Communicating with Adolescents and Teens
By creating an environment that encourages open communication, parents can build a relationship with their adolescent or teen that is based on trust, respect, and understanding. The following video illustrates and explains a variety of strategies that you can use to communicate with your child honestly and openly. These strategies can include using I-statements, discussing …
Parenting the Child you Have
All people, including children, have their own needs and preferences. As a family, you may have many shared interests or values, but, individually, each family member is a unique and special being. Depending on your child’s personality and whether their beliefs and values differ from yours, you may encounter challenges in your parenting journey. In …
Parenting Stress and its Impacts
Stress is part of everyday life, and our bodies can have mental and physical reactions to the stress we feel. When we encounter an event or situation that our body deems as challenging or stressful, our brain responds by perceiving a threat. This response, in turn, initiates several hormonal and physiological changes, such as increased …
Finding Credible Information
Parents make multiple daily decisions that impact themselves and their family members. As a parent, you will likely want to use sound judgment and consider relevant and up-to-date information as you make positive and meaningful decisions for your family. However, the amount of information that is available through websites and digital media platforms – on …
Helping Children to “Shake it Off”: Releasing and Reducing Stress
Anyone can feel stress – adults and children. A combination of prior life experiences and other factors, like personality traits and genetics, influence how individuals perceive and respond to stress in their daily lives. Positive stress can motivate and help individuals focus their energy in ways that can improve their performance, help them problem solve, …
Learning Through Failure: How You Can Help Your Child
When children are very young, parents and caregivers are responsible for their every need. During those early years, you likely developed a routine in which you could anticipate what your child wanted and when they wanted it, and you were usually able to meet their needs. However, as children grow and begin to explore the …
How to Help an Adolescent who is a Picky Eater
Everyone has preferences on what foods they enjoy and what foods they don’t like. Children are no different! The American Academy of Pediatrics (2018) suggests that parents should offer a variety of foods to their children when they start introducing solids. (Information on introducing solids can be found here!) But, parents of adolescents, who are …
Coordinating and Managing Coparenting Expectations and Goals
Some coparents share the same parenting style while other coparents may use different parenting styles. Some coparents have similar ideas regarding how to reach the goals they have for their themselves, their children, and their family, while other coparents may have very different ideas on how to reach those goals. These differences can create conflicts …
