One of the most important—and often neglected—messages that you want your children to get early and often is the power of gratitude. Consider a simple "thank you." Those two words offer a win-win for the sender and the receiver of the message. A surprising and robust finding in the growing body of research that has [...]
Developing the capacity for compassion and sharing is a huge challenge for young children. Because they are still in an egocentric stage of development, they lack the awareness of and empathy toward others necessary to see how not sharing impacts those around them. Yet, sharing, as an expression of compassion, is a message that your [...]
Raising compassionate children is no small feat these days. Because of the egocentrism of children's early years combined with the increasingly prevalent messages of selfishness, narcissism, and indifference that popular culture communicates to them, children are not likely to readily learn compassion on their own. This means that you have to make an extra effort to [...]
This video should remind us all what's really important in our lives and how we should spend our time. Happy Father's Day!!
I remember my life in my 20s and 30s when I was single. I felt invincible. Life was so carefree. I lived in the present, didn’t think much about the future, and didn’t worry too much about anything (except perhaps finding a wife). No longer. I’m well into middle age now (yikes!), married, and with [...]
Words have a powerful effect on your children. What you say impacts what they think about themselves and their world, the actions they take as they explore their world, and the emotions they experience as they interact with their world. Your words can create a child who is secure and comfortable with themselves. Or, your [...]
A cautionary article in The New York Times describes the important role that parents' use of technology has on their children in a variety of ways. The article cites a study in which caregivers (it wasn't always possible to judge whether they were the parents) with their children were observed in restaurants for their use [...]
Mikaela Shiffrin is, at only 18 years old, the top slalom ski racer in the world, the Olympic gold medalist in slalom in Sochi, and a veritable fount of lessons that athletes, coaches, and parents can learn from to help athletes achieve their competitive goals. After reading a profile of Mikaela in The New York Times recently (be sure to watch the videos in the article), I felt five more lessons crying out to be told. With all due respect to Dan Coyle (author of The Talent Code) and other recent authors, “10 years 10,000 hours” isn’t enough to achieve athletic greatness (BTW, here’s a great rebuttal to that argument). It is abundantly clear that much of what makes Mikaela exceptional can’t be taught. Early videos of her demonstrate a feel for the snow and a sense of balance that just isn’t trainable. I’m going to argue that Mikaela is just wired differently than us mere mortals. Of course, that inborn hard wiring wouldn’t have been enough to take her to the top of her sport without the drive that enabled her to put in the long hours of training to master the physical, technical, tactical, and mental aspects of ski racing.
It’s one thing to say you want to raise competent children. It’s an entirely different thing to know how to raise competent children. This post explores three practical ways in which you can help your children to become competent—and confident—people. Catchphrases for Competence My 8-year-old, Catie, came up with our family’s catchphrase for competence when [...]