Things Parents Can Do to Help With Social and Emotional Development in Their Children

As your children move from childhood to adolescence, they grow socially and emotionally in a natural way. As a parent, learning about children’s needs and taking a proactive stance can help your child form strong friendships and learn to process his emotions in healthy ways. One way to encourage positive development is to pay attention to your child’s interactions with others and his emotional responses to stress. If you notice anything that concerns you, address these issues right away. This can ensure that your children develop in the healthiest way possible.

Things You Should Let Your Child See You Do

Modeling the behaviors you want your child to develop is the best way to raise a happy, well-adjusted adult.

Three Ideas for Positive Parenting

As parents, it’s only natural to wonder if we’re doing a good job raising our kids. We are bombarded with information from many sources — from parenting “experts” to well-meaning family members — about what we “should” be doing. The truth is, what a child actually needs is a caregiver who shows them love and tries their best.

Tips for Doing Math Around Your Home

Your child is a budding mathematician — full of wonder about how the world works, noticing patterns around them, and solving problems. Parents and caregivers play an important role by helping your child learn math, even before they start school!

Tips for Encouraging Open Communication in the Home

Open communication results in each family member feeling loved and respected. It also makes it easier to handle conflicts when they arise. The basics of resolving disagreements include listening, empathy, supportive communication, and collaborative problem-solving.

Tips for Helping Your Child Focus and Concentrate

Concentration is like a muscle that requires regular exercise to strengthen. Some kids are born “stronger” in this area than others, but all kids can learn strategies and engage in practices that help improve their ability to focus and sustain their attention.

Top 10 Parenting Tips

Raising a family while keeping your life balanced is an art form. Here are ten tools that I have seen make life in the family lane a much nicer ride.

Try These Mindshifts for Positive Parenting

Daniel and Aviva are in constant power struggles with their 3 year old, Gracie. They give her a choice about whether she wants Mommy or Daddy to read books to her. She chooses Mommy, but the second Aviva starts reading, Gracie insists, “No, Daddy reads books!” Aviva calls for Daniel, but — shocker — Gracie has changed her mind again and wants Mommy. At breakfast, Gracie asks for toast but insists on a whole new piece because Aviva cut it on the wrong diagonal. When Aviva tries to convince Gracie to accept the toast because it’s the same piece of bread regardless of how it looks, Gracie tells Aviva that she “doesn’t know anything about food” and that she wants daddy to make her toast the “right” way.

Try, Try Again: Helping Your Eight Year Old Develop Grit

Grit involves sticking with something until you succeed. It’s another word for perseverance and resilience, and it gives us the strength to try, try, try again. Grit supports a “growth mindset” – a belief that our intelligence and skills can grow with effort. Kids with a growth mindset thrive on challenges and view failure as part of the learning process. For an eight-year-old, grit might look like sticking with a task at school, even when it seems difficult; identifying skills they want to develop and practicing them; and continuing when they encounter setbacks.

Try, Try Again: Helping Your Five Year Old Develop Grit

Grit involves sticking with something until you succeed. It’s another word for perseverance and resilience, and it gives us the strength to try, try, try again. Grit supports a “growth mindset” – a belief that our intelligence and skills can grow with effort. Kids with a growth mindset thrive on challenges and view failure as part of the learning process. For a five year old, grit might look like working on increasingly complex block structures, crafts, or puzzles; learning their letters and numbers, and remembering to use their words when they feel frustrated.

Try, Try Again: Helping Your Six-Year-Old Develop Grit

Grit involves sticking with something until you succeed. It’s another word for perseverance and resilience, and it gives us the strength to try, try, try again. Grit supports a “growth mindset”

Try, Try Again: Helping Your Three Year Old Develop Grit

Grit involves sticking with something until you succeed. It’s another word for perseverance and resilience, and it gives us the strength to try, try, try again.

Try, Try Again: Helping Your Two Year Old Develop Grit

Grit involves sticking with something until you succeed. It's another word for perseverance or resilience, and it gives us the strength to try, try, try again. Grit supports a "growth mindset" ― a belief that our intelligence and skills can grow with effort. Kids with a growth mindset thrive on challenges, show resilience in the face of obstacles and view failure as part of the learning process. For a two-year-old, grit might look like learning how to put on shoes, use the potty or use words when they feel frustrated.

Twelve Tips for Raising Confident Kids

Below are Twelve Tips for Raising Confident Kids

Ways to Have a Smarter Conversation With Your Child About Social Media

Preparing kids to be responsible and eventually independent online starts with a conversation, but sometimes conversations with tweens can be challenging.

What Are the Benefits of Reading With Kids?

Reading can be beneficial to your child not only by giving you bonding time but also by providing a good start to their educational foundations. When you read to your children, you are sharing with them a vast assortment of knowledge. You foster a desire read and learn when you read to your children.

What Do I Do When Everything I Do Doesn’t Work?

If you clicked on the title to read this article, you are probably feeling frustrated. Tired. Defeated. Parenting can be tough, especially after this year of parenting in a pandemic. You’ve probably already read a lot of parenting and child development articles, blogs, and books. But even with all the expert recommendations, you still feel like you’re struggling with your child’s behavior. What now?

What Is the Difference Between Reinforcement and Punishment?

In a perfect world, you wouldn't need to worry about discipline, but all parents face situations that require intervention. The goal of discipline is to decrease the undesirable behaviors and increase the positive choices your child makes. Both reinforcement and punishment are ways to achieve that goal, but the methods have subtle differences that may make one better suited for your child.

What’s the Best Way to Discipline My Child?

As a parent, one of your jobs to teach your child to behave. It's a job that takes time and patience. But, it helps to learn the effective and healthy discipline strategies.

Here are some tips from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) on the best ways to help your child learn acceptable behavior as they grow. 

Why Are People Wearing Masks? Answering Your Child's Questions

Sometimes our toddlers ask us questions that are hard to answer — especially when we’re not sure what the right answer is, like the situation many communities are facing with COVID-19.