Tired of arguing with your child or teen? (Pt 1) How to deflect an argument before it begins

It can’t be avoided. Practical parenting involves refusing our kid’s requests, or telling them what to do or what to stop doing. No matter how nice I am, I have to do this, sometimes several times a day. ‘You can’t swim now.’ ‘Now’s not the best time to watch that.’ ‘I don’t think it’s best…

Tag: acknowledge-feelings, arguing-with-kids, authority, overcome-resistance

Give your kid more rope

I don’t know about you, but the temptation to rescue my child is very strong. For example, the other day I dropped off my five-year-old Fynn at school. There were four boys kicking a soccer-ball around. ‘Yay, I can play soccer,’ gasped my boy with raw enthusiasm ‘No, you can’t! It’s just the four of…

Tag: belayer-parent, helicopter-parent, overparenting

Raising well-behaved kids is as easy as one, two, three

People generally resist a formula for something as complex as parenting. I hate oversimplifications too. But this formula really works. The other day I saw the connection between my garden and my kids. Cultivating our lawn and constantly battling against its slow progression toward overgrown unwieldiness, is a lot like cultivating the behavior of our…

Tag: cultivating-kids

I am therefore I parent

Through our example, we pass on to our kids the good, the bad and the ugly of who we are. When Eli was almost 3, he climbed in our bed and let out a long multisyllabic fart with pride. Thrilled by his gaseous accomplishment, he then interpreted it for us: ‘My bum says, ‘Waaake uuup,…

Tag: example

The ultimate secret to parenting

Of course there are many dimensions to parenting – all of them critical – but one stands head and shoulders above the rest. It towers so far above the other principles that it deserves to be called The Secret to Parenting. Let me tell you a story of when Eli was three to illustrate what…

Tag: unconditional-love

Like an arrow

It’s funny how life has a way of pointing us in a certain direction. Most often, it’s only as we look back that we can begin to see it… This is my story: Age: 1-5. I was born in Johannesburg. I went to my parents wedding when I was 2. When I was 5 my…

Tag: my-story

Tired of arguing with your child or teen? (Pt 1) How to deflect an argument before it begins

Give your kid more rope

Raising well-behaved kids is as easy as one, two, three

I am therefore I parent

The ultimate secret to parenting

Like an arrow

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