Helping Your Children To Be Successful Students
The days of boring old handwriting drills are gone. Now instead in the place of drills teachers often give a series of short lessons on how to hold the pencil and correctly write letters and numbers, and then they correct students’ hand-grip and writing direction incidentally as they walk around the room. How your child… Continue reading Handwriting – How your child can write more easily
A few weeks ago I met a young man in his twenties, who in the course of our conversation, disclosed how much work his mother had done to help him at home when he was young and having great difficulty learning to read and write. What she did gave him the opportunity to fulfill more… Continue reading What if your child can’t read or write well….is that it?
Why reading for pleasure helps your child There is good evidence to suggest that young people who read for pleasure daily perform better in reading skills tests than those who never do. However, a recent survey carried out by the National Literacy Trust has indicated a decline in the amount of time children and young… Continue reading Help your child develop phonics skills and they learn to read for pleasure
It’s time to get serious and decide a win-win deal together. Take turns speaking and listening to each other. For negotiations to be successful create a situation where your teen will stay comfortable and alert enough to listen closely to you. The most important thing you can do is to keep any of your positive… Continue reading Your teen and you – No 4 – time to create a win-win deal
When you create a firm agreement with your teen about anything, including homework, curfews, chores, and polite behaviour, always pay attention to the small print. Take a little time and remember why you want to negotiate a particular new behaviour with your teen. When you are sure that change needs to happen - it will.… Continue reading Your teen and you: No 3 – Pay attention to the small print
Create a study agreement that both you and your teen are happy with. I have some further ideas to increase your chances of success when you negotiate with your teen, about anything really, but in this case the amount of study they are doing. I talk again about the importance of listening openly and without… Continue reading Your teen and you: No 2 – Creating a win-win study agreement.
If you want to develop a more adult relationship with your teen, the next few posts are particularly for you. Be brave and plan to rock the family boat now. There is no better time! While you hold most of the purse strings and are the senior adult in the house, you can still help… Continue reading Developing a respectful relationship with your teen
When it all goes wrong - consequences step up. Consequences step up when your child’s negative behaviours continue beyond acceptable limits after other consequences have been used consistently, and after two strong warnings. Consequences are not punishments! Some or all of these consequences happen immediately and are non-negotiable; but at no point are they a… Continue reading Positive Discipline: When it all goes wrong…what next?
Many family coaches waste valuable energy and coaching time because they either listen to their child too much and feel powerless and exhausted by the excessive arguments and discussion, or they are afraid of losing control of the coaching situation, so don’t listen enough and their child feels powerless. The positive discipline approach means you… Continue reading Positive Discipline: Clinching a fair deal
Positive Discipline: How to respectfully take more control. An important strength of positive discipline is that you can respond quickly and assertively and with confidence when your child behaves badly. Before the positive discipline approach you may have reacted emotionally when your child wasn’t cooperating with you, or refusing to work with you, and you… Continue reading Positive Discipline: First steps in respectfully taking more control
Families as Coaches 