If you're a parent who has a child or multiple children attending a Montessori school, you may be searching for understanding about how to bridge the gap between school and home. By making small adjustments at home, you can create remarkable results and dramatically enhance the continuity for children from home to school or school to home.

Goodbye, power struggles!

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Previously, we talked about three hidden parenting mistakes that increase people-pleasing behavior in children and how to avoid those mistakes. Now, let’s explore steps to encourage our children’s self-reliance and help them learn to take care of themselves without sacrificing their well-being through people-pleasing.

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

People-pleasing behavior is fraught with many emotional land mines: resentment, exhaustion, losing touch with our needs, seeking to be liked while giving up our desires and dreams, repressing emotions, and the impossible task of keeping everyone happy (to name just a few). Every parent I’ve worked with who identifies themselves as a people-pleaser asks, “What can I do to ensure that my child doesn’t become a people-pleaser like me?” I’ve never met any parent who aspires to raise compliant pleasers.

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

Having taught parenting classes for over 20 years and coached scores of children, parents, and families for just as long, I’ve heard many stories from parents riddled with guilt and worry. Parenting is hard enough without feeling doubt and judging ourselves. The one question that is asked more times than you can imagine is “Am I a bad mom?” or “Am I a bad dad?”

There are many versions of this concern, and it isn’t reserved for any particular developmental stage or parental season. At one time or another, every parent questions whether they are up for the job! And when doubt creeps in, it [...]

Do you know the recipe for keeping your relationship with your preteen and teen strong and healthy? As a parent, are you aware of the critical responses needed to support and ensure vital teen brain development? Simple and crucial parental responses can make the difference.

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Blended families naturally face countless combinations of complexities. The intertwining worlds of parents, stepparents, children, and stepsiblings, as well as their potentially clashing values, emotions, and schedules, can be a tough world for families to navigate. Children in these families constantly have to adjust as they move back and forth between households, navigating the different personalities and parenting styles of their biological parents and stepparents.

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

"You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today." ~Abraham Lincoln

All parents want to raise responsible, self-reliant children—but getting there doesn't happen overnight. It takes years of nurturing to prepare our kids for a life of independence. Not only do we need to actively teach our children responsibility, but we also need to model the behaviors we want to see. And it's also important to avoid making critical parenting mistakes that could undermine our goal of raising independent kids.

William Shakespeare said, “Expectation is the root of all heartache.” When Shakespeare coined this phrase over four centuries ago,blended families and step-parenting went mainly unnoticed by social scientists. However, the quote is relevant in isolating a profound problem created by today’s blended families’ complex and unpredictable dynamics.

The nature of these relationships creates common problems and challenges that often cannot be anticipated. Yet, as families are combined, individuals may not realize the obscure expectations that often exist within them: expectations around roles, how [...]

No matter how long ago it was, you probably remember what it was like to be a teenager: feeling alienated from the world as if no one could understand you. A common and familiar theme.

When you’re a teen, the inner critic, negative self-talk, and anxiety can spiral out of control unless you know the right coping skills, how to regulate emotions, and develop intrinsic motivation.

Estimated reading time: 4.5 minutes

Every parent of a toddler is familiar with the incessant "whys" that litter each day. At first, they are endearing and cute. Parents take great delight in hearing that sweet voice and seeing the expressive, curious face of their child. However, after the first hundred times or so, or on a particularly stressful or hectic occasion, the question often begins to irritate parents. Fortunately, this stage passes somewhat quickly, as the child's language development expands to include more and more words. And then, before you know it—the teenage years greet you!

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes