August 14, 2012 – Establishing routines with our children is an effective and powerful way to set boundaries. Setting limits helps our children feel safe, and allows them the freedom to focus on skill building and learning. Our routines, though, may have unintended consequences. If we spend the morning reminding, organizing and coercing our children […]
Our children are inundated with demands from the adults in their lives. At times all those words may sound like a never-ending torrent. I’m reminded of a YouTube video that made the rounds a couple years ago of The Mom Song, three minutes of commands sung to the William Tell Overture. What an exhausting way […]
“You throw that ball and you’re grounded for a month.” “You talk back one more time and I’ll give your bicycle away.” “You don’t eat your peas, you won’t be able to have dessert.” The traps we can fall into as we work with children. In our efforts to have our children change their behavior, […]
Oh, what challenges we have as parents trying to find the right fit for our parenting style. If we come down too strong on an issue, we think perhaps our need for control is bubbling over. If we ignore a problem or allow bad behavior to get its way, maybe we’ve given our power away. […]
You don’t have to be Picasso to paint a picture, or Einstein to figure out that given time, space and a box of markers, children can quickly fill a blank canvas. Kids and crayons just naturally go together. Put a paintbrush in tiny hands, and big things happen. But did you know that actively involving […]
Final installment in a 10-part series on Parents as leaders. As parents we lead and manage our children. If we lead without adequate management skills, logistical problems arise. If we manage without providing clear leadership, we may travel a long road to nowhere. Leadership focuses on developing people, empowerment, doing the right things, direction and […]
Part 9 of Maren Schmidt’s 10 part series on Parents as Leaders Effective leaders empower the whole person to do the whole job of self-leadership and management. Epictetus said it well over two thousand years ago, “No man is free who is not master of himself.” In order to help others help themselves, we have […]
Part 8 in a 10 part series on Parents as Leaders Peter Drucker, one of the greatest management minds of our time, wrote that with a few hundred years perspective, historians may view our time as one of “unprecedented change in the human condition. For the first time–literally–substantial and rapidly growing numbers of people have […]
Part 6 in a 10-part series on Parents as Leaders One definition of spirit is “a particular mood or emotional state characterized by vigor and animation.” As leaders we need to have enthusiasm for the work we are doing, the people we are working with, and the place where we work and play. As parent […]
Part 4 in a 10-Part Series on Parents as Leaders As we examine the leader in the mirror, we should see improvement and growth as we work to enlarge our sphere of influence by learning and practicing new skills based on principles that represent the people and causes we value most. To grow as a […]