Parenting Our Children

If things are falling into place in school because of remediation, what can you do at home in order to make things easier in your own household?

What a beautiful woman. Really - in every sense of the word. She was beautiful in appearance, beautiful in conduct, beautiful in spirits and wow, what a beautiful mother, wife and daughter.

According to many, self-discipline is the single most important factor in determining a person's overall success.

Referring back to our earlier case of Debbie’s body piercing, let’s see how using knowledge of Debbie’s inner world and the power of spending quality time together can help her parents connect to her.

Arrange for optimal work conditions. Kids need to work in a quiet environment, one that is relatively distraction-free.

When still in school, it’s easier to make friends because you are forced into social situations. As an adult, making friends can be harder – especially because your life is busy.

As I delved deeper into these findings, joy started to become less amorphous and abstract to me and more tangible and real.

Flip Wilson was a famous comedian and television actor who once used the line, "The Devil made me do it." At the time it was funny, though pretty soon completely overused. In hindsight, the quote can be a pretty accurate description of the misguidance of our youth, as well as many adults. Could this be another means of blaming the yetzer ha'ra for our misdeeds? Can we really get away with anything if it's not our fault or was an accident? What about the concept of "responsibility," how do we teach that to our children?

Alternative assessments are an extremely important part of understanding what students know beyond the scope of tests and quizzes.

What might be making your daughter so quiet in the classroom? It is possible that your daughter suffers from selective mutism.

Parents fight a daily internal battle to “attain a balance between teaching children that they must do their best, and teaching them that they are ‘the best’ regardless of what they do…

The basic approach of the Love and Logic method is to love your child enough to allow her to learn from her own decisions… and mistakes.

When children feel that their own emotional needs are met, they are better able to recognize the emotional needs of others.

Dear Rabbi Horowitz: We find ourselves faced with an increasingly challenging experience each year when midwinter break comes around. Some of our children's friends go on expensive vacations with their families, and our kids are asking us to send them on similar trips. Our children are respectful whenever they discuss this with us, but there is a clear sense that they feel "left out" because they don't go to the exotic location like some of their friends.

I have started wondering – which fears are normal and which are not? Is there a way to alleviate irrational fears?

In continuing our discussion on anger management, I would like to share some basic beliefs that one must understand in their journey to anger management (which I also referred to as personal control). As we have previously discussed, anger control is directly related to self-esteem and confidence. That is, the better the self-esteem, the more capable the person will be in controlling emotions. Also, related to this is the concept we refer to as "shame."

Shimon quickly shoveled a forkful of rice into his mouth, while attempting to scribble the right math equations into his workbook. “(2 x 34 -11)2” he said between mouthfuls. “Mommy, I got some rice on my paper, but I have to finish this before it is time to go in the shower,” Shimon choked out.

Behavioral issues come into play, frequently turning twice exceptional children into “problem students” – even as they are head and shoulders above the crowd intellectually.

What is motivation? It’s the ability to improve our efforts and rouse ourselves into action. It’s the magic ingredient that adds a measure of oomph to the day. It’s an essential factor of learning.

In the past several articles we have discussed the importance of parents taking an active role in teaching their children Torah ideas about sexuality and modesty. This is because it is essential that the first images to that fill their developing minds on these concepts must be appropriate ones. There is so much invasive exposure they experience from secular culture, and much to be concerned about in regards to the existence of sexual predators in our midst. If children do not possess clear knowledge and an age-appropriate understanding of the parts of their body and how they can be used or misused it is hard for them to protect themselves.

We all have small parts of us that don’t showcase us in the best light. Bits and pieces that when highlighted detract from our positive qualities.

He argues that the advanced math we require in high school is beyond most students abilities.

Fifth-grader Yitzi cannot speak in front of the classroom. In fact, it is a wrestling act just to get him into the classroom to begin with. He refuses to get together with friends after school and spends much of his time at home alone in his bedroom. When his parents try to speak with him to try to figure out what is wrong, he cannot answer. Instead, he turns red and starts to sweat.

This is the fourth and final part on my series on anger, apersonal control and anger management. I believe there are several major beliefs one needs to appreciate when it comes to understanding anger, angry people and controlling anger and other emotions - let's call then the "secrets of anger." An important definition to remember before we discuss these secrets is that when something happens that causes us to have strong emotions, the thing happening is referred to as a trigger.

Ask someone you trust to play the part of the interviewer. Then, spend time rehearsing questions and answers with that person.

If your child is upset, he will most likely not want you to ask him lots of questions or give him a lot of advice about the problem right away.

If we are to survive and flourish, we have to think differently about our own abilities and make the best use of them.

While many gifted children are high achievers and excel in school, many gifted students are bored, unchallenged, or dealing with co-existing learning disabilities.

Once he thought of what he wanted to say and began to write, he would freeze. That’s why he spent the first hour after dinner doing anything he could to avoid his homework.

Kinesthetic learning is not for everyone. In fact, for some it can be a more difficult form.