For Moms: How to Bond with Your Tween Daughter

Bonding Over Beauty book encourages mother daughter relationships

 

Over the long weekend I made some time to sit down with a great new book, Bonding Over Beauty: A Mother-Daughter Beauty Guide to Foster Self-Esteem, Confidence and Trust, by Erika Katz. As the mother of an almost 11-year-old daughter, I am always looking for new ways to stay connected to my tween daughter and ways to talk to her about all the changes she is about to experience in her body.

What to do when you have a shy child

Nurturing Social Growth in Your Child

by Dr. Caron B. Goode

I birthed a social butterfly named Kristin. From the day of her birth, she saw all people as her friend and always said hello. My friend, Karen, birthed a shy daughter named Lisa. Parents don’t often worry about how social butterflies flit through the world; however a shy child usually needs a parent’s help in learning to negotiate relationships in a safe way. Karen understood this. Here is how she helped Lisa.

Karen’s daughter was painfully shy until she entered second grade. When she did interact with other children, it was on a very selective basis and always one-on-one. This was of great concern to her teachers. For a few years, Lisa’s progress reports all read the same: Needs improvement in group interaction and socialization.

Karen was always an optimist and thankful that Lisa wasn’t disruptive in class! Still, it was Karen’s job to usher Lisa into the world of friendships and group dynamics. Karen joined a playgroup and invited classmates over. She and Lisa took part in their local babysitting coop and signed her up for pee wee soccer. Lisa was a good sport about all this socialization. She entered into each situation with her chin up and her eye peeled for the one child she would interact with. So much for group dynamics.

Your Teen’s Most Annoying Response? Whatever!

guide to teen self-esteem

Getting Beyond Whatever

In December 2011, the annual Marist Poll revealed that “whatever” had for the third consecutive year been judged as the most annoying conversational word or phrase in the English language.  Indeed, nearly four in ten adults in the United States found this word obnoxious.

What is it about the word “whatever” that gets people so worked up?  Its continual usage is certainly a contributing factor.  Whenever people don’t want to commit to a particular opinion, choice or course of action this word gets trotted out.   The excessive use of the word, however, is only part of the problem because the attitude that accompanies it is, arguably, what really gets people hot under the collar.  Think about it.  Whenever someone says the word “whatever” they generally roll their eyes, curl their lip and apathetically shrug their shoulders.   These gestures aren’t exactly pretty and this is because they convey an air of contempt along with a “count me out” stance.