Dear YPP, My youngest son always wants to be in charge and have the last say. When I put his juice in the orange cup, he wants the blue one. If I say it’s time to stop playing on the iPad he won’t stop. If his sister sits in one of the car seats, that’s the seat he wants to sit in. If the family is watching Blues Clues on the TV, he will want Power Rangers despite the fact that Blues Clues is his favorite show right now. It’s just relentless. We put him in bed, he gets up… I end up losing my mind and we are fighting all the time. Please help me. Dear Mom, Thank you for sending us your heartfelt note regarding the behavior challenges that you are experiencing with your son. Just know that this is a very common challenge for many parents and that you will be able to sort it all out and channel his control in more positive directions. It sounds like you have a wonderful, very strong willed and determined son, all of which are traits that will stand him in good stead later on in life but which are …Read more →
Monthly Archives: January 2015
The “MEDIA DIET” of the average 8 – 18 Year Old Child
Off the back of reading and presenting to you the 9 part blog series on the wonderful book, “Parenting Well in a Media Age” by Gloria DeGaetano, I thought I would be interesting to present some statistics on screen use and the influence of the media on our children’s lives. The majority of the facts presented here are taken from The Kaiser Family Foundation Study of Jan 2010 called: “Generation M – Media in the Lives of 8 – 18 Year Olds”. This data is reflective of US youth and the data was gathered between 1999 and 2009. We all know and recognize just how much more prolific and pervasive the effects of media are today as compared with even 2009 and it would be very interesting to see what these figures would actually be today? It’s only 5 years on, but my guess is that the stats would most probably be even more staggering! The opening paragraph, a summary from this study, is as follows: “A national survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that with technology allowing nearly 24-hour media access as children and teens go about their daily lives, the amount of time young people spend with …Read more →
DO YOUR CHILDREN “THRIVE WITH THE FIVE”?
This week I am concluding my parenting book club blog with the 9th and final part to “Parenting Well in a Media Age” by Gloria DeGaetano – Chapter 8: “Toward a Personally-Generated Culture”. We are parenting at a time in history like no other. It goes without saying that the media / industry generated culture has had, and will continue to have, a HUGE influence on us as human beings. As much as we cannot imagine life without it, at the same time, in many ways, it can place an enormous amount of pressure on us. I am sure that when many parents hear or read that “a strong parent-child bond” is an essential need for their children they might feel that it’s almost stating the obvious – of course the bond should be strong. However, in this media age, hard as it is to believe, many children today are not getting this basic need met. The same goes for children having time to be themselves and having time to think, just BE and reflect or even having the time to be bored, #2 of the Vital 5; children having to use their imaginations and having time to play pretend …Read more →
THE NEED FOR CONNECTION AND CONTRIBUTION
Welcome back to the ‘Your Parenting Partner’ blog and a very happy New Year to you all! I hope that 2015 brings you all much happiness and joy. I can’t believe that it has been almost 3 weeks since I posted the sixth blog in the “Parenting Well in a Media Age” book club series based on the wonderful book by Gloria DeGaetano. This week I will be covering Chapter 7, the fifth essential need of the Vital 5: CONTRIBUTION AS RELATIONSHIP. To recap, creating a “Strong Parenting Identity” forms the scaffolding for the Vital 5 essential needs and the first 4 provide the foundation for the fifth. The Vital 5 – Gloria DeGaetano 1. A loving Parent Child Bond 2. An Interior Life 3. Image Making 4. Creative Expression 5. Contribution as Relationship Most of us will have experienced the pleasure and joy that can be derived from contributing towards a greater good, whatever that might be. As parents, we can hugely influence the extent to which our children contribute and this starts first within the family home before progressing to their immediate communities (namely their schools) and then into the community at large. A pre-requisite to contribution is …Read more →
