Parenting Playbook

Stress reduction in three minutes or less . . .

Just a reminder . . . When your stress level is rising, take a few minutes for a stress-reduction break! When you have one minute: Breathe in slowly and pause for a count of three. Exhale. Pause for a count of three. Repeat for one minute, pausing for a count of three...

Parenting kids in middle childhood . . .

As children spend more time in school, with peers, and in after-school activities, they spend less time with their parents. This shift creates changes in the parent-child relationship. Less direct parental control adequately supports the continuing development of...

Teach and model gratitude . . .

Not only does a sense of gratitude feel good, research shows that this pleasant emotion and its expression result in higher levels of happiness, vitality, optimism, and hope. According to those interested in studying gratitude and its effects, people who consciously...

Kids, exercise, and brain power . . .

The evidence for including physical activity in a school’s curriculum is accumulating as research links students’ cognitive performance with markers of physical fitness, such as aerobic capacity and body mass index. Rather than cutting back on recess time, encouraging...

Temperament . . .

Temperament is a term referring to a genetic foundation for individual differences in personality. The overall stability of temperament, however, is actually low in infancy and toddlerhood and only moderate from preschool age on up. This means that children’s...

Good discipline . . .

Parents discipline their children as a way to correct and teach them. The best kind of discipline makes sense to kids, helps them learn while feeling good about themselves, and gives them a chance to correct mistakes. Parents and children share together in this...

Separation anxiety and distress . . .

When babies reach six to eight months of age, separation distress kicks in . . . and it often continues in some form until children are well over five years old. Understand that your child is not being “needy” or “clingy” when he or she can tell you’re about to leave...

Touching base . . .

Have you ever noticed how kids run around freely for a period of time and then suddenly stop by to sit on their mom or dad’s lap . . . or lean on them . . . or “touch base” in some way? They may stop by for seconds or minutes, and then they are off again. For kids,...

Perspective taking in middle childhood . . .

Middle childhood typically arrives with major advances in the ability to take another person’s perspective. Children in this age group (about six to eleven years) have the capacity to imagine what someone else might be thinking and feeling. Over time, children come to...

Looking after you . . .

Parenting is a stressful job. To be a calm, loving, empathetic parent, you need to make time to take good care of yourself. Recharging your emotional battery is required when your job includes broken sleep patterns and tests of patience. If you keep going without a...

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