Almost everything you do as a parent involves communicating with your child. If you do it poorly, very likely you'll get a result you don't like. If you do it with skill, the results will amaze you. I wholeheartedly believe this. Every parent can benefit greatly by...
Abraham J. Weiss, MA. is a marriage and family therapist on the staff of Family Enhancement LLC, in New York City. In this brief article, he shares a vastly important insight about the true nature of children. There is a profound difference between the way children...
When they're little you read to them, hoping they'll learn to love books and reading and learning. Before you know it they're in school, beginning a learning journey that will teach them about the world. And in half a dozen years, puberty begins the physical and...
At about the age of 12, plus or minus, a child's body and brain are flooded with growth hormones to begin the physical development needed to become an adult. The growth period lasts about ten years. We call it adolescence. During this gradual transformation, the child...
As i write this, swallows have built a nest above our front entrance way, and the momma and poppa swallows are busy catching bugs and feeding them to their three hatchlings. On occasion, we see three little heads peeking above the rim of the nest. Before long, the...
Both my sons are in their 50s, still pursuing highly successful careers in IT. But I'm still trying to communicate with them effectively, being aware of moments when a particular skill will work best for me -- with my sons, my wife, my business partners, and friends....
So many of the emotional flare-ups and conflicts that arise between parent and child are triggered by the failure to communicate effectively. Instead, we react emotionally, with frustration or anger. It's only natural, but it alienates your child. It's an old story....
All my writing these days is about how you talk to your child. But parents communicate in other, very powerful ways. When my two sons were small boys, I had never heard the term "parenting." I knew nothing about techniques or skills that would make me a better parent....
Many years ago, my business partners asked me to change my behavior. They claimed that I sometimes lashed out at them. When one referred to my behavior as verbally abusive, I became defensive. I thought they were exaggerating. They gave me an example. Once, in a...
In many ways, I'm thrilled to put 2020 in my rear-view mirror. The awful Covid-19 pandemic. Also, this was the year my family moved to a new home. It's a nice home, and that's the good news. The bad news is that moving was a mentally and physically arduous process...