When Parent's Words Seriously Hurt Children

When you say something negative to your children, it may end up haunting them for the rest of their lives. In this video, Bobbie talks about the pain she experiences as an adult as a result of hearing her dad tell her "I wish you were never born" when she was 5-years-old.

Nick Ortner, founder of the Tapping Solution, walks her through the experience using tapping to release the strong emotion that she still has around that event.

Discipline Without Screaming and Threatening

A mom wrote that her biggest parenting challenge is to discipline without screaming and threatening. This is a common parenting struggle as it’s a very natural reaction to increase your volume when your kids don’t obey the first time. Before you know it, you’ve added threats to try to force them to behave.

When you start yelling and threatening, you really let your kids off the hook for their poor behavior. Now they can focus on your out-of-control behavior instead of their own misbehavior.

If you can remain calm and actually lower your voice, you will be in a more powerful position. By remaining composed, you can hold your kids accountable for their behavior without escalating the situation.

Is it easy? No! But I learned to change my screaming into calm, confident parenting and you can too! Discover the effective parenting ideas in Priceless Parenting’s online parenting classes.

Too Much Screen Time Hurts Babies

TV and digital devices are certainly effective at keeping kids entertained. But how much is too much? Previously I've written about limiting screen time for older kids. Sadly pediatricians, psychologists and teachers are seeing babies and preschoolers with social, emotional and physical problems related to too much time on screens.

Parents are getting the message that digital devices are great for babies and toddlers. You can now buy a baby bouncy chair and a potty chair with iPad mounts. You can buy apps that are designed just for babies and toddlers.

One such app had this to say in its press release "Red Wagon Software announces the release of "Bonk! Bonk!" - its debut iPad and iPhone app for toddlers. Founded by Bill Brisky - a former Microsoft programmer - Inspiration for the endeavor started when Brisky's infant son Paul became enamored with his father's iPad and would delight in tapping images on the screen. Seeing his son's obvious joy, Brisky created "Bonk! Bonk!" - an interactive app where every time Paul would tap the screen a sound and colorful image would suddenly appear mesmerizing him for hours."

Kids who are mesmerized for hours by an app are missing out on developing critical interpersonal skills. Setting screen time limits is essential for keeping your kids healthy.

After presenting at the Crib to Classroom conference last weekend, teachers asked if I had a one page handout they could give parents on the problems caused by babies spending too much time with TV and digital devices. I didn't have a handout so I created one and it's featured in this month's newsletter. You are welcome to print and share copies of "Too Much Screen Time Hurts Babies".