ONLINE PARENTING COACH

Answering children's questions about sex is one of the responsibilities many mothers/fathers dread most. Otherwise confident parents often feel tongue-tied and awkward when it comes to conversations about sex. But the subject shouldn't be avoided. By answering children's questions as they arise, parents can help foster healthy feelings about sex. Q & A: Educating Your Child About Sex 1. At what age should females be told about menstruation? Females (and males!) should have information about menstruation by about age 8, some of which may be provided in school. Instructional books are helpful, but moms should also share their own personal experiences with their daughters, including when their periods first started and what it felt like, and how, like many things, it wasn't such a big deal after a while. 2. At what age should nudity in the home be curtailed? Families set their own standards for nudity, modesty, and privacy. Although every family...

Your 5-year-old son wants an allowance (because “all of his friends get one”). You wonder if he's old enough to handle the money and, if you give him one, how much should he get – and how often? An allowance can be a great way to teach children money management skills and help them learn how to make decisions, deal with limited resources, and understand the benefits of saving and charitable giving. There's no single correct way to handle giving an allowance. Deciding when to start, how much to give, and whether you want to link the allowance to chores are choices that should fit your family. Giving an Allowance: 5 Tips for Parents— 1. Should an allowance be tied to chores? This is a personal choice. Some experts think that it's important to make this connection so that children learn the relationship between work and pay. Others say that children should have a responsibility to help with housework, above and beyond any financial incentive. Ultimately, you must...

While travel is fun, family vacations introduce challenges, stressors, long stretches of boredom, and days of over-stimulation. Family vacations can be stressful times filled with tantrums and trouble, but it doesn't have to be that way. Use the tips below to survive your next family vacation: 1. The first thing that you can do is start by nipping the temper tantrums in the bud at home first. Remember that discipline will have to start at home if you expect it to continue when you are outside of the home. There have to be strict rules, and consequences for bad behavior.  The key to ending the temper tantrums is sticking to whatever form of discipline you choose. Whatever punishments you use at home you will also want to use when you are away on vacation. This way your youngster will know that no matter what they do, and where they are you will end up suffering the consequences. If you are going to be traveling by plane, or boat and you have multiple kids, it can be very di...

Parent-child conflict occurs for many reasons. When it does occur, the entire family can be thrown into emotional turmoil. Resolving a parent-child conflict requires the participation of everyone involved. Communication is a very beneficial tool in resolving conflict. When parenting, we need to listen to our kids and consider their input. Understanding why parent-child conflict occurs and how to resolve it can help bring harmony back to the entire family. An important feature of parent-child relationships that affects the negativity of conflicts is that the relationships are not voluntary (i.e., kids do not pick their moms and dads). Like marriage partners, moms and dads and their children develop considerable intimacy. More so than spouses, however, moms and dads and their kids are "bound" in a family relationship, which can serve to intensify serious conflicts between them. Family disputes often represent underlying relational struggles regarding power or intim...

Hi Mark, Its been quite a while since I emailed in crisis! The good news is that I’m not emailing in crisis just thought I’d update you & ask for a steer on a couple of things! So update: After Danielle was away from home for 6 weeks, she asked to return home (she’s now been home for 2 months) & as guided by you we welcomed her back on the proviso that she sign up to a really clear home rules contract – she did & the benefits & consequences are crystal clear! She’s got herself a job which is great & is paying $25 rent a week, she hasn’t missed a curfew & when we say no she seems to accept it much quicker than she has in the passed – plus the yelling & screaming matches have stopped. She’s dropped out of mainstream school but is doing an alternative school program and hasn’t missed a day – its not what we wanted for her but we are fully supporting this as a respectful, self reliant young adult is preferred – when & if she realises she ne...

Raising teens is a challenge no matter how many parents are living in the home. Particularly challenging are the ages between 12 and 16, which are marked by mood swings, defiant attitudes and attempts to push limits set by parents. During this time, teenagers try their hardest to gain independence and self-autonomy. In addition, teenagers are often masters at pitting married parents against one another, so when parents are divorced and living in different households, it can be extra difficult to co-parent with effectiveness. So, what can a single mom do to make the adolescent years sail as smoothly as possible? Here are 20 important tips: 1. Ask others for help when necessary. The single mother frequently feels overwhelmed by the responsibility, tasks, and emotional overload associated with raising kids alone. It is extremely important to manage time wisely and to ask for help when necessary. Assign kids appropriate chores and tasks. Arrange car pools when possible, and as...

Disputes between you and your kids are inevitable in family life. If your family never has arguments, it probably means that issues are being avoided. To become productive grown-ups, kids need to be able to voice their opinions - even if they disagree with yours - and feel they are being taken seriously. Even so, you can and should keep the negative impact of arguments to a minimum. Kids love to argue. They want their ideas to be everyone else's ideas. They like to prove that they are right and you and everyone else are wrong. Kids like to control the situation. They enjoy having power over their moms and dads. Kids have a need for power. This need is normal; kids see grown-ups as having power. We do what we want to do; at least, that's what our kids think. We appear self-reliant and secure. We are all grown up. We have power. Kids want to be like us. They want power, too. Having a need for power is not a bad thing. It is only when a youngster uses power in a nega...

Federal health officials say they’re alarmed by a sharp rise in cannabis (marijuana) use among American teenagers , blaming the increase on medical cannabis campaigns. The increase is particularly stark among 8th graders, suggesting that attitudes about the risks of cannabis may be becoming more relaxed in teens thinking about using drugs for the first time. A recent national survey indicates that cannabis use in 8th, 10th, and 12th graders is up across the country. By some measures, the increase over the last year is 10% or more according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Cannabis use among teenagers has been on the way up over the last three years. But new data, taken from the 46,000-student “Monitoring the Future” survey, shows the increase is accelerating, particularly in younger children. In all, about 1 in 16 high school seniors admits to daily pot use… 3% of 10th graders and 1% of 8th graders say they smoke pot at least four days a week. Meanwhile, 24% of teen...