Most of us want to protect our children from struggle. After all, if we shoulder their burdens, they’ll be happier, right? Not usually. Children are happiest when parents scaffold their children’s ability to tackle life’s challenging experiences. This kind of scaffolding is necessary from a very young age. As children […]
Resilience
Each of us wants our children to develop positive relationships—to experience the power of unconditional love, support, friendship, and encouragement throughout school and life. But we also know that creating and sustaining relationships is hard work—effort that requires a cooperative ability to interact with others. Psychologists call this capacity sociability, […]
Sociability
Your child is going through a difficult time. You don’t quite know what’s at the root of the struggle, but you do know that you want to do whatever you can to help. Fortunately, there are some practical things you can do, starting right now, to begin to make things […]
Resilience
Intellectual curiosity and learning go hand in hand. But let’s be honest… Curiosity isn’t what most of us first think about when it comes to our children’s education. We want our kids to do well in school so we usually focus on external measurements of learning and academic success — […]
Curiosity
“No.” This simple two-letter word is often absent from our parenting vocabulary. Yet, a firm “no” can be a positive developmental tool for building resiliency in children. In parenting today, we are encouraged to focus so absolutely on our children’s happiness, self-esteem, and emotional health. It is perhaps this that […]
Resilience
Successful kids get excellent grades, right? They play at least one sport very well. Successful kids do regular community service and, of course, take Advanced Placement courses. They attend the best colleges and attain great-paying jobs. Wait. If you’ve ever envisioned this fairy-tale definition of kids’ success, it’s time to […]
Compass-Inspired
Childhood is a time of life filled with playfulness, innocence, and joy. It’s a time of heightened emotional health — when all worries of the world cease to exist, and the small things get noticed. While pleasant to imagine, this mythical vision of childhood does not accurately capture the world […]
Resilience
Why is classroom management important for teachers and students? Because a positive teacher-student relationship is essential for student learning and development. Effective classroom management includes a variety of processes and strategies that help teachers create and maintain appropriate behavior in classrooms so that all students have an opportunity to thrive. […]
Resourcefulness
Family movies rock! And for many reasons! In today’s busy world, watching movies gives families time to slow down, be entertained, and be together. But family movies have the potential to do so much more. They can quite literally shape children’s lives. One way for teens to learn about and […]
Compass-Inspired
The concept of stress relief has far greater implications for families with ADHD than it might seem. That’s because parenting a child with ADHD is demanding, with its impact on parents often underappreciated. There is a common insinuation that ADHD is not “real.” Some people think parents just need to […]
Self-Awareness
“Social anxiety disorder,” according to the Child Mind Institute, “is characterized by intense self-consciousness and fear of embarrassment that goes beyond common shyness, causing a child to go to great lengths to avoid social interactions,” In other words, a psychologist might suggest that whether your child has social anxiety or […]
Sociability
Every parent wants to know the key to success that will help a son or daughter thrive in life, that “secret sauce” for raising a healthy child. Does such a sauce exist? The answer depends on your mindset as a parent and how you turn your mindset into practice with […]
Empathy
