Small Criminals Among Us
The book was titled "Small Criminals Among Us" by Gad Czudner, PH.D. I couldn't resist picking it up. I paged through it and found myself struggling to set it down. This book seemed to describe most of the kids that I was working with at the time; manipulative, irresponsible, dishonest, self-centered, argumentative, disrespectful, superficial, and impulsive (to name a few).


What causes a child to misbehave?
What causes your child's misbehavior? There are probably as many answers to that question as children. To say that one particular factor is the sole cause of misbehavior would be misguided and highly inaccurate. Gaining insight into the influences and/or motivations of your child's misbehavior will certainly help you to better handle these behaviors as you are confronted with them.


Parents Take Charge: The Obesity Epidemic Physical Activity For Overweight or Sedentary Children
If your child is overweight, it is time to act now. As parents, you must take charge of your children's health like you would their safety. Because of the obesity epidemic, about 20% of American children are now overweight. If not treated, childhood obesity can lead many diseases.


The Truly "Mean" Parent: Are You One of Them?
One of the most common themes I hear from parents with unruly children is the fear of being labeled a mean parent. Too many parents give in to their children because they are worried about becoming a mean parent. Here are few points that these parents don't seem to understand...


Creating a Classroom Management Plan
Classroom discipline problems that aren't properly dealt with can have a profoundly negative effect on those students that are actually interested in learning. Valuable lesson time is taken away from them because the teacher is focusing too much attention on the disruptive students. Without a classroom management plan, teachers may be forced to deal with a large number of disruptive, inappropriate, or annoying behaviors throughout the day.


Super-Frosted Sugar Bombs: Has this ever happened to you?
Wouldn't you prefer an actual manual for your children that helps you implement an effective, structured, and consistent course of discipline? How about if it could be modified to meet the needs of children with their own individual issues? This is precisely what Chris Theisen had in mind when he created his simple and effective home-based discipline program The Parent Coach Plan


I Broke the Rules and All I Got Was Hollered at!
Do you ever wonder what makes a consequence effective? Think about your child's common misbehavior and develop a plan for dealing with them. Develop a logical plan, one that relates to the misbehavior. As parents, we don't always put a lot of thought into the decisions we make with regards to discipline, especially when it comes to choosing effective rewards or consequences.


Privileges: Turning the "Given" into the "Earned."
Write a list of all of the privileges your child receives each day (even if they are not normally perceived as privileges) then let your child know that these privileges will not be granted without appropriate behavior. The privileges are now the reward for good behavior.


Your Child's Anger: Reactive or Proactive?
A reactive child responds to anger by throwing what most people would refer to as a tantrum. Arms may flail, feet may stomp, and tears may flow. Screaming and crying are usually a given. Actions are impulsive and emotions typically run high. A reactive pre-teen can seemingly transform into a toddler in less time than it takes to roll your eyes. A proactive child responds in a subtle, less noticeable manner. His mind begins to plot revenge against the person who has dared to cross him. He is calm and collected on the outside, but manipulative and deliberate on the inside.


Parental Responsibilities
Children are difficult to raise. Now that we've looked at the responsibilities parents have, let's look at what responsibilities parents do NOT have. The following is a list of responsibilities that no parent should be expected to meet.


Scams and Rip-offs: Beware of the Vultures!
As consumers, we are constantly bombarded. It is often difficult trying to weed out the legitimate offers from the scams and the rip-offs. Here are a few of the scams and rip-offs that I have come to recognize over the last few years (I've chosen those that typically target parents, especially stay-at-home parents):


Teachers: Making a Difference Isn't Always Easy
Teachers are busy. Classroom management is an ever-increasing struggle for many teachers. Not only do teachers have iPods and cell phones to compete with, but they often work closely with children that have been diagnosed with attention disorders, learning disorders, behavior problems, and even those with developmental or medical issues. To make matters worse, many of the children that these teachers work with have parents who choose to be uninvolved or who are ill-equipped to deal with the problems presented by their child.


Random thoughts for teachers with difficult students
Teaching difficult students can take the wind from the sails of even the finest teacher. Classroom behavior problems not only affect teachers, but they distract those students that truly want to learn.


The Seven C's of Successful Parenting
Here are my Seven C's of Successful Parenting: Confidence is a belief in one's own abilities. Consistency is being able to maintain a particular standard. Communication is the exchange of information between two people. It involves a sense of mutual understanding and sympathy. Composure is having a calm and steady control over emotions. Out-of-control parents typically raise out-of-control children. Connectedness means joined or linked firmly together. Common-sense is the ability to make rational decisions and use good judgment. Consequences are essentially the results of our actions or behavior. I call these my Seven C's of Successful Parenting ...


Choosing the right parenting product to discipline your child
With so many child discipline tools and parenting products on the market, how can parents be sure that they are choosing the correct one for their family? If you are confused about which parenting or discipline products would best meet the needs of your family, try asking yourself the questions listed earlier in this article then choose the one that best meets your needs.


Dysfunctional Parenting: Styles to Avoid
Anxious parents raise children with an overall sense of nervousness and/or worry. Hostile parents are never quite satisfied or accepting of their child. Emotional parents are afraid to dish out consequences for fear that their child might get upset. The CEO parent runs his or her household as though it were a business. Absent parents can be absent in two ways: physically or emotionally. Unlike absent parents, Siamese twin parents are overly connected to their children. Casual observer parents are those that basically sit back and watch their children grow up, with little or no involvement or connection.