Article Library - Home & Family
Re-kindling Your Relationship with your Partner
After years of marriage it is easy for the warmth of romance to die down. Sometimes couples feel that their spouse is a stranger. It doesn't have to be that way.
Building Unity When Families Combine
A large proportion of parents and children will be a part of a blended family at some time in their lives. There can be many advantages to combining families, such as there may be less loneliness for the parents, less strain on resources, and a more stable environment.
Gaining More Balance Between Work and Family
We should govern our lives by our compass rather than our watch. For most of us the trick is not to cram one more task into an over-stuffed life but to make our choices based on our enduring principles.
How to Deal with a Rude Teenager
As teenagers try out their ideas on family members they may sound very confident. If challenged, they may be very defensive. This can be irritating if we do not understand them. If we see a teenager as a relatively inexperienced person struggling to become an adult, we can be more patient and supportive.
Helping Your Children Channel Their Creativity
Sometimes our children's creativity delights us. Sometimes it makes us crazy. If we help them channel their creativity, we will have more fun with them and they will lead more productive lives.
Dealing with Tantrums
The first step in dealing with tantrums is understanding what the child is trying to communicate. Children have tantrums because their needs are not being met, because they don't know any other way of getting your attention, or because they are overwhelmed. When we take time to see the world from the child's perspective, we can be more helpful.
Tips on Creating a Peaceful Family Holiday
The most wonderful time of the year can also be the craziest. It can become the most exhausting and the most frustrating. There are practical ways to increase the peace and reduce the frustration of the holiday season.
Let Your Values Guide Your Family Life
We all make thousands of decisions every day. Many of those decisions are based on habit, some decisions are based on pressures, and many decisions are based on our fears. Some of that is inevitable. But if we are not careful, our course can be determined by everything except the things that matter most: our values.
What to Do When Kids Spend Too Much Time Online or Watching TV
Television and the Internet have a useful role to play in our lives, but they are no replacement for caring and active involvement with other people. There are two problems when children spend too much time watching television or surfing the net: the unfiltered, negative influences that enter their lives, and children often miss out on vital human interaction.
What to Do When Your Teen Is Disrespectful
Anyone who has or has ever had a teenager has probably experienced painful disrespect. Sometimes their disrespectful actions become chronic and almost unbearable. Teenagers need several things. They need people who care about them and support them. They need to have an arena in which they feel successful. They need increasing freedom to make decisions and explore friendships. They also need limits.
How to Help Your Teen Get Excited about College or a Vocation
Times of transition are frightening for anyone. Consider all the possible transitions involved in leaving high school and going to college: moving to a new city, breaking connections with many old friends, entering a large and formidable new setting, confusion about finding places, the rules of college life, and worries about money.
Helping Your Children Develop Their Talents
What a great lifetime investment parents make when they help their children discover and develop their talents! Some psychologists say the principle job of parents is to help their children become themselves-to discover their passions and their abilities and to put them to use in making the world a better place.
Getting Your Child to Open Up to You
Sharing from the heart is based on a special kind of trust that is earned over time. Sometimes get caught up in our own lives and then, when there is something we need to talk about with our children, we go to them and press them for answers. But the answers do not come until the relationships are strong.
What to Do When Your Child Is Being Bullied by Another Child
Hardly anything inflames parents like the news that someone is picking on their children. The traditional counsel to children who are bullied is to walk away or to fight back. Neither suggestion teaches long-term solutions. Children who are bullied often feel powerless. Just being able to share the feelings with a parent can diminish the loneliness and hopelessness.
