Parenting

• The Offspring

  The Offspring. It is such an emotionless phrase, like the children are property or something you display on a table in your foyer. Often in divorce younger children do become nothing more than a bartering tool and their well being gets lost in the game of tug-of-war. Older children, even those far from the nest, often experience a huge emotional roller coaster and, sometimes, their views on their own relationships are affected.

• The Youngest Victims of Divorce: Tips for Making Divorce Less Painful for Children

  The Equality in Marriage Institute has developed a series of tips to help parents navigate the choppy waters of divorce with a focus on their child’s well being.

• Valentine Moments With Your Children

  One of the things I loved doing as a child was making very fancy and creative valentines for my parents. I would spend hours designing and building wonderful cards with little poems in them. The only problem was that, while my mother would receive her card graciously, she never received it with her heart. She would smile and tell me how lovely it was, but I never felt her love coming back to me. My mother did not know how to open her heart, how to smile at me with love and cherishing in her eyes. My father would never even notice his card.

• The Marathon of Motherhood

  It begins before your first child is born: that incredible moment when you know you’ve conceived a new being, the long pregnancy, fixing up the baby’s room, finally the birth itself, and then the little breathing bundle, the life delivered into your arms. The details differ a bit if you’ve adopted a child, but the essentials are the same: anticipation, nervousness, and an extraordinary love.

• Motivation for Good Grades

  “It’s not fair! All our friends get paid for good grades. Jeff gets $15.00 for each A!” How many times have parents heard this complaint? Sorry … in my household, we don’t pay for any type of grades.

• Connecting: Your Most Powerful Parenting Practice

  If you’re like most parents, you want practical parenting tools that solve specific problems. You’ll need few parenting tools and techniques if you learn how to truly connect with your child.

• Is Mothering Wearing You Out?

  I always wanted to have children and I was completely thrilled when I had my first child. Nothing, however, prepares a mother for what it’s like to be responsible for a child 24/7.

• How to Step Back and Include Dads

  One of the most common high-stress-on-the-Richter-scale complaints I hear from women: I don’t have any time for myself. My husband says that the kids are my number one priority. And if there is no time for me, well that’s how it is and I have to make the best of it.