PARENT UNIVERSITY

I will be presenting a workshop at Parent University on Saturday, November 15th. Come join the discussion and discover helpful tools to improve relationships. This is an open event, all you need to do is register!

For more information, here is the link

http://youthagency.org/parent-university/

PARENTING PRETEENS

Trust, independence, middle school, learning skills, hobbies, nutrition and health, peer pressure.  Excellent suggestions

Preteens are children ages 9-12, and although the age range is small, the amount of changes taking place during the time period is not. These kids will probably become more involved with school and social pressures will be a more important factor in their lives. Confusion may arise as parents can be pushed away by their children as often as they're called upon for help. Entertainment media will begin to have a stronger importance in their lives, and their interest in hobbies will begin to flourish. All of these things combined can make parenting a complicated and constantly changing task.

To read the full article   Click Here

CONFERENCE TIME

5 tips for a better parent-teacher conference

For many parents and teachers, it’s the first opportunity of the school year to sit down face to face and discuss everything from curriculum to issues that arise in the classroom.  Here are some tips from both sides of the desk on how to make the most of a parent-teacher conference.

Do Your Homework
Join Forces
Open Lines of Communication
Aim for Action
Keep in Touch

 For the full article Click Here

PROTECT vs PERMIT

Finding the balance.  We need to allow our children to begin to figure things out for themselves so that they grow their self reliance and build their self esteem. As parents, we should strive to be warm, firm and supportive to give our kids the most benefit. 



 Great article by Jessica Lahey  in the New York Times

 Raising Teenagers: Protect When You Must, Permit When You Can

Read the article   Click Here

RAISING KIND CHILDREN

We want to raise kind children. We want them to be a good friend and have good friends. Our children learn so much from our interactions with others (see previous post about Accidental Teaching). This article speaks specifically about girls, but the message applies to boys as as well. 

 
To Read the full article    Click Here

DARK SIDE OF ANONYMOUS APPS

I was recently interviewed for this article in Ad Week.  Interesting discussion on the connection between cyber bullying and anonymous apps

Critics maintain that anonymity is a double-edged sword. While it lets the public frankly discuss issues they might not otherwise in an open forum, cloaking one’s identity leads some to believe they can tease and troll others at will.     
For the full article written by David Gianatasio

Click Here

RUDE vs MEAN vs BULLYING

As the school year kicks off, you may find this article of interest



Rude = Inadvertently saying or doing something that hurts someone else.

Mean = Purposefully saying or doing something to hurt someone once (or maybe twice).
  

Bullying = Intentionally aggressive behavior, repeated over time, involving  imbalance of  power.  

For full article click here

For more on bullying from Signe Whitson, click here