ONLINE PARENTING COACH

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...