particular,
often benefit from guidance that's structured and consistent.
Becoming
Bulletproof Parents - Ever been
frustrated or embarrassed by something one of your kids said or
did in public? The stares of strangers can feel like bullets. If
your child has an Autism Spectrum Disorder, you may sometimes
feel like you've been machine-gunned. Wouldn't it be great to
have a way to deal with these situations that made you
bulletproof? I found something that works sort of like a
protective shield -- and it's basically a matter of perspective.
Taking
Care of You - A while back, I wrote an article urging
parents of kids with special needs to deal with stress by taking
breaks and finding other ways to relax. Given that I've been burning
the candle at both ends with a blowtorch recently, I thought it would
be a good time to revisit the subject.
The Comfort of
Limits - True or False?
Self-esteem and creativity both are higher when kids can “do
their own thing” without external limits imposed by adult power
or authority. Believe it or not, this statement is false. Also
included with this article is "Ask Dr. Phelan: Mealtime".
Where's the
Manual? - If your child is
diagnosed with a significant disability, disorder or condition,
it's pretty common to start a frantic search for answers. Is
there a cure? If there's no cure, where's the manual I can use
to do exactly the right things to help my child make his life as
good as it can possibly be?
Five Ways to Stop
School Behavior Problems Even Before They Start
- There are all sorts of reasons why children
misbehave in school. By the time a student is reacting with
violence, it's too late to institute a quick fix. Newspaper
articles about children whose behavior problems have turned
tragic often talk about missed opportunities and why nobody
helped. Here are five ways to start dealing with problems or
potential problems early, when there is still time to work with
teachers and administrators to make school a tolerable place for
your child.
Research Digest:
Mothering the Mind and Soul: African American Mothers' Beliefs
and Practices to Ensure Academic and Social Success for Their
Daughters in High School - In
this study by Barbara Morrow Williams, interviews with African
American mothers of successful high school daughters show that
mothers maintain intense interest and direct involvement in
multiple aspects of their daughters' educational lives, but keep
little contact with school officials. Specific suggestions for
ensuring success are proposed.
Good Parents: Warm
AND Demanding - Research has taught us that good parents
have two important qualities: They are WARM on the one hand, and
they are DEMANDING on the other.
Being Who You
Are - Lots of kids aren't happy being who they are.
Particularly if they have neurobiological conditions that make
them tend to act different from other kids. Conditions like
Asperger Syndrome, Higher Functioning Autism, Pervasive
Developmental Disorder, Semantic-Pragmatic Disorder and others.
Effective Parenting & Building
Your Child’s Self-Esteem - In a sense,
affection is the “I like you” part of parenting. Affection is a self-esteem
builder for kids because it represents a direct confirmation of the young person
and it contributes to the social-competence part of the self-esteem equation.
Praise is the “I like—or I am proud of—what you are doing” part of parenting.
What’s Your Parenting Style?
- Promoting the self-discipline and self-esteem of one’s children
often requires an emotional juggling act by parents. It is not easy to be firm
and demanding one minute, then warm and affectionate the next. In addition, some
adults naturally have personalities or temperaments that predispose them toward
one parenting style or the other.
Getting Behavior in Shape at Home
- Positive behavior support, often called PBS, is not just for
schools. Parents can use the same ideas to create a better environment for the
entire family.
Will Your Kids Be Of "Good Character"? - At
some point parents wonder what kind of adult their child will grow up to be. Use
this advice and beat the odds.
