5 Tips on How to Stop Arguing and Start Communicating with your Child/Tween/Teen

Tired of arguing with your child/tween/teen?  Want to turn an adversarial relationship with your child around and have an actual conversation?  Here are some things that you can do immediately to improve communication with your child.

1. Listen.

Now you are probably thinking that you do listen, and this is about the lamest advice ever, but I would wager that you really don't listen.  Most people don't really listen.  They listen to reply.

Next conversation with someone (anyone), observe yourself.  I'll bet you a mimosa, while the person

How to Change Your Child’s Behavior Without Yelling

I was talking to some other moms about how tired we get of telling our kids to do the same things every day.  It got me thinking about when I worked in change management in my former company, and what makes change management successful in an organization.  Organizations are made up of people right? And children are little people, so it stands to reason that the same principles should work on them.  

One theory I think would work here is Appreciative Inquiry (AI).  AI was introduced by David Cooperrider and his associates in the mid-eighties.  The appreciative assumes that in every organization (or person) there is something that works. The inquiry part is asking the question of “How” or “What” makes it work in that circumstance or instance? 

Why I Don't Tell My Daughter She's Pretty

My daughter is pretty. She has hair the color of sun, and her eyes are as blue as the sea. And you know what? I try not to ever tell her that she's pretty because….Who cares??!! She won some sort of cuteness lottery. Her cuteness isn't something she worked for, strived for, gave blood sweat and tears for, so why be proud of something that is essentially just luck, and secondly could be lost in a moment.  

Summer Reading: Books that both Boys & Girls Will Love (ages 6-10)

Summer Reading Books that both Boys and Girls Will Love

 (ages 6-10)  

We like to read together every night, so finding books that appeal to both of their interests given their age, gender, and well, just being different people, has been challenging.  One child is a girl, one is a boy, and there are two years separating them.  One is logical and likes the adventure or humor.  The other is more feeling and relationship centered.  She likes adventure, but not over the dynamic of the relationships.  So to find books they both stay interested, and doesn't make me want to stab myself in the eye with a fork as I read it to them has been challenging.  I mean I love some Magic Treehouse but I was so done by the third book.  Not only did we all enjoy these books, but I found a lot of them on the clearance shelves of my local Half Price Book Store, so probably a safe bet you can find them at your used book store or definitely at your library.  

Here is a list that they makes us all happy in no particular order: