Parenting Archives

Childhood & Self-Esteem: How to Raise a Confident Kid

How do children develop self-esteem? What can you do to help your child develop a healthy sense of self-esteem? There are many factors that shape self-esteem in childhood. Genetics plays a part, but upbringing and experience (risk, failure, and so on) are also critical. Failure, in particular, builds resilience—the more you experience it, especially when you’re young, the less you fear it. Below are some techniques for helping children develop self-esteem.

Effective Change Management: 3 Ways to Make It Stick

Why is change so hard? How can you make change stick and keep moving forward? Getting people to change is only half the battle. You also need to make sure that change lasts. Effective change management relies on reinforcing behavior, giving change time, and recognizing the pattern that change follows. Learn about the three keys to effective change management.

Effortless Love Is a Myth: Love Takes Work

Do you believe in effortless love? Or do you think that love takes work? According to psychiatrist M. Scott Peck, effortless love is a myth. Genuine love takes work, and work requires attention. He argues that listening with full attention is a critical act of genuine love for parenting and other types of relationships. He also discusses when love isn’t worth the effort. Keep reading to better understand how and why love takes work.

Why Parents Should Teach Kids to Defer Gratification

Why should parents keep their kids from developing an attachment to immediate gratification? What problems arise when a child doesn’t learn to defer gratification? M. Scott Peck, in his book The Road Less Traveled, argues that the first and most valuable tool you can develop to support spiritual growth is discipline. There are four key components to discipline. One of them is the ability to defer gratification. He explains two problems that can occur when a child fails to learn this skill. Keep reading to learn about the problems that can arise when we don’t defer gratification.

How to Raise Independent, Antifragile Children

Why is instilling antifragility in children so important? How can you raise your kids to be more independent, rational, and moral? In The Coddling of the American Mind, authors Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff give parenting advice for the modern-day. They believe that kids today aren’t given enough independence and that they need to overcome obstacles in order to become stronger. Keep reading to learn how to instill antifragility and independence in your children.

Sex After Children: Rekindling Sexual Intimacy

Does having a baby kill your sex life? Why do you think that is? More importantly, how can we prevent parenthood from impinging on sexual intimacy? For many couples, once they have a child, almost everything about their lives changes: their relationships with themselves and the people they know, their bodies, roles, and amount of resources (finances, time, energy, and so on). Many of these changes affect the erotic life as well, usually in a suppressive way. In this article, we’ll discuss why parenthood often kills sexual intimacy and ways to rekindle your desire to have sex after children.

How Safetyism Is Creating Fragile, Sensitive Children

What is safetyism? How did media coverage lead to an increase in safety parenting? What long-term effects does safetyism have? Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff, co-authors of The Coddling of the American Mind, think that safetyism and safety parenting is creating fragile children. This means that when those kids reach college, they are more likely to rely on authority figures to solve all of their problems instead of handling them themselves. Keep reading to learn what Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff have to say about the impacts of safetyism.

Children and Technology: How to Limit Screen Time

Do you find it difficult to limit your children’s screen time? Why is it better to allow your child to set their own limits? Children and technology are a bad mix because oftentimes, children don’t understand why too much screen time is bad for them. That’s why Indistractable author Nir Eyal suggests educating your child on the importance of limiting screen time then allowing them to set their own limits. Learn why educating your children is better than setting arbitrary rules.

Developing an Indistractable Schedule for Children

How do you build an indistractable schedule for children? Why is it important to teach children about their three core responsibilities? In Nir Eyal’s book Indistractable, he discusses three responsibilities that children should schedule into their days: themselves, their relationships, and their schoolwork/chores. It’s important to teach children responsibility at a young age so they can better balance their lives as adults. Here’s what Nir Eyal has to say about building a schedule for children.

Competence, Relatedness, and Autonomy in Children

Why are children today so easily driven to distractions such as social media? How can you teach competence, relatedness, and autonomy to children? In his book Indistractable, Nir Eyal discusses how to raise indistractable children. He says that it’s not the technology’s fault for distracting children—distractions are caused by internal discomfort. That’s why it’s important to raise children with autonomy, competence, and relatedness so they’ll be ready to take on their adult years. Keep reading to learn how to raise children to become indistractable.