Category: Parenting Children
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Redshirting in the Age of Academic Kindergarten
Read Article: Redshirting in the Age of Academic KindergartenEvery September, the incoming group of kindergarteners becomes ever so slightly older. When I had my daughter almost twenty years ago, I remember a friend of mine exclaiming, “Oh, you’re so lucky, she’s birthday-blessed!” The term referred to her fall birth date, and the fact that she would automatically be one of the oldest students…
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When Children Die and It’s Incomprehensible, How We Move Forward as a Society
Read Article: When Children Die and It’s Incomprehensible, How We Move Forward as a SocietyAlmost twenty years ago, in February of 1993, my daughter was a toddler and sometimes hard to keep track of in stores if I took my eyes off her for a second, as all parents occasionally do. Around that time I lost her in Gymboree at the mall for perhaps 10 minutes because she was…
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Middle School Survival Kit: Are the Experiences of Middle School Boys and Girls the Same?
Read Article: Middle School Survival Kit: Are the Experiences of Middle School Boys and Girls the Same?This is the final in my four-part series on raising middle schoolers. Read more…
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Middle School Survival Kit: The Role of Technology in Parenting a Middle Schooler
Read Article: Middle School Survival Kit: The Role of Technology in Parenting a Middle SchoolerDuring some interviews with grandparents, I found the universal sentiment that raising children “is harder today” for their children than it had been for the grandparents. Asked why, most of them commented on the role of technology, and when I interviewed current middle school parents, the majority of their worries were in some way related…
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Middle School Survival Kit: Which is harder, being a middle schooler or being the parent of one?
Read Article: Middle School Survival Kit: Which is harder, being a middle schooler or being the parent of one?Sometimes I don’t know what is harder—being a middle schooler, or being the parent of one. I’ve always felt that the wounds your child receives cut you more deeply than those received personally. I often say that seventh grade was the worst year of my life. Many of my friends echo that sentiment. But when…
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When Parenting Your Adult Child Is Like Parenting Yourself: A Story
Read Article: When Parenting Your Adult Child Is Like Parenting Yourself: A StoryWhen my daughter Charlotte went off to college, suddenly and abruptly petless, it did not take long before she determined the rule about pets in dorms: fish only. On impulse, and accompanied by a new friend who had a tank of goldfish in her room, Charlotte made her way to the nearest pet store and…
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Middle School Survival Kit: Build Strong Supports To Help Your Child Survive Middle Grades Struggles
Read Article: Middle School Survival Kit: Build Strong Supports To Help Your Child Survive Middle Grades StrugglesWhile I could have written an article about the middle school years based on my career as a school administrator, educational psychologist, and teacher, as well as my observations as a parent, I wanted to get out of my own head a bit, so I interviewed 15 parents of current middle schoolers around the country.…
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How Parents Can Disengage from the Homework Wars
Read Article: How Parents Can Disengage from the Homework WarsWelcome to the new school year! In millions of households across the country, there is no greater drama than the nightly struggle to get kids to do their homework. How many parents would love to have a magic wand that could abolish the homework wars forever? There actually is such a wand, figuratively speaking, yet…