Are my FRIENDS NOT going to be friends FOREVER?

Some hurdles of growing up can be truly heart-breaking and painful especially in the tender and confusing pre-teen and teen years. Children are struggling with changes in their bodies, hormones and brain, and to add to all these changes any upheavals in their peer groups can be truly devastating.

However, changing values, changing focus, changing priorities, changing interests as children grow into developing their individual identities can create a change in your child’s social groups. You might as a parent have already dealt with or might deal with a bucket of tears when one day your child comes homes declaring that her/his best friend is no longer a friend or he/she is no longer a part of the group and has been abandoned.

This can be an emotionally draining time in your child’s life because friends and peer groups are very important to them as these groups are what helps them create their own identities and when such ‘break ups’ occur it can mean a blow to their own identity. Your child can feel lost and extremely lonely.

 As a parent you can feel at a loss on how to handle this, and this is why a mother of a 12 year old girl called me to ask: How as a parent can I help my daughter who is having problems with her ‘group’?

Please click on the photo below to watch the video and hear what I shared:

Resolving Parent-Teacher Conflicts

It's happened to all parents at one point or another, whether it be a negative written comment on an assignment, or a phone call or a conversation during PTA time. She'll say something that will hurt your feelings and that protective instinct kicks in and all you want to do is set the teacher straight. To me a complaint from the teacher is very stressful, and to complain about a teacher very difficult. It took me years to get a grip on how to handle the situation in a way that would actually help the child.

Tips on Motivating your child in Public Speaking

When I look at my kids I see the vastness of their individuality, which sometimes baffles me actually, given that they have the same genetic mish mash, more or less same environment and same physical and mental support systems. And yet they all have their strong and weak points.

In some families, talking itself starts late. I read somewhere that is a family trait thing, and I see this to be true in 4 of my 6 kids. What I also notice is that the two who spoke early are more verbal and appear to have a more confident outlook. That's not to say the quieter ones don't have their own virtues, some that greatly outshine the other siblings. The four kids started speaking well after the age of three and continue to struggle with complicated and long sentences.

In the beginning, I was worried that this may be some form of learning disability, but time proved that some kids just naturally pick up later than others and have their own developmental pace. But the fact that they hit all other major milestones on schedule further calmed my frayed nerves. It becomes distressful if other milestones are also greatly lacking, in which case it is best to get it checked out.

How can I communicate with my 14-year-old son who ignores me and does his own thing?

Recently I spoke with a mother of a 14 year old teen boy whose body language and voice emitted disappointment, fear and helpless around parenting her young son. My heart went out to her and I know, sometimes how despite our best interests at heart for our children things just don’t seem to be going in the right direction. Whatever you as a parent say or do seems to antagonize your child even more, with the result that you end up feeling even more confused and at a loss of how you could be a better parent.

As far as your child is concerned, the teenage years can be full of turmoil and confusion and you as a parent may feel helpless and inadequate that despite  doing your best, your child has become unresponsive and indifferent to you increasing the gap in communication.

I share below how I guided this mom who asked: How can I communicate with my 14-year-old son who ignores me and does his own thing?

Managing Curly Hair

Having straight or curly hair style is a never ending conflict since years as women with curly hair want to have straight hair and women with straight hair want curly !

How to Keep your Cool when Teaching Kids (Your Kids)

I recently read a couple of comments where mothers were disturbed about the fact that they easily lose their composure whilst getting their young children to do their homework, prepare for a test or do an assignment. It is actually one of those times where our patience and composure is seriously put to the test. I started thinking about how I also feel that way sometimes. But over the course of many years and through a hot and trial method, I have learned some ways to make it better.