by Heidi Schlabs
Dress up those Halloween treats for your child’s classmates, friends or Halloween party favors! Make bag toppers for your favorite candies, and wrappers for candy bars and microwave popcorn packages. Wrap the candy and let the kids decorate away! It’s also fun to personalize your fancy Halloween treats with friends’ names.
by Darlene McKenna, author of The Change
Is your teenage daughter or son just going through the normal stuff, or is it more? Do they listen to you when they do something wrong, or do they simply repeat the bad behavior? Are they staying out all night or not even coming home? Do you even know where they are? As a parent, do you find yourself tired and sick of all the battles? Have you just had enough and do you find yourself ignoring your troubled teenager?
As a former troubled teen, I would like to share some insight on this question. I became difficult and I never listened to my mom. It started with small stuff, like getting into fights and stealing things from her. Before you knew it, I was out all night around a fire pit drinking. Even the kids that I was hanging out with would say, “Darlene, you fell flat on your face last night. Maybe you shouldn’t drink as much tonight.” I didn’t care, and I would just go get another beer.
Why was I drinking so much? I was listening to a negative voice in my head that I now refer to as the “bad guy.” The bad guy would begin to whisper things in my head, like “Why are you such a loser? Everyone has a boyfriend, except for you. No one likes you. Everyone is prettier than you.” I was tough and I tried to ignore the voice. My goal was to be cool and I knew I needed a boyfriend!
Guest Post from The Children’s Project
Read the first article in this series: Respect
Another critical emotional need of children is to feel important. Feeling important refers to a child’s need to feel: “I have value. I am useful. I have power. I am somebody.” The following are examples of how parents obstruct or enhance a child’s need to feel Important.
