Posts Tagged: “Teaching Responsiblity”

Children

Teaching Children and Adolescents Responsibility

Parents often ask me, “How do you teach your kids how to be responsible?” Responsibility is defined as the state of fact of being responsible, answerable, or accountable for something within one’s power, control, or management. So how do we teach our kids to be responsible? The Perfect Life As parents we want our children to succeed and do well socially and academically. We want our children to never have to struggle too much, be uncomfortable, or be disappointed. We

superhero parents

Being a Super-Powered Parent can be a Blessing and a Curse

As a therapist I often work with very smart and capable parents. The kind of parents that seem to have the answer to someone’s problem even before that person knows they have a problem. These superpowers have helped these parents become successful in many areas of their lives. They are often ultra responsible and their employers love them for it. So why do such capable parents bring their children in for counseling? I find that one of the reasons is

Giving Kids the Opportunity to Succeed

One of the topics that often surface in the parenting classes that I teach is the parent’s fears of their kids failing in school.  This is especially true for parents of kids with ADD or ADHD, because of their child’s difficulty staying focused on a school task to completion. Parents want their kids to succeed.  So when their child starts to struggle with something such as schoolwork, the parent steps in to support their child by helping them with their

The Difference Between Helping and Enabling

When does “helping” a child become “enabling” a child? It is hard to know where that line is sometimes. As parents, we love our kids and are willing to make sacrifices for them, but can our sacrifices ever send the wrong message to our kids? The answer is yes! We can certainly send unhealthy and unrealistic messages to our kids leading them to believe that the world will do everything it can to make sure they are comfortable, and especially,

What We Can Learn From the Post Office About Parenting

Has this ever happened to you or someone you know? Child: “Mom we need to go to the store tonight! My project is due tomorrow and I need a poster board and some construction paper!” Parent: “How long have you known about this project?” Child: “They told us two weeks ago, but I don’t see what that has to do with anything.” Parent: “You have known for two weeks and you just now tell me! I can’t take you tonight.

What We Can Learn About Parenting From The Power Company

Have you ever had your electricity shut off because you forgot to pay the power bill?  As the payment date approached did you get a call from the power company reminding you about the due date and telling you what would happen if you didn’t pay the bill?  Imagine the following phone conversation between Suzie from the power company and a customer – Mr. Jones: Suzie:  Mr. Jones, I was looking at the calendar this morning and I saw that

Technology Devices

Can it be Bad to Buy Your Kids Nice Things?

I don’t remember the last time I saw a 12-year-old delivering newspapers on a bike.  Nowadays, it seems like newspapers are delivered either by an adult in a car or by a kid being driven by an adult in a car.  I don’t mean to criticize.  I just miss the days when kids would deliver the newspaper on their bikes, or go door to door with a lawn mower on a Saturday seeing if they could mow a lawn or

How parents can help their kids achieve school success

The following is a clip was taken from an interview with Shiloh Lundahl, LCSW, for the show Joy in Our Town .  This show aired In August, 2012 on channel 21. How parents can help their kids achieve school success     Shiloh Lundahl, LCSW teaches parenting classes in Mesa, Arizona.  Please click here to learn more about the classes he teaches.

water barrel

Let’s Play Hide and Seek the Stuff I Clean Up

Many parents complain about how their children leave stuff all over the house.  Parents either feel like unpaid servants or like broken records constantly nagging their kids to clean up after themselves.  Some parents say that it takes less energy to clean up after their children then to get their children to clean up after themselves.  Other parents complain that their children don’t move to clean up until they start yelling – and they hate the fact that they yell.