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We all know this really. When we spend time with our kids and interrupt it to check our phones or tablets, we are signaling to them that they don't matter. Or matter less than the information on the screen. Even though we are with them in our bodies, our minds are elsewhere. And they know it. A new early study done at the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital and Illinois State University shows an association between child behavioral [...]

See if your child will talk with you to strategize about how to improve the homework process so that he or she has more free time. Emphasize that the goal is to make the whole homework thing less burdensome and time-consuming. That way you are joining your child to meet his or her goals instead of trying to get him to satisfy yours. Treat it as a mutual problem solving exercise, not the imposition of adult authority. It may not happen [...]

Call me old fashioned. In my opinion, many schools nowadays are wrongly pressuring parents to take responsibility for getting their kids to do homework.  Great. Just what you need - another thing to nag your children about. Problem is, it doesn’t work. It just generates tension, conflict, and resistance. It undermines the quality of your relationship with your child, which, in the long run is MUCH MORE IMPORTANT to your child’s development and success in life than homework. And if [...]

Here they are, way simple: 1. Don't talk, listen. Or at least, talk less, listen more. 2. Don't talk directly to your child. Let him overhear you expressing your concern or uncertainty (but not any criticism or judgment) to someone else. 3. Write him or her a letter. Yep. Actually on paper. (Less likely to elicit an immediate and defensive reaction). OK. Now for a little elaboration: 1. Don't talk, listen. Or at least,  listen more. Sometimes we grown ups [...]

It's really no big surprise, is it? There is growing evidence that pot smoking is harmful to the developing brains of adolescents. The frontal lobe is developing rapidly during adolescents. The brain is also undergoing pruning during this period. Connections that aren't being used are being eliminated, making processing more rapid and efficient. So what happens if these processes are impaired due to substance use? As presented in a recent piece on NPR, Kristal Lisdahl, director of the University of [...]