Summer is a time of warm temperatures, sunny skies, green leaves, neighborhood cookouts, family vacations, ice cream cones, and more. You’d think that summer and all it entails would boost the happiness that most of us feel. But instead, I’ve noticed that a lot of people drift through these warm weeks in the same hum-drum […]
Category: Parenting
It’s Time for Summer Camp…and Separation Anxiety
For generations, sending kids to summer camp has been an American tradition. For a lot of youngsters, camp is what their parents hope it will be: namely, a blast! But for other children, camp is something to be unsure of…or downright terrified by. The fact is, many children experience some degree of separation anxiety when […]
How NOT to Raise a Bully
In my last post, I explained why I think bullying is “the” problem of our day, and I concluded with the following assertion: We must all make it clear immediately that bullying is simply no longer acceptable. So this week I want to follow up by sharing more thoughts on how not to raise a […]
Bullying? Not on My Watch.
Once again, bullying is in the news—this time because of a controversial film that documents the daily lives of five young bullying victims. You’ve probably heard of Bully because of the debate as to whether it should be rated R or PG-13. (I understand that in order to compromise, some profanity was cut from the […]
Hit the Reset Button on Parenting
In four days, America will celebrate millions of amazing women on Mother’s Day. And in five more weeks, families will honor their dads, too. Yes, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are great opportunities for us to give our parents all of the thanks, gifts, special treatment, and love that they deserve. But that’s not all: […]
The Importance of Improving Close Relationships
Recently, I blogged about how important it is to seek out positive people and also to avoid putting yourself needlessly into situations that drain you or are harmful to your attitude. That’s easy to do when we’re talking about, say, Pessimistic Peter in the accounting department. He’s not an integral part of your life, and […]
Apprehension Adjustment: Helping Your Freshman Fret Less
In my first post I talked about the very, very important topic of anxiety in college students. Once again, as the fall semester is taking off, I’d like to remind you of how important it is to be aware that depression, anxiety, and—most unfortunately—even suicides are growing problems at colleges and universities across America. That […]
More Than Just “College Jitters”: A Warning for Parents
After a long, hot summer, we are finally staring autumn in the face—which means that a new academic year is starting. A lot of families I know have teens who are going away to college for the first time. It’s really wonderful to watch how eager the students are to start this new stage and […]