A lot of parenting involves managing the lives of others and making sure things get done. There are a lot of expectations about what should happen and when. You may also have expectations about what your child should be like or how your child should behave and think. Sometimes this gets in the way […]
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You don’t have to take on your child’s pains.
You don’t have to take on your child’s pains: In fact …. you shouldn’t! This morning I got a text from one of my daughters, who’s away at college. “Are you around? I want to talk to you. I have a problem.” Wow. Nothing can make a parent drop what she’s doing faster. A couple […]
Required Paternity Leave??
A French think tank, the Observatoire Français des Conjonctures Économique (the French Economic Monitoring Center, acronym OFCE) recently suggested that new fathers be required to take paternity leave. Their reasoning is interesting and touches on two areas. From an economic perspective, they suggest that requiring fathers to take time off would help reduce the impact […]
Great Idea: A law giving right to disconnect during personal time
France has just put a new law into effect that gives employees the right to disconnect from emails in evenings and non-work days. The New York Times on January 3 quotes French minister of labor, Myriam El Khomri, as explaining that, “Employees are more and more connected during hours outside of the office (so that) […]
Reflections on the Winter Solstice
The Winter Solstice marks the shortest day and longest night of the year. It is a time of quiet and waiting, of long darkness, as the days slowly turn toward lengthening light. There is wisdom to be drawn from nature — all things benefit from withdrawal and stillness as a preparation for renewal. Just as […]
Talking with children and teens after the election
Since the election, I have received numerous calls and emails from parents asking about ways to discuss the election outcome with children and teens. For the most part, these have been from parents whose children are concerned, disturbed or frightened. There are, I think, skillful ways to guide children to understand and move forward, drawing […]
Child care workers should be skilled and valued
“The less skilled often take jobs that are hard to fill, like in child care, for example, which allows more parents to work.” The quote is from an editorial published in the New York Times on 9/19/15, commenting that Europe should welcome refugees from the Middle East and arguing that they contribute to the economy […]