Refrigerator Door Gratitude List

In an era in which the media constantly pushes American families towards consuming, children often lose sight of wants versus needs. Instead of appreciating their life, kids are often consumed by wanting things. What is wrong with that, you may ask. Perhaps, that will motivate them to work hard in school, go to college so they can get good jobs and make lots of money to buy more “things.” …and it may, but it...

Parent Resource for Media Reviews

So many movies, TV programs, video games, websites, and books- how can a parent possibly know all that content without a cheat sheet? Common Sense Media is just that- a parent cheat sheet (or cheat website) on media content, age recommendations, and suggestion lists by topic. Media reviewed includes movies (both on video and in the theatre), books, TV programs, web sites, and video...

Parent’s New Year To-Do List

Start weekly family meetings. Develop, write, and frame family rules. Organize allowance/ chore schedule for kids. Enable closed captioning on the TV to improve the kids’ reading level. Check children’s room for safety hazards. Organize kid’s play room. Improve the kid’s brown bag lunches to be more nutritous and...

Teaching Unselfishness and Sensitivity in the New Year

The holidays, usually over filled with food and gifts, often leaves parents empty and kids demanding. The kids are sad because they didn’t find a Wii under the tree, though they still received a pile of presents from family and friends. Siblings fight over who received the most presents or coolest presents and then refuse to share. It is in those moments that parents realize their family has been manipulated...