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It is said that the sign of great parenting is not the child's behavior but the behavior of the parents. Parenting isn't a practice but a daily learning experience. I am passionate about helping parents on this journey.
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 Recently, I saw the movie “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” and I was deeply struck by Mr. Fred Rogers’ message that being nice is not a weakness; that speaking with care is a thing we do simply because we believe the person we’re talking to is a human being with worth and dignity. He said, “Love is at the root of everything; all learning, all parenting, all relationships-love or the lack of it…The greatest thing that we can do is to let somebody know that they are loved and capable of loving.”
Most children growing up in the late 1960s through 2001 watched Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. Since my family didn’t own a television until I was in middle school, I didn’t pay much attention to his show until I had children of my own. Together, my boys and l learned many aspects about the world through watching the show—from learning from mistakes and dealing with fears to how crayons, pretzels and brooms were made. Using simple sets and puppets, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood addressed a wide range of topics including relationships and differences as controversial topics as death, divorcee, race and more. On one episode in 1969, Rogers quietly made a civil-rights statement on his show, by companionably sharing a wading pool on a hot day with Officer Clemmons, who is black — at a time of segregated pools in much of the country. In the documentary, Director Morgan Neville intercuts this scene with footage of white lifeguards pouring bleach into a pool where black kids were swimming. Mister Rogers reminded us, in gentle song, that we were special and that he liked us as we were. I want to wield kindness every moment of every day as Fred Rogers did in his life, on his television show, and out in the world. The world is a much scarier place now. Kindness feels like a revolutionary act! I find it challenging as a daily practice, especially when someone honked at me and flipped me off as I was looking for the correct exit on my way to the movie theater. Kindness requires me to work hard at having empathy, patience, understanding and a willingness to listen. But I believe that this message is one that we greatly need--to see each other as neighbors and interact with empathy and kindness. “Deep down, we know that what matters in this life is more than winning for ourselves. What really matters is helping others win too, even if it means slowing down and changing our course now and then.” Mr. Fred Rogers Dartmouth Commencement Speech 2002  Last week, I spent four days working at my former school to help the teachers get ready for their new school year. (Yes, schools in Georgia start the beginning of August!?!?) One of my students Mandy (not her real name) and her mom arrived on Monday to find out that she had been switched to the Orange Group of the last week of summer camp. Mandy doesn’t do well with new situations and was a little anxious about the change. However, she knew me and had several friends in the Orange Group, so I was sure that she would do fine. However, the challenge for Mandy was compounded because her mother got upset and took Mandy with her to speak with one of the administrators. In front of Mandy, the mom escalated the whole thing by overacting, demanding a refund for the week. Clearly, the daughter wasn’t the only one getting emotional.
As parents, how many times have we done this? We step in to speak for our children, fight their battles, go to bat when a teacher or a friend is treating them unfairly. We have the best of intentions and we act out of love. But what kind of message are we sending to our children? Some experts call this being a “helicopter parent.” The parent hovers over children and rescues them from the hostile world in which they live. To protect them, we take on the responsibilities of our child and we give them the message that he or she cannot handle them. Children need to hear the message from us: “I love you and you can do this. I believe in you, and I am here if you need help.” By asking guiding questions and offering our support, we give them the gift of problem solving. In the next webinar series, Raising Resilient, Happy, Successful Individuals starting August 6th, we will explore this and other important topics. To join us, click here Webinars If we are honest with ourselves, many times the challenges that our children face trigger feelings in ourselves: fear, anxiety, low self-worth, inadequacy, and memories of being bullied/misunderstood and more. Raising children is an opportunity to heal and reparent ourselves. In order to love our children unconditionally, we need to continue to love and heal ourselves from the wounds that life has brought us. Learning to forgive and love ourselves and others is a key part of the healing process. As a Parent Coach, I help people identify their goals and the obstacles they are facing. As a certified relationship coach, I believe that you have the answers within to work toward solving any issues that you have. I would guide you to discover what is blocking you, what needs healing and work to empower you to move forward. For more information, click here Parent Coaching  A man spotted a chrysalis on a milkweed plant in his garden. After a few days, a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then, it seemed to stop making any progress. The man decided to help the butterfly; he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the chrysalis. The butterfly emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings.
The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time. Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its short life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly. What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting chrysalis and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were God's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the chrysalis. Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If God allowed us to go through our life without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been. We could never fly. Just like the butterfly, our children need struggles/ challenges to strengthen them. Without any obstacles, they won’t discover their strengths/abilities and may even be crippled. As much as we realize as parents the importance of allowing our children to work through challenges, this is one of the most difficult things to do—standing by as our child or even young adult struggles without stepping in to help. Without thinking about it, we spend a lot of energy every day controlling (or trying to control) our children—telling them what to eat, how quickly to get dressed, how to comb their hair, what friends they should have, how to chew their food, how to sit properly at the table, what they should do in their spare time, what they should study in school, what career they should have, how to raise their own children and so much more! When we control our children’s choices too much, we do prevent some of their mistakes, but the consequences are serious. By controlling them, we can cause them to become dependent, weak, unloved, unhappy, angry and rebellious. So, what can we do? Children gain experience, wisdom and strength by making their own choices, struggling through their decisions and learning to live with the consequences—both the good and the poor ones. We can share control with our children by giving lots of choices, even from a young age. “Would you like juice or milk for lunch?” “Will you wear your red or your blue shirt today?” “Shall we leave the park now or in 15 minutes?” “Will you do your homework before or after playing outside?” With older children, asking questions can help them think through a problem without telling them what to do. If a child is particularly frustrated, we might saw, “Would you like some ideas that other people have tried?” And it is always supportive to communicate that as the parent, “I believe in you—I know that you can figure this out. Let me know if you get stuck.” Join in the 3 week webinar series starting Monday, August 6 “Raising Resilient, Happy, Successful Individuals” where we will be discussing more ways to guide and support our children in developing their own self-efficacy and taking good care of own selves at the same time. Click below for more details.  During early childhood, children start to develop a self-concept. Between 18 and 30 months of age, they can begin to describe themselves as a boy or girl, happy, sad, taller/shorter than someone else. Much has been written and discussed about how children develop self-esteem—a judgment of one’s worth and the attributes, abilities, attitudes and values that help define it. It is understood that self-esteem comes from several sources: the relationship with parents and other family members, school ability, athletic ability, friendships, relationships with teachers, coaches and peers as well as from the child’s own temperament.
Less is known or understood about self-efficacy—the belief that one’s own actions lead to outcomes. Parenting experts are now saying that self-efficacy is as important as self-esteem. For our children to develop their own sense of self-efficacy, they must have the experience of doing the thinking, planning, hoping, trial and error, dreaming and experiencing for themselves as they grow up. As parents, we love our kids so much we want to protect them and help them become perfect, happy human beings. Sometimes this over-parenting can have the opposite effect, leaving our kids unready for the world and life as adults. Julie Lythcott-Haims, author and TED Talk speaker, served as the Dean of Freshmen and Undergraduate Advising for more than a decade at Stanford University. She says, "We have the very best of intentions, but when we over-help our children, we deprive them of the chance to learn these really important things that it turns out they need to learn to be prepared to be out in the world of work, to get an apartment, to make their way through an unfamiliar town, to interact with adults who aren't motivated by love.” Her a-ha moment came in 2009 after telling parents at Stanford's freshman orientation to allow their kids to spread their wings, she came home for dinner and found herself cutting her 10-year-old son's meat. "That's when I got the connection," she says. "When do you stop cutting their meat? When do you stop looking both ways for them as they cross the street? These are all things that we're doing to be helpful, protective and so on, but if you've sheltered your 18-year-old all the way up to 18 by doing all of those things, then they end up bewildered out in the world.” To listen to Ms. Lythcott-Haims’ TED Talk, click link: www.ted.com/talks/julie_lythcott_haims_how_to_raise_successful_kids_without_over_parenting So, how do we as parents help our children to develop a strong self-concept, positive self-esteem and self-efficacy? It takes awareness, practice and intention on our part as parents and some tools that help us gain the skills we need. One important thing is to ask leading questions instead of telling our child the answer or what to do. Real Love with Greg Baer introduces the Law of Choice as a function of growth and an essential ingredient in any loving relationship. Love and Logic uses the concept of sharing control through choices. Examples are:
These topics will all be part of the three-week parenting webinar series “Raising Resilient, Happy, Successful Individuals” that I will be facilitating beginning Monday, August 6 at 9 pm EST. The webinar will include skill practice, modeling and homework to be practice between sessions. For more information/to register go to Webinars To make sure that you receive these weekly articles and updates, subscribe to my newsletter at the top of the page.  Traditions and rituals create family cohesion, comfort and security. They often tell a story about our family and they help us to focus our lives around experiences rather than things creating greater lasting happiness. Traditions help teach our children where their family came from or give them insights into their cultural or religious history.
Growing up, we had a family whistle that could be easily heard above the noise of a crowd. Inherited from my mother’s family, it was known as the Nyce whistle--my mom’s maiden name--and it helped us find each other on many occasions. Although this might not seem like a family tradition, it was something unique to our family. Many family traditions center around holidays—special foods, getting and decorating the Christmas tree, setting up the menorah, and eating turkey at grandma’s home. Birthday celebrations can include special traditions that make the day special for the birthday child. Traditions can include eating their favorite food together, making time to share heartfelt appreciations about the child over the birthday dessert and measuring them on the growth chart to see how much they have grown. One of my son’s birthday tradition was always having a pumpkin pie instead of a traditional cake. In my family, camping was another family tradition--one that we continued with our own boys. There is something special about sitting around a campfire with no lights except a lantern on the picnic table and the stars overhead. It was magical to discover aspects of nature that we usually rush by in our daily life. It was also a tradition that we took turns cooking meals and cleaning up afterwards in pairs. Another aspect of camping that I loved was the natural opportunity to disconnect from electronics and spend more time talking together or playing board games. Author, speaker and storyteller Bruce Feiler wrote “6 Things the Happiest Families Have in Common.” He was asked what he would recommend as the most important advice he had for families. His answer? “Set aside time to talk about what it means to be a part of your family. Sit down with them and say ‘Okay, these are our ten central values.’ ‘This is the family we want to be. We want to be a family that doesn’t fight all the time.’ or ‘We want to be a family that goes camping or sailing’ or whatever it might be. When my family did it, it was literally a transforming experience. We ended up printing it and it hangs now in our dining room.” In other words, make a family mission statement--something Steven Covey strongly advocated as a way to strengthen the family through identifying values and traditions. Family traditions help to create lasting memories that children remember and continue with their own families. What are some of your family traditions? Taco Tuesdays? Taking evening walks after dinner? Favorite bedtime routines? For some inspiration and new ideas, check out “60+ Family Tradition Ideas” by Brett & Kate McKay. www.artofmanliness.com/articles/60-family-tradition-ideas/ If you haven’t had a chance to check out my website, click on the link above to check out the various services that I offer. Starting on Monday, August 6th, I am offering a three week webinar “Raising Resilient, Happy, Successful Individuals.”  A couple of weeks ago, I was looking through some boxes of photos that I hadn’t touched since our move to Georgia three years ago. It was just before Father’s Day and I wanted to include a few memorable pictures in the card I was sending to my dad. Memories flooded back over me as I look at the snapshots of my life--going camping as a family, visits from my grandparents who lived on the other side of the country, Monday morning pancakes made by my dad on his day off because he was a minister, my dad’s patience as I learned to drive a stick shift in the parking lot of our school next door, celebrating Christmas and my parent’s 60th wedding anniversary in Puerto Rico with my family giving my children a chance to get to know their grandparents as young adults and so much more.
One memory that came back to me was an early morning train ride when I was only four years old. It sticks out in my mind because it was special—the trip was just me and my dad and the purpose was not to get to a destination. I asked my dad to refresh my memory of this event. My grandparents had come by train to visit Oregon where we lived and somehow, there were two unused portions of the tickets. My parents had decided that my dad would use his day off to take me on an adventure. I remember getting up early and leaving the house while it was still dark out. We drove to the train station and boarded. Having breakfast in the dining car with the linen tablecloths, we watched the landscape flow by. I don’t remember much else about the day. My dad says that we went to a nearby city, got off the train and walked around visiting a book store and then headed back home on the train. I am sure that the reason that this memory has stayed with me is because of the gift of time and presence that my father gave to me that day. It reinforced the belief that I am loved and worthy. Strong families are built on a foundation of love, and love, as we know, doesn't simply happen. Love takes work - especially when the details of the day-to-day grind seem to crowd out everything else and leave us short on time and sapped of energy. "Making memories" is one way to create a lasting sense of common identity and shared family heritage among the members of our households. What kind of memories are you creating in your family? I just saw the movie “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” and I was deeply struck by Mr. Fred Rogers’ message that being nice is not a weakness; that speaking with care is a thing we do simply because we believe the person we’re talking to is a human being with worth and dignity. He said, “Love is at the root of everything; all learning, all parenting, all relationships-love or the lack of it…The greatest thing that we can do is to let somebody know that they are loved and capable of loving.” Most children growing up in the late 1960s through 2001 watched Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. Since my family didn’t own a television until I was in middle school, I didn’t pay much attention to his show until I had children of my own. Together, my boys and l learned many aspects about the world through watching the show—from learning from mistakes and dealing with fears to how crayons, pretzels and brooms were made. Using simple sets and puppets, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood addressed a wide range of topics including relationships and differences as controversial topics as death, divorcee, race and more. On one episode in 1969, Rogers quietly made a civil-rights statement on his show, by companionably sharing a wading pool on a hot day with Officer Clemmons, who is black — at a time of segregated pools in much of the country. In the documentary, Director Morgan Neville intercuts this scene with footage of white lifeguards pouring bleach into a pool where black kids were swimming. Mister Rogers reminded us, in gentle song, that we were special and that he liked us as we were. I want to wield kindness every moment of every day as Fred Rogers did in his life, on his television show, and out in the world. The world is a much scarier place now. Kindness feels like a revolutionary act! I find it challenging as a daily practice, especially like today when someone honked at me and flipped me off as I was looking for the correct exit on my way to the movie theater. Kindness requires me to work hard at having empathy, patience, understanding and a willingness to listen. But I believe that this message is one that we greatly need--to see each other as neighbors and interact with empathy and kindness.  I have been on this parenting journey for awhile now-30 years. And I have been an educator and teacher almost that long. The past few years, I have felt a calling to share what I have gleaned along the way with others. It has been a process of finding my voice: shifting through the memories, the pain and challenges, the aha moments and the heart-melting experiences. At times, it has been downright confronting to face my shortcomings and limiting beliefs. But the amazing thing I discovered is that being a parent is the opportunity to reparent yourself and nurture the treasure that lies within! I invite you to join me on this journey-wherever you are on the path. Allow me to help you see parenting as an exciting adventure, gain confidence in your ability to love and raise your children and begin healing yourself along the way.  |