A friend of mine was telling me about a problem his daughter’s facing and I’m rather stymied as to what she can do to improve the situation too. Apparently she’s tight with another girl who is nice, attentive and a long-time friend, but has a bit of a temper, and when they’re together, all too often the other girl decides what they’ll do and dismisses my friend’s daughter’s views and opinions. She is not thrilled…Read More
Texting policy for your children?
Here’s something that’s we’re finding a bit tricky to navigate: what’s a reasonable and fair policy for text messaging for a 14yo 8th grader? My initial reaction is of the “give them enough rope” variety, allowing her to text without much in the way of constraints (other than time-based) and see if she violates our rules. Problem with that is that it assumes a certain level of self-control and time management that might be a…Read More
How to teach kids not to interrupt?
My kids are fabulous. Yours are too, I bet. But let’s be candid, they have some habits that are a bit annoying — or drive you completely daft! — and it’d be nice to have a way to teach them to grow beyond those behaviors. With my kids the habit that’s driving me a bit nutty is that they interrupt when someone else is talking. Sometimes they interrupt each other, but often they interrupt me….Read More
Aeropostale perpetuating the waif ideal with “skinny” jeans
My 13yo daughter A- has a new obsession: the national clothing chain Aeropostale. Their clothes are cute enough, but why people are willing to shop at a store where 90% of the merchandise are billboards for the brand is a bit beyond me. Shows how deeply brand identification is part of modern culture, I suppose. Still, there we were looking for some shorts and I noticed the labels for their jeans: Can you see that?…Read More
Is Attachment Parenting relevant as kids grow up?
I was reading through the great material available at Attachment Parenting International, the “parent’ corporation (or, perhaps better, “mother ship”) for those of us that follow intentional or attachment parenting, and was struck at how few of the Eight Core Principles of Attachment Parenting are relevant once your joyous little bundle grows up and isn’t a little baby any more. To wit, the eight rules are: Prepare for pregnancy, birth and parenting. Feed with love…Read More
Sleepovers: our place or theirs?
Had an interesting experience last weekend with my 13yo daughter, A-. All day she’d been talking about having her pal over to our place for a sleepover, and her friend had joined us for the day’s activities (she’s a delightful addition to the family and always welcome). Late afternoon we talked about how we were one bed mattress short for things to work: We have three mattresses and one air mattress but adding her would…Read More