ONLINE PARENTING COACH

"You talk about discipline is better than punishment. What’s the difference?" Here are some characteristics and results of using a “punishment-based” parenting style (rather than “discipline-based”): Children learn that they better not get caught when misbehaving, and if they don’t get caught there will be no punishment. Children who are usually punished have a hard time trusting. They may react with anger and isolate themselves from their parents. Consequences are inconsistent and unpredictable. As a child, my wife was never sure if she would get into trouble for a certain behavior. As a result, she took the risk, because in her words, she had a 50-50 chance of getting away with it. When she was caught, the punishment was often severe - or not enforced at all. A week grounding usually only lasted two days before her parents forget or grew tired of her being around the house and sent her off to play. In punishment-based parenting, few words of explanation are giv...

Depression is very damaging when left untreated, so don’t wait and hope that the symptoms will go away. Even if you’re unsure that depression is the issue, the troublesome behaviors and emotions you’re seeing in your adolescent are signs of a problem. Whether or not that problem turns out to be depression, it still needs to be addressed—the sooner the better. The first thing you should do if you suspect depression is to talk to your adolescent about it. In a loving and non-judgmental way, share your concerns with your adolescent. Let her know what specific signs of depression you’ve noticed and why they worry you. Then encourage your child to open up about what she is going through. Here are some very specific steps to follow: • Avoid the blame game. It can be easy to blame yourself or another family member for your adolescent’s depression, but it only adds to an already stressful situation. Furthermore, depression is normally caused by a number of factors, so it’s unli...