How to Balance Your Decision to Raise Thinking Kids With Schools Requesting Over-Involved Parents
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When my child was in the 2nd grade, and her teacher asked me why I didn’t sign her “homework” notebook, I told her it was because I was raising a “thinking” child.

It’s the same reason I didn’t:

  • Go through my kids backpacks every day
  • Pick out my child’s clothes
  • Decide if they would bring lunch or buy lunch
  • Make their lunch if they decided to bring it
  • Sit in the classroom and “observe”
  • Make a special trip to school to drop off a forgotten instrument, pair of cleats or science project
  • Talk to the teacher about my child’s “performance” without my child present
  • And 100 other decisions I made about my role in my child’s educational experience

I believed my primary job was to prepare my kids to leave home at 18 with the confidence necessary to make hundreds of decisions each day, the ability to overcome whatever challenge or obstacle they encounter and to do so with a sense of courage, curiosity and enthusiasm. That is how I defined my job as a mother. I made that decision when my first child came home from Kindergarten with a list of “expectations” the teacher had of me.… READ MORE ...

Kids, Media And The 5 Most Recommended Cartoons
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Media can do two items to your child, great or bad. If managed effectively, media can educate our kids in their most vulnerable age as they are growing. All the things they understand in their younger years can and may perhaps stay till they grow old. Often, these factors dictate their behaviors and how they handle their parents.

What do you think is the reason why there are children who are so violent when they undergo tantrums? They tend to hurt everyone they see, especially their weaker peers. It’s in media. What they see on TV, for instance violence can make them think that it’s a good thing. And without anybody teaching them about it, it will affect their lives. Sometimes it will show on their later years.

So where do parents start their job to preempt these impending danger? It all begins in controlling media in the household. May it be TV, radio, comic books and even computers; we have to get hold of them. It’s only the first step. Next, parents should also choose the right shows for their kids. We parents should become some kind of a filtering machine and regulate the stuff our children … READ MORE ...