Index: Four Basic Skills

We might think that teaching the Four Basic skills is mainly for the children. They’re the ones who need them the most, right? Well, maybe adults need them just as much as the children do.… Read more »

“…We taught the 4 basic skills and the kids had a lot of funrole-playing the way to respond to the different situations, they especially loved disagreeing appropriately! 🙂 Well, I hadn’t determined what our consequences were going to be yet so I told them we would just practice the 4 basic skills this week. I’ve learned from this that it… Read more »

A teenage girl talking back to her mother in an airport about her emotions said, “We have to let our emotions out. I’m being true to myself. I won’t stuff my emotions just because you don’t want to hear them!” The mother, who had told her daughter that she couldn’t use her phone anymore, was correcting her daughter for talking… Read more »

https://vimeo.com/79349963   Just so you know, I gave her 10 more minutes. We don’t have it on camera, because the battery died.… Read more »

When I did foster care, I had a hard time remembering the new vocabulary I was required to use to help these troubled youth, so I made some cue cards to help myself. When I first started teaching people the language of self-government and I saw them struggling to remember the new words, I remembered how much cue cards had... Read more »

Bundle and save on all 4 of the Children’s Books! These books have been helping children learn in a fun way for years! Teach your children the skills of saying and being “Okay,” how to accept “No” answers, how to accept consequences, and how to disagree appropriately!... Read more »

It sometimes seems like teens don’t want to listen to adults tell them what to do or not to do, but in reality, teens and children are always hoping that adults will teach them discernment. When a person doesn’t know who to follow or what to believe morally, then that person ends up feeling lost and confused. Parents have a… Read more »

Even though the mistakes our children make are glaring us in the face, we also know that each of our children has certain attributes that make them wonderful, individual, and precious to us. Charitable parents focus more on those good, productive attributes than on the negative mistakes their children make daily.Each week I answer peoples’ parenting questions on my weekly… Read more »

Creating quality, loving family relationships requires discerning between what actions are really quality and what actions are nothing more than conformity to social norms. Creating these quality relationships doesn’t require elaborate planning, just time.Strong family relationships are built upon many components, such as good communication, honesty, trust, love, forgiveness, bonding, listening, shared vision, and shared experiences. Each of these relationship-strengthening… Read more »

It’s currently commonplace to see youth aggressively confronting adults when, not too long ago, that behavior would never have been condoned. And, sadly this aggressive behavior is being misinterpreted as behavior necessary for the emotional safety of the child. If parents want to be the ‘safe place’ for their child, then it’s vital that they don’t lose sight of their… Read more »

“Yesterday my 8 year old was grumpy when asked to do something, so he earned a negative consequence. I asked him to choose a job from the job jar.I explained that the job would help him change his heart.He then got very cheerful and said he was sorry for being grumpy… and wanted to be allowed to not do the… Read more »

Families are concerned about their children who are struggling with stress and anxiety. Why are stress and anxiety so prevalent nowadays, and what can families do to help in loving ways? Understanding Stress and Anxiety Stress and anxiety are real feelings that many children suffer with daily. According to Georgetown University Health Policy Institute Center For Children And Families, “By… Read more »