On Target

September 3, 2009

When we see bad parenting in public it raises thorny questions about what to do, or not do; but what about when we see good parenting… and what about if most everyone nearby fails to recognize it as such? At the end of a long day yesterday, my wife and I were walking the dog […]

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Relationship is everything

September 2, 2009

In studies about which kind of therapy is most effective, one of the results has been that the style of therapy doesn’t matter so much as the relationship between the client and the therapist.  This is good news for parenting, and helps us find the key place to work to improve our parenting:  getting our relationship right […]

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Back to school is a transition… and transitions are hard!

September 1, 2009

Different schools start up at different times, but my kids start today and this reminds me about my second mantra of parenting: Transition is hard!  The first mantra, by the way, is:  You can’t win (whatever we do as parents, it’s somehow “wrong,” or at least appears to be at times, but when we accept […]

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If they say I never loved you…

August 31, 2009

As Jim Morrison sang in LA Woman: I see your hair is burnin’ Hills are filled with fire If they say I never loved you You know they are a liar In these late summer days of the locust, I find myself thinking about one of the smartest kids I ever worked with… a sweet-looking […]

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District 9

August 30, 2009

I don’t like scary movies.  I must admit that I’m highly sensitive and despite all attempts to tell myself that, “it’s just a movie,” they have a way of grabbing me and swamping my defenses; I end up inside the movie’s world and get spit back out with nerves frayed. My younger son loves scary […]

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Do I blog with an accent?

August 29, 2009

A fellow parent  shared the notion that when it comes to technology, we parents have been likened to “digital immigrants” while our children, the teens and tweens, are the “digital natives”—natural speakers of the tech language, raised on the stuff since they were little and never knowing any other world. Suddenly, in my intrepid naiveté […]

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Floor Time

August 28, 2009

The “spectrum,” as it relates to autism and Asperger’s (a disorder typified by poor social relatedness, repetitive behaviors and, often, extreme interest in a highly narrow range of topics—i.e. a kid who knows every species of spider, but little else), is a widely used term that I fear has failed to convey one of its […]

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Not drowning, waving

August 27, 2009

Tina Bryson, a colleague interested in mindfulness, the brain and parenting writes: “When your child says ‘I can’t make this Lego snap on’ with their teeth clenched, hands in fists, in an intense and loud tone of voice, and brows furrowed, it clearly communicates frustration and probably (ital. mine) a plea for help. If the […]

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What do troubled kids have to do with our kids?

August 26, 2009

Yesterday’s New York Times featured a prominent article on abuses in the youth detention facilities in New York State, but seemed relevant to concerns kids face in the “system” in California, as well as a number of other states. 

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From jealousy to healthy ambition

August 25, 2009

Understanding the differences between jealousy and envy can help us facilitate our childrens’ development while at the same time furthering our own.  While none of us like to feel jealous, it is a very human feeling and it boils down to not wanting someone else to have what they have. Jealousy may be natural, but […]

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