• The Damaging Sentence I Will Stop Saying to My Kids

    12/09/2016 - By 

    Welcome Autumn, I missed you.   Is anyone else surprised that the leaves are changing “already”. I am. This is the time of year that change in nature is physically evident and I get antsy about changing things in my own life. One of those things I want to change is the way I word things, especially when it comes to parenting. A potentially damaging sentence I say a LOT is, “What’s your problem??” Every time I say it, I cringe. But, seriously, it is the first thing that runs through my mind in a lot of situations. Hunter is…

  • It’s All About the Wording. How We Can Change Our Parenting Strategy.

    11/04/2016 - By 

      I had a thought the other day. In our front hall is a mess of coats and shoes and at the end of this controlled chaos is a spot for the kid’s backpacks. Just behind that is a lovely wall adorned with a mirror, three lovely art prints and hooks for our favourite scarves.  So why does it make my kids cringe? Because, silly me, I have decided to put the kid’s chore charts there as well, just beside the scarves and under the art prints. In big BOLD letters it yells at them CHORE CHART. The chores they…

  • The Terrible Twos are Back Again?

    07/04/2015 - By 

    I love my kids. I feel I need to say that before I post this next thing. If someone were to threaten either one of them I would lift up a car and throw it at them, no problem. I would be so enraged my superhero strength would surely kick in. That said, my kids are little adults in training that have their own opinions about everything and sometimes piss me off. When they are little you think, “This is just a stage. This will pass soon, and we will be (thankfully) on to the next stage and challenge.” You…

  • Why Rewarding Expected Behaviour In Your Kids Is Wrong

    25/04/2014 - By 

    I was on Pinterest today. There were so many pins and boards dedicated to motivating kids to do chores. A lot of the pins involved crafts to set up punch cards or checklists for chores, and at the end the child would receive a reward. I was thinking a sticker, or a family bike ride, a movie night,  or something similar. I was wrong and when I started to read the comments I realized this quickly. Many of the parents posted “Oh this works so amazing. At the end of the list I give him $20 and he has to…