All Recent Articles

The Parent Coach: Coaching Sportsmanship

A parent writes, "I'm having a problem with my 9 year old son. He's doing fine in school except when it comes to recess. The daily football game, and other league competition, is too much for him. He argues, becomes defensive, and even screams at and kicks other players at times. What can I do to make him see that the more he argues with the other boys, the less they like him, the less they will throw to him, or even play with him?

Comforting The Spirits Of The Depressed Child

A parent writes: What advice do you have for a depressed child? We try distraction and keeping to routines but they don't work very well.

The Pitfalls of Permissive Parenting

One of the thorny tests of parenting is striking a balance between strictness and permissiveness. Those of us who err too far in either direction suffer various consequences. These include overly rebellious kids or family life lacking boundaries between generations. Despite the obvious long term costs, legions of well-to-do parents struggle with saying "no" due to the immediate unpleasant repercussions.

Coaching the Underachieving High Schooler

While high school presents a world of possibilities, adolescence ignites the fires to make those into realities. Today's ready access to peers through instant messaging,tempting entertainment options, and a vast array of activities, can easily undermine a teenager's academic dedication. Underachievement occurs when students do not perform at expected levels based upon past performance or another standard such as intelligence or standardized testing.

Bullying and Peer Abuse

Well, the new year is upon us and that means another year of bullying and Peer Abuse. As we continue to explore this problem of Peer Abuse, one thing we need to be aware of is the bully. In dealing with this problem, it is important to try and understand these folks or at least what makes them the way they are. I have done some research on this and here are some theories I have that seem to aid in making the bully the way he or she is.

What is Peer Abuse: The Importance in a Name

Most, if not all of you are familiar with the 5 W's of Peer Abuse. We have an idea about it being like bullying and in essence, it is
bullying. However, Peer Abuse needs to be recognized for what it is PEER ABUSE and it is time to think of it in clinical terms.

Bullying has always been the word because it was what we always refered to those who picked on, harassed and made life miserable for those that were not "meeting their expectiations".

School Prevention and Peer Abuse

As I have been working on trying to stop this problem for quite some time, I have people asking what can be done in terms of the schools. Some have devised programs, which help. However, what we need to realize is that close to 98% of these incidences go unreported and that is not good. Or, some schools may not have a policy or make this a priority. Well, it is time to get on the same page here per say.

The Five W's of Peer Abuse

Bullying has always been a problem in society. As everyone
has grown up, we have learned it to be a right of passage or
a part of growing up. However, in recent years, we have been
learning of the dangers of bullying. Everyday, children are
killing other children or they are committing bullycide
which is suicide as we know it. What people have yet to
learn is that bullying is a form of abuse and that is Peer
Abuse. Like any other form of abuse, this leaves scars on

Tattle Tales

Children tattle. They do it at daycare. They do it at home. It happens in the primary grades and continues on into high school. Regardless of the grade you teach, tattling will occur in your classroom.

 

Many teachers don’t like tattling and have devised plans to reduce its occurrence and eliminate it from their classrooms. Some techniques we have witnesses or heard about follow.

 

A Safe and Orderly Environment

John Ash teaches eighth-grade social studies in a Michigan public school. His students are similar to other students around the country. They talk about clothes, video games, and the opposite sex. They also put each other down. "Klutz," "homo," and "retard" are a few of the more popular words they use to ridicule one another.