Nuances in Early Language Development

Nuances in Early Language Development

Dear Caring Parent, There are some nuances in early language development. Marci wished she’d known this when, at her daughter’s wellness appointment, the doctor said ‘there’s a problem here’. She descended into mom guilt.  It’s great the doctor is paying attention....

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writing about parental discipline

A Contentious D of Parenting

Dear Caring Parent,  I was wondering what D of parenting I would write about, when the other day a dad and I were talking. His focus was on how he and his wife discipline differently. I like to write about things I hear parents telling me about so here we go on...

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Calm Parenting Has A Problem But There’s a Fix

Calm Parenting Has A Problem But There’s a Fix

Dear Caring Parent, Sometimes when we parents hear the prompt to provide calm parenting, it feels like an insult. That's because there's a problem with being a calm parent. How can I be calm when my teenager is slamming doors? And then there's my toddler with nerve...

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Reflection on Parent Exhaustion

Reflection on Parent Exhaustion

Dear Caring Parent, “I’m exhausted!” I hear parents saying this very often. Parental exhaustion is real. It’s not ok. It’s not, 'oh well, I’m a parent so of course'.   I’ve hesitated to write about this topic now, because with COVID19 and all it’s additional...

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Parents Get Better At Listening

Parents Get Better At Listening

Dear Caring Parent, I've been thinking about telling vs listening lately as I talk with parents and children. While some things definitely need telling, I've concluded that we could all do a lot more listening. At home and in schools. How do we parents get better at...

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What Does Blue Light Do To Children?

What Does Blue Light Do To Children?

Dear Caring Parent, I took a look to see what new research shows about the effect of blue light on our children, given the increase in online activities with schooling-at-home during COVID19. Generally we wonder about eye strain and sleep disruption with blue light...

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Letting Go For Parents Is A Constant

Letting Go For Parents Is A Constant

Dear Caring Parent, Letting go - for parents, it's a constant dance. We attach then we let go. It's not that we suddenly ‘let go’ when our children finish school, get married or begin their career. Instead, parents experience many phases of letting go. .  Letting Go...

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Saying No To Children

Saying No To Children

Dear Caring Parent,  Saying no to children can be hard! I was just talking to a dad about how to not over-spend the budget for a birthday.  It got me to thinking, again, about how hard it is saying 'no' to children!  After my conversation with this dad, I thought...

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The Joy of Raising Boys

The Joy of Raising Boys

The Good, the Bad, and the Hilarious Author - Diane Auten I can't stop smiling! This is such a delightful read.  The Joys of Raising Boys -The Good, the Bad, and the Hilarious! Through real-time anecdotes, this book follows Diane's momlife from when her sons were two...

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How do Babies Understand Their World?

How do Babies Understand Their World?

Dear Caring Parent,  Ever wonder, how do babies understand their world? Of all the things that are so important in the first year of life, what's tying it all together? Attuning is - how you and your baby are tuning-in to each other. I LOVE watching a mom or dad tune...

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Confidence Building in Your Child – What Comes First?

Confidence Building in Your Child – What Comes First?

Dear Caring Parent,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         ...

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4 SMART Communication Strategies When You Have Teens

4 SMART Communication Strategies When You Have Teens

Dear Caring Parent, These 4 smart communication strategies will come in handy because, as we all know, communicating with your late tween and any-age teen will test your parental communication skills. This has forever rung true to parents. We now know it’s because...

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30 Activities for Tired Parents and Bored Kids

30 Activities for Tired Parents and Bored Kids

Dear Caring Parent, August is the month for tired parents and bored kids! Parents are tired of taking care of everything and the kids are feeling that the less-scheduled summer has been great so far, but suddenly it's boring. School now seems inviting!  It becomes...

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How to Deal with Your Child’s Irksome Behavior

How to Deal with Your Child’s Irksome Behavior

Dear Caring Parent, How do we deal with our child's irksome behavior? They challenge our parenting skill! We can often feel like we don't know how to deal with our child's irksome behavior! The helpful skill? Visualizing. Here's how one mom worked through dealing with...

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EEE-Gads, Moody and Mouthy Toddler and Teen

EEE-Gads, Moody and Mouthy Toddler and Teen

Dear Caring Parent,      In the first poll I ran on this site, I asked you which was the most difficult age for you to parent.  And most of you clicked on either the toddler years or the teen years. Kinda the same as  I hear anecdotally. These are the years that bring...

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Listening Changes the Homework Argument

Listening Changes the Homework Argument

Dear Caring Parent, I’ve noticed that sometimes I am a stormy creature when it comes to homework problems. When I would notice it wasn’t being attended to, I would react by storming through homework time. Are you a storming, angry parent over homework problems right...

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I’m Struggling with My Child

I’m Struggling with My Child

Dear Caring Parent, Our love for our children can in fact hit trouble. Sometimes we fall out of what I call our parenting love zone- that easy, flowing, heartfelt connection to our little beings. This falling out could be caused by our pre-occupation with something...

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I Believe Motherhood Saves Us

I Believe Motherhood Saves Us

A Guest Blogger for OMG Parenting has this to say about motherhood.... Mixed emotions accompany the topic of motherhood. Motherhood is a beautiful, challenging responsibility, unique to women, and unique to each woman’s experience. Mothers are any and every type of...

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Things I Learned from a Tween

Things I Learned from a Tween

Dear Caring Parent, There's not as much parenting advice about tweens as there is about babies, toddlers, and teens. That's because the tween years are quieter, or so it seems. Tweens are 8 - 12 years in my book, although others might say 9 - 14 or 10 -14 years....

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MaMa Guilt – Is It Just a Part of the Job?

MaMa Guilt – Is It Just a Part of the Job?

Dear Caring MaMa, Do you ever find that you are repeatedly upset about the same thing with your kids and what follows is mama guilt then more frustration? They don't put the dishes away, they eat poorly, your toddler is so clingy, they're always late, they don't pay...

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Call it Gaming LIFE, Not Gaming Limits

Call it Gaming LIFE, Not Gaming Limits

Dear Caring Parent,  Many a parent ponders children gaming. We look for parenting information about it; the worry being of course that there is too much of a good thing going on in our child's life.  It's hard if we think our child is out of balance and gaming too...

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That thing I have sometimes…

That thing I have sometimes…

Dear Caring Parent, Parenting requires so much patience, doesn't it!  I have heard countless pregnant moms say their biggest worry about parenting is that they have no patience in general. And yet a year later when I ask them what they've learned about themselves that...

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Parents Saying No

Parents Saying No

Dear Caring Parent, That word, NO! It's hard for parents to say no, yet it's one of the first words kids say! The one-year-old shakes their head 'no' to everything, says 'no' to answer all your questions, pushes the envelope a bit when you say 'no' - you know, that...

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Unexpected Moments of Mom Joy!

Unexpected Moments of Mom Joy!

Dear Caring Parent, During my pregnancy, and heck, before my pregnancy, I could easily imagine the joys of parenting. From baby's first smile to graduations, all those milestones! Not everyone who is pregnant is filled with these gushes of lovey-doves, but I was. And...

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The Sex Dialogue – Take 10

The Sex Dialogue – Take 10

Dear Caring Parent, "So, how do you know what's going on in your kid's inner world about sex", asks the parent of tweens and teens.  Great question! As you all know, kids are hearing about it and reacting to it at younger and younger ages. Some think about it more...

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Games and Brains

Games and Brains

Dear Caring Parent, I usually write my blogs.  But then I came across this incredible infographic on what is going on in a brain whilst participating in video games, and I knew I didn't need to overdose you by adding any of my own writing.  This has become more and...

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To Worry or Not to Worry

To Worry or Not to Worry

Dear Caring Parent, Because of my work with parents and kids, wherever I go people tell me their stories about parenting. And I hear about volumes of worrying! So of course, it gets me thinking about the things I worried about as a parent and to wonder, did I need to?...

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You are a Great Parent!

You are a Great Parent!

Dear Caring Parent, I have been thinking lately about the parenting stresses I have felt and that I hear about from others.  From logistics, managing emotions, determining if our child fits in to the developmental norms, budgeting sanely, to managing one's own life,...

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parenting teens

Five Parenting Truths for the OMG, TEEN years!

Dear Caring Parent, Ok, so we all know that the toddler and teen years are the two childhood phases with big parenting challenges right? While knowing why may increase our understanding, hence our patience and humor around it all, having some strategies helps. Teens...

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Porn in MY kids Life?

Porn in MY kids Life?

Dear Caring Parent, A follower of these blogs got in touch and asked me to write something on young teens and porn.  She told me a pretty humorous story about her young teen viewing some porn on TV.  And it reminded me of my awakening to how easy it is to access porn....

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Five Steps to Power-Up your Parenting Affirmations

Five Steps to Power-Up your Parenting Affirmations

Dear Caring Parent, Do you ever just want to energize your parenting or something in your life that is put aside because, parenting? Maybe you can't see your next-steps? Or you start into them and get side tracked all the time? All of this is so natural in a parents...

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Video Games and the Brain – good or bad?

Video Games and the Brain – good or bad?

Dear Caring Parent, So you wonder about all this video gaming and what it really does to your child.  What a great thing to be thinking about since it's such a potent force in a families life. To give you some good, and entertaining, insight into the effects of video...

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What’s a Puppy Photo Got To Do With Parenting?

What’s a Puppy Photo Got To Do With Parenting?

Dear Caring Parent, This morning I was particularly frazzled. I needed to calm! Such a parenting issue! So much to do, so many deadlines, so many household things to attend to, so many things on my mind….you know the drill. I was fast to be irritable with my daughter...

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The Parenting Path

The Parenting Path

Dear Caring Parent, Parenting is like hiking on trails (for those who don't hike, imagine walking new routes through a major city). Some days are so full of beauty, our hearts burst with joy. Some days are so full of the worrisome, our mind fills with fear. Some days...

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