Keri's blog

With landlines fading, fewer opportunities to learn phone manners, sharing and other grown-up skills.

OK, I confess: I let my kids climb up the slide. Some of you are gasping and shaking your fists. Others are shrugging. Apparently, I discovered recently, the Great Slide Debate is one of the throw-down, gloves-off, all-out mommy wars. 

Frogs are a safe, useful, and age-appropriate way to introduce very young children to some of the themes and rituals of Passover. As our children grow older, however, we want to move beyond a focus on these elements to help them develop a deeper understanding of not only the story of Passover, but the values we can discover in its themes.

As an elementary school teacher, I have encountered a broad spectrum of personalities over the years: the rule followers, the troublemakers, the mother hens, the class clowns, the overachievers, the underachievers. You name it, and I’ve had one in my class. Not surprisingly, meeting with the parents of any of these students explains everything about their personality and classroom disposition.

One evening early this summer, I opened a book and found myself reading the same paragraph over and over, a half dozen times before concluding that it was hopeless to continue. I simply couldn’t marshal the necessary focus.

Say No to Yourself First.

By Paul Rogers and Jane E. Brody

Over the last couple of months, I’ve received a few emails asking a similar question, venting a similar frustration, written in a similar exasperated tone. When I hit “send” on my own version of the question in an email to a friend, I knew it was time to seek some answers. I appealed to a few of my favorite parenting experts and authors, Katie Hurley, Michele Borba, Alyson Schafer and Tina Payne Bryson.

According to psychologist Carol Dweck, adults and kids who possess a growth mindset “believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work,” while those people who favor a fixed mindset “believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talent, are simply fixed traits.” Having a growth mindset seems to be connected closely with the traits of persistence, resilience and effort — habits we want our kids to learn from an early age.

By Arnie Kozak

Kendra Cherry, Psychology Expert

The Independent School Magazine Blog
The Hamlin School Embraces No Rescue Policy for Parents to Encourage Resilience in Children

By: Holland Greene, Wanda 

Advice from ‘The Happy Kid Handbook’ author

“Kids talking back” is a perennial complaint in parenthood.

Too much structure and pressure is killing off the joy of doing and learning. Post published by Richard Rende Ph.D. 

When I picked my son up from his first day of 4th grade, my usual (enthusiastically delivered) question of “how was your day?” was met with his usual (indifferently delivered) “fine.”