How to Determine if Your Child is Ready for Sports

Tips on Finding a Youth Sports Program for your Child

Individual sporting activities and “non-traditional” team sports lead to wonderful learning experiences for children. Keeping your kids active and interacting more with peers are both valuable to a young child’s development. I was a competitive figure skater growing up. I competed individually and as part of a team so I had the best of both kinds of sporting experiences.

The Dallas / Ft Worth area has numerous options for all kinds of sports-related activities. Whether it is a program with lots of structure or a more casual atmosphere, you will find diverse choices such as swimming, dance, martial arts, gymnastics, ice-skating and more.

How to Handle Back to School Stress

POWER to transform Back to School STRESS into Success

by Bethlyn Gerard

Depending on the age of your child, ‘back to school’ may land somewhere between elation and dread. We parents know all too well that the student isn’t the only one feeling the pressure of the transition from summer to school days.

Big or small, the start of another school year involves adjustments for the entire household. Routines including eating, sleeping, dressing, shopping, packing and traveling are impacted. With all the forms to sign, supplies to gather, shots and physicals to get, cubbies and lockers to find, it may be difficult to imagine how a person could juggle what needs to get done without feeling stressed.

3 Ways to Encourage Kids to Clean Up After Themselves

Making Kids Chores a Part of Everyday Life

Guest post from D’TaRelle Tullis from PitterPatterFeet.com

1. Create the Habit Early

I once went to a coworker’s house who had a small daughter. Her daughter was around 2 or 2 1/2. We walked into her home together and she had not had any time to clean up or straighten the house before I came. When I walked into the house with her and her daughter I was shocked! I couldn’t believe my eyes! Her home was spotless and organized! You would have thought she lived there alone and that she didn’t have not a single child.

A Review of ‘Rite of Passage Parenting’

by Lorraine Brock

I am currently reading a book about how to raise responsible, capable adults in a culture where our children are not exposed to the experiences that allow them to succeed. Rite of Passage Parenting: Four Essential Experiences to Equip Your Kids for Life by Walker Moore, explains the traditions that are lacking in our society today and suggests ways for parents to give their children what they need. The book focuses on two basic themes and in this article I will be touching on one: Grandparents.

How To Raise Emotionally Healthy Children: Respect

How to Raise Emotionally Healthy Children

A Series of Articles on Raising Emotionally Healthy Children

Guest Post from The Children’s Project

All of us – babies, toddlers, teenagers, parents and grandparents have the same emotional needs.  Meeting these needs in childhood provides the foundation for success in school, work, relationships, marriage and life in general. We see it in our daily lives and the news, failure to meet the emotional needs of our children is a serious and under-recognized problem facing our country.

Dr. Gerald Newmark, in his book How to Raise Emotionally Healthy Children: Meeting the Five Critical Needs of Children…and Parents Too!, shows parents and teachers how to nourish emotional health at home and at school. The book helps parents recognize and satisfy the critical emotional needs that all children have: to feel Respected, Important, Accepted, Included, and Secure, and in the process, parents will benefit too.

In the coming weeks, we will present a series of articles with more information on meeting each of these five emotional needs, including tips and activities.  We’ll also address “behavior that hurts and behavior that helps”, as well as how to become a professional at parenting.  These simple, powerful tools will enhance the lives of children, parents and families. The goal is to raise children to be self-confident, independent, responsible, thinking, caring, and civic-minded individuals.

3 Ways to Increase Respect: Respect Starts With Words

Definition of respectRespect Starts With Words and Setting Examples

How do you define respect? Respect has been called “the single most powerful ingredient in nourishing relationships and creating a just society” and referred to as “the glue that binds people together and holds together one’s self-confidence.” [1]

As parents, the words we use with our children today affect the adults they become tomorrow. It’s time to consider a new definition of respect when it comes to parenting and building relationships with our children.