Saturday, August 27, 2011
Humorist, award-winning writer, and professional marriage and parenting coach, Kindred Howard, takes on the dreaded school fundraiser.
Can we just all go ahead and agree that the word fun has no business being part of the larger word fundraiser. My son hasn’t even been in kindergarten two full weeks yet, and already his school has assigned him the task of selling coupon books as a fundraiser for his elementary school. That’s right, I said coupon books. It’s bad enough when my daughter has to sell Girl Scout cookies at $3 or $4 a box. But at least then she’s selling a product people kinda want and are willing to dole out some cash for. If all else fails she can always count on the grandparents to ante up and buy seven or eight boxes. As a parent, you can always go to work and unload a few boxes of Girl Scout cookies on that Thin Mints addict two desks down. You know the …
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Professional marriage, parent, & family life coach and award-winning writer/published author Kindred Howard encourages parents not to freak out over bad behavior but simply to "nip it in the bud."
By nature, children are bad. Think about it, when was the last time you had to teach one of your children to hit, lie, steal, or throw a fit whenever his or her little highness didn’t get their own way? Let’s just go ahead and admit that, as much as we love our children, they are prone to impulsive, self-serving behavior. Left unchecked, they are little criminals. Take lying, for instance. Children, in case you didn’t know, are liars. They’ll tell you whatever whopper they think will get them what they want or keep them out of trouble. That is, of course, until a loving parent disciplines them so as not to lie. Just today, as I was writing this article, my four-year-old came bopping into my office and asked, “Daddy, may I have a cinnamon …
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Professional marriage, parent, and family life coach Kindred Howard admonishes parents to give their kids the gift of a great marriage via love and respect.
Okay, here’s a quick test. What’s the greatest gift you can give your kids? An iPad? A Wii gaming system? Extra cell phone minutes? A second chance instead of a spanking after they draw on your driver’s side door with a permanent marker? Answer: none of the above (although I’m sure they’d appreciate the second chance). The greatest gift you could ever give your kids is a close and loving marriage. Kids don’t need to be the center of your attention in order to be secure and happy. In fact, making your kids the center of the family wheel often has the opposite effect. Nope, what they need is to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you and your spouse love each other and are totally devoted to your marriage. Don’t believe me? If you have …
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Professional marriage, parent, & family life coach, humorist, and award-winning writer Kindred Howard shares with parents the importance of a parent-centric home.
The other day, as I pulled into the drive around dinner time, my children rushed to the car to meet me. They were excited to see Dad and immediately started bombarding me with information. I gave them all hugs and listened with "fascination" as William described how he'd skateboarded down the sidewalk without falling and Emerson shared about the sleepover to which she'd been invited. As my little paparazzi followed me, begging for my attention and expecting me to stop, I slowly kept moving as I said things like, "Really?” “That's wonderful, Buddy" and, "Sounds awesome, Sweetie." Entering the house, I found my wife, Meredith, cooking dinner and looking beautiful as always. It's then that I did the most important thing any father can do when…
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Award-winning writer, humorist, and professional marriage, parent, and family life coach Kindred Howard reminds parents about one of the keys to effective child discipline.
Recently, I was speaking with a distraught single mother. Her dilemma: how to deal with a 10-year-old son who yells at her, speaks disrespectfully, and consistently throws pre-adolescent fits. “I hope you can help me understand why he is so angry,” she said tearfully. “I know a lot of it probably stems from his dad not being around. But every time I try to talk to him he just stomps off angrily or tells me to leave him alone. What am I doing wrong? How can I help my son?” My heart went out to this well-meaning mother. I pointed out to her, however, that her thought process was misguided. She was asking the wrong question. Instead of asking “why” her son was behaving in a disrespectful fashion, she should have been asking, “What is my son…
Kiri Walton
12:23 pm on Tuesday, August 30, 2011
OK, good, so the Coconut Dreams are good! I am a Samoa-addict, but I never have bought the Coconut Dreams because I didn't think they'd be any good. I'll definitely grab some next time I'm at the store. more ›