parenting

Grow Your Child’s (or Your Own) Emotional Intelligence

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Everyone pretty much agrees on the importance of emotional literacy, at least in theory. As a society, we want children to learn how to deal with difficult feelings, both their own and others’. But how exactly do we teach them that? Especially if we ourselves aren’t sure we’ve got a handle on our own emotions? Emotional intelligence can easily be developed in children because most kids are naturally emotionally intelligent. At least, they’ve got the …

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Two Parenting Styles, One Clear Winner

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This isn’t a parenting blog, but parenting affects all of us, parents and non-parents alike. We were all kids once, and it’s instructive to reflect on our experiences so that we can both empathize with kids, understand ourselves better and even deal with employees more effectively. Yes, that’s right. What’s good for kids is good for anyone who reports to you. Consistency. Compassion. Boundaries. And the things that are bad for kids are also bad …

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The Surest Way Not to Teach Kids Respect

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I’m still on holiday this week, but in my absence I wanted to leave you with something nutritious to chew on. Since I’m too busy whooping it up on vacation to moderate comments, they’re not available for this post. However, you can leave comments over on PsychologyToday.com: Shaming Children Is Emotionally Abusive Next week I’ll share something on the lighter side.

Getting Out From Under Parental Alienation Syndrome

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Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) develops in a child when one parent poisons the child’s attitude toward the other parent, usually during or after the dissolution of the parents’ relationship. Children develop PAS when used as pawns in a war between their parents. Symptoms  include anger, behavior problems and rejection of the alienated parent. The biggest loser in this scenario is the child, according to Kathy Hardie-Williams in her article on the topic (see below for …

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