Parenting Playbook

Enjoy each other . . .

Parents can easily begin to feel that they are either disciplining their kids or chauffeuring them from one activity to the next, and nothing much else. It’s important to make time for some family fun! As humans we are hardwired to play, explore, and connect with...

The “greeting card” family . . .

The holiday season is here, and it is often during this time that one personality trait stands out—perfectionism. The holidays are the time of year that seems to bring out the desire for everything to be “perfect”—creating the perfect meal, planning the perfect family...

Feeling storms . . .

You are probably aware that your infant is born with an unfinished brain, and particularly so in the higher, thinking brain. As a parent, this is important to remember. There will be times when your child’s emotional brain, the lower brain, will overwhelm your infant....

Be active in nurturing your child’s interest in lifelong learning . . .

Neuroscience has confirmed what would seem sensible on a gut level: that environmental factors influence the prenatal and postnatal brain. Since this is so, the question becomes, how can we create conditions that foster healthy children and their developing brains in...

To discipline effectively, know your child . . .

Knowing your child while he or she is growing is important as you practice parenting. Each child is his or her own little being, and each child will go through developmental stages differently. Effectively providing discipline will be easier if you keep this in mind....

Good social skills and reading . . .

Learning, practicing, and acquiring good social skills is an important process. Good social skills include having the ability to grasp another person’s perspective, to create mental models of others, and to understand that the beliefs and intentions of different...

Tap into your child’s imagination . . .

Children thrive in our world when they thrive on the inside. The inside—where personality, imagination, heart, and mind reside—often seems to receive less attention than the behaviors and interactions we observe on the outside. Yet a shift that occurs in that internal...

Values . . .

Parents can pass on moral values to their kids, but it takes a little thought and energy. Values are passed along based on what kids see and hear and by what they experience in their parent-child relationship. If they see honesty, they learn honesty. If they...

Ditching diapers . . .

For many reasons, parents want to believe they can control their child’s toilet training. Some parents feel pressure from friends and family to get started while others simply want a break from smelly laundry and the cost of disposable diapers. However, it is a good...

Siblings in conflict . . .

Last week Parenting Playbook looked at the distinction between sibling rivalry and bullying at home. This week, let’s look at some ideas to consider when siblings disagree. When siblings are in the throes of a disagreement, it can be easy for parents to feel like...

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