Number 3 and I have been going head to head recently. A lot. Of all the kids in the house, he’s the one that frustrates me the most right now. This title of MFK (Most Frustrating Kid) shifts from child to child. It seems just as one of them settles into a happy and agreeable […]
yelling
How To Successfully Avoid Morning Power Struggles With Your Kids
Power struggles are the worst. They are exhausting and infuriating. What we may not realize, though, is that our kids aren’t creating this problem. We do it to ourselves! We don’t mean to do it. Many of us don’t even realize when we are doing it. But when you really pay attention to this, you might be […]
Let nature take its course.
Someone asked me about natural consequences yesterday. Natural consequences are unbelievably useful and effective in helping our kids (and ourselves!) learn valuable lessons about accountability and responsibility. But they are largely underutilized because we as parents so often have a hard time letting our kids be uncomfortable or deal with disappointment. First I think it’s important to make […]
The Time I Lost It On Number 7’s Birthday
Yesterday I wrote a post about mistakes and how I want to use those situations to teach and model for my kids how they are just opportunities for growth. And then this morning I fucked up pretty badly Ugh. And after that whole post yesterday, I’ve spent most of the morning beating myself up! It’s […]
Yelling at your kids and feeling crappy about it? I can help.
A little over a year and a half ago I had a seriously regrettable yelling episode in the car when Number 3 and 4 pushed my buttons one too many times. And that was the day I decided I was done yelling at my kids. Because yelling wasn’t effective, it wasn’t changing their behavior, it […]
I don’t have a favorite child. But I often have a least favorite one.
I remember an article circulating around a while back written by a woman admitting she had a favorite child. I never actually read it, but I think it pretty much said that we all have a favorite kid. We just don’t admit it. I have been thinking about this favorite child thing for a long […]