Parenting
What to Do When Two Adults Disagree on Leading a Child
I recently heard from a mother, who shared an all-too familiar scenario: “My son is 7 and I have been separated from his father since he was 3. Both of us have new partners who get along with quite well with each other. Recently our son behaved defiantly and I shouted at him to correct…
Continue ReadingOne Parent Addiction that Produces Regrets
Here’s a twist to our traditional thinking. In a recent survey of 2,000 secondary school students, responders felt their parents were using a mobile device too much. I am not joking. The tables have turned and the kids are asking for the adults to fight the addiction to technology. You’ve got to hear this. According to…
Continue ReadingHow to Get Your 20-Something Out of the Basement
Today, we hear from Andrew McPeak. Andrew is a writer, curriculum designer, and speaker who has served with a number of non-profit organizations (and has spoken to thousands of Millennials) over the last 5 years. He now serves on our team at Growing Leaders. Here’s a story that goes a step beyond just living in your…
Continue ReadingSix Questions That Help Students Exceed Expectations
We’ve developed terms in our English language to describe certain mindsets. I decided to create one of our Habitudes® from two of them: Shortcuts and Second Miles. The Short Cut. This is a term we use to describe the act of getting around the system. When we find a way to shorten the process or reduce…
Continue ReadingTwo Worlds to Understand When Leading Generation Z
Insead Emerging Markets Research recently released a report on the multiple generations who are now consumers worldwide: Baby Boomers, and Generations X, Y and Z, using the most popular tags the last four generations have been assigned. In the report, Executive Director Vinika Rao writes: “Poised to enter the workplace soon, Generation Z was born into a…
Continue ReadingA Lesson in Child Development from the French
Pamela Druckerman is an American mother, who’s lived in France for some time. She and her British husband are raising children there, but they soon realized they were different than French parents. Sitting in a restaurant one evening, she noticed it was only her daughter that was unruly; throwing her food on the floor or…
Continue ReadingThe Missing Ingredient in Today’s Parenting Journey
In recent years, I’ve spent countless hours with groups of parents, faculty, coaches and youth workers. Each conversation becomes a candid disclosure of the fears, the struggles and the preoccupation adults have with today’s youth. It has become clear that over the course of their kids’ childhood, parents experience various stages as they guide and…
Continue ReadingHow to Balance Tech Time and Tree Time
For the last few years, Americans have experienced an epiphany. Parents and educators realized our young adults have remained indoors in front of a screen for far too many hours. So now—we’ve begun to do something about it. According to a report from Kampgrounds of America (KOA), an organization of privately owned campgrounds, more and…
Continue ReadingHow to Help Teens Through Emotional Times
Let me begin this blog with a brash, even stark observation: We live in a very emotional time period. Not only are adults divided over our nation’s politics right now, expressing volatile emotions, but our kids are navigating extreme emotions at a high level. Students often find it difficult to negotiate the alarming amount of information…
Continue ReadingEight Steps to Foster Civil Discourse on Controversial Issues
A man in Shaanxi, China, recently learned that the object he’d been using to crack walnuts for the last 25 years was a live hand grenade. Uh oh. I think we’re experiencing a similar emotional grenade on our school campuses. There’s lots of talk today, both in K-12 and higher education, about civic readiness. This…
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