One activity that teenagers like to do is to communicate. Mostly with their friends. On Television One recently a teenager was interviewed about a proposed ban on mobile phones in movie theatres while the movie was screening. He stated most emphatically he would not be able to turn his phone…
Parenting can sometimes be stressful for many of us. Each developmental stage of our children brings new challenges and new learning for us as parents. Perhaps at no stage is this truer than when our child enters the adolescent years. It often seems that what worked well previously all of…
Wow! This can be so very, very difficult for us as parents. Professionals often tell us we need more parenting skills to cope better with our child’s behaviour. And they are probably right to a certain extent. We all could benefit from up skilling especially for the most important job…
This skill is an important one for our children to learn. It is sometimes called restitution. It is about teaching our child how they can try to ‘fix up’, ‘correct’ or ‘make up for’ for their behaviour when it has impacted negatively on another person, persons or even an animal.…
Every day we all have opportunities to learn from the experiences which are the consequences of our actions. It is especially important that we learn from our negative experiences so we don’t repeat the same again and again. Two examples of experiencing the negative consequences of our actions or behaviour…
Unlike the brains of other animals, the human brain is unfinished at birth, it requires experiences and input from the world to complete and is fully dependant on adults to survive. A new born brain, via the senses, is in data gathering mode. In the first three years especially, pēpi…
It was well over ten years ago that I suddenly realized that although I saw our grandchildren frequently, very little of that time was spent one on one with them. So I made a plan then and there to devote some time each week to one grandchild, just them and…
It is a time when members of a family connect with each other in a loving way. It is a time when parents give their 100% attention to their tamariki/ children. It may involve playing together, sharing a special time, listening to each other, having fun, sharing emotions and being…
A fun activity to help children to become more involved and enjoy shopping in the supermarket Create a card for most food items the family regularly purchases. To create these cards: Save the packaging of each of these products over the course of 3 to 4 weeks; Cut out the…
In the last few years one thing that I have learnt above all else when it comes to parenting is that we as parents tend to expect more from our children, and their behaviour, than we do of ourselves. We get upset when they fight with their siblings, express their…