Parenting From The Source

Social skills are difficult at fourteen. Even the most popular students feel that they struggle to say the right thing at the right time. But for a few, it is especially difficult at that age. She was fourteen years old, a freshman in high school, and painfully shy. She told me that she didn’t know [...]

Social skills, or the lack of them, have an enormous impact on teenagers and their relationships with their peers. Sometimes, their absence is not noticed until adolescence. Sadly, the teen is in crisis mode by then. Social Skills or Manipulation? I joined a group of kids in the high school hallway. A young man was [...]

Social skills must be learned by some; for others, they come naturally. My last post, Social Skills: Small Talk, offered some tips to teach your children if they feel awkward participating in casual talk. But, it might be something else that interferes with their social skills. It was my first year to teach elementary school. [...]

Social skills include many techniques, but one of the most important is the ability to make small talk with one person or with a group. As I visited with a teacher during recess, I noticed a girl standing to the side of the playground. She watched the other kids as they talked in small groups [...]

Does your child or teen make friends easily? I wrote about reaching out to those who seem friendless, but it could be that you have a child who needs to be on the receiving end of such an outreach. There are several reasons why some kids don’t fit in with their peers, and therefore feel [...]

A Child of God? Ryan sat at the back of my sixth grade classroom. He came to class disheveled, his hair was seldom clean, and an odor of unwashed clothes followed him wherever he went. I knew I was supposed to love all children, but Ryan tested me. His loud voice demanded attention.

Cyber bullying hurts kids and often results in suicide (anger turned inward) or school shootings (anger turned outward). As adults concerned about kids, what can we do? In 2001, I wrote an article about school violence. I mentioned metal detectors, search dogs, and see-through backpacks. Today we’re talking about allowing and equipping teachers to carry [...]

School shootings continue to be a topic of discussion on television. How do you make your kids feel safe? Friends talk about it, teachers instruct about lock-downs, and TV airways retell the stories. Find the Signs That They Are Worried Because small children don’t have enough understanding or words, they may not ask questions. That [...]

As news about school shootings blared from the TV, Amy walked into the family room to find five-year-old Joshua watching the news report. Apparently his older sister left it turned on. “Mom, look what happened at that school. Someone came in and shot the children.” “Oh, honey, I’m sorry you had to see that. It’s [...]

Her daughter was abusing privileges extended to her. She had a credit card for her monthly allotment of gasoline. Not only did she often exceed her limit, but Mom found out that she sold credit-card-purchased gasoline to friends when she needed cash. “How can I trust her? I gave her the card because I wanted [...]