If you have young children , the seduction of e-readers, tablets, and smartphones to distract, placate, or assuage them is strong. The tech industry has been selling the idea that early exposure to technology will benefit children educationally. A big push has been encouraging parents to use e-readers rather than books when reading to them. [...]
Hey parents, are you ready for another roller coaster ride called a winter of ski racing ? Racers aren’t the only members of the ski racing community who experience the intense ups and downs of our sport; their parents do too. The fact is that it’s hard being a ski racing parent. You invest your heart, [...]
The Huffington Post recently asked me to write a blog post on the influence of technology on the lives of children, parents, and families in connection with the new film Men, Women and Children. The request inspired me to put my ideas on (digital) paper wearing both my professional and personal hats. I come to [...]
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 [...]
Parents getting their children involved in technology as early as possible has become a societal imperative and a source of great pressure on parents these days. The belief is that if children don't get on the technology train at an early age, they will be left behind and be doomed to a life of Luddite failure. [...]
I was interviewed recently for a Time.com article that explores how the Apple Watch and other smartwatches will impact children and families.
This article is a must-read for any parent struggling to maintain control over the runaway train known as youth sports in their family's lives. This is a topic that is near and dear to me because it is something that my wife and I are facing with our two daughters who are now 9 and 7. Like [...]
Words have a powerful influence on children. What we say and the words we use impact their thinking, emotions, and behavior. Early in children’s lives, emotions and behavior are the dominant forces that guide them. But as they develop their cognitive and verbal skills, words begin to play a leading role in their internal and [...]
A compelling article in the New York Times titled All Played Out, written by an orthopedic surgeon and sports father, nails the problem with youth sports directly on the head. Every parent of a young athlete should take a long and hard look in the mirror at why they have their children participating in sports. [...]
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 [...]