Dionna

If Spanking Does Not Work in the Long-Term, Why Start Spanking at All?

June 25, 2010

Hypothetically speaking, let’s pretend there is a parenting practice with the following attributes: while it usually results in immediate compliance, it is generally ineffective in modifying longer-term behavior (it is even ineffective from hour to hour or day to day); it causes strain on the parent/child relationship; and it can only be used for a [...]

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Riders on the Tantrum Storm (Part 2)

May 27, 2010

In Part 1 of this two part series on tantrums, I talked about the reasons you might want to sometimes “ride out” your child’s tantrums. While it is sometimes therapeutic for kids to simply vent their feelings, more often parents need to work to find the source of the frustration and put a label on [...]

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Riders on the Tantrum Storm (Part 1)

May 20, 2010

Our son, Kieran, has been exceptionally tantrumless for the first 29 months of his life. Yes, he has screamed and cried. Once he fell and halfheartedly writhed on the ground. He’s even pulled the limp rag doll trick once or twice – letting his arms go up lifelessly so we almost drop him at the [...]

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Tickle Me Not

April 30, 2010

At first glance, tickle games appear to be times of fun and joy. When you tickle a child, the child laughs. What’s not fun about that? But think about the typical tickling game: 1) it is initiated by the adult: tickle-fests are normally started by the parent. The child may run screaming and laughing away [...]

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Taking Care of Ourselves

April 6, 2010

Many parents (myself included) are under the impression that the moment we are born into the world of parenting, our own needs and desires become secondary. That is true to an extent: parents do not make up the bulk of the nightlife scene, we often have to yield the bathroom to littler bodies, and we [...]

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Finding an AP-Friendly Caregiver

March 18, 2010

The Sitter Who Cried “Ferber” An acquaintance of mine recently shared a horror story about leaving her five month old baby with a sitter for a few hours. The sitter was auditioning for a role as a permanent nanny, because the mother will return to work soon. An hour into her outing, the mother started [...]

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Staying Patient

March 3, 2010

Let’s be honest: toddlers and young preschoolers can wear on even the most patient person’s nerves. From the constant questions (“why?” “wat dat?” “where mama go?”) to the wild mood swings and outbursts, life with one to three year old kids can be difficult. But screaming back at your angry two year old is not [...]

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Toddler Ten Commandments

February 11, 2010

My husband, Tom, once remarked that he wished there was some quick and dirty parenting guide. He doesn’t have time to read all of the parenting books after I’m done with them, and he doesn’t particularly like to hear me quote entire passages. Go figure. His wish is (sometimes) my command, so I set out [...]

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