Is there anything more frustrating than other kids' parents? I mean, we are each others' biggest support, but so often our biggest hurdle too. It makes my blood boil when other kids' parents let them do really stupid things. Because then my kid wants to do them too. I...
TVs, gaming consoles, tablets, phones and the screen time issues they throw up in our families would have to be the Achilles heel of modern parenting. I'd hazard a guess that various screen time issues are the biggest reasons for fights between parents and teens and...
Are you like me - a discarded parent looking for ideas on how to bond with your teen? Sometimes we can go a full week without so much as a good morning from our self-absorbed teenagers. When I asked Mumlyfe readers what they most needed advice on when raising older...
We recently did a survey of our Mumlyfers and one thing was immediately clear: we are all looking for ways to build our relationship with teens and tweens. Adolescents are not the easiest creatures to feel close to. Actually, they are sensitive, prickly,...
How would you describe an average teenager? For most people, the following characteristics might come to mind: moody, impulsive, risk taking, likely to succumb to peer pressure. by Lucy Foulkes, University of York While it’s clear that adolescence is a period of life...
When you're a kid, making friends is really easy. Friendships pop up in the playground, at the slippery dip, in the check out line. Four years ago, my girls made lifelong friends one afternoon at the beach. We've never seen the family again, but the kids still keep in...
My son is the master of the teen meltdown. To be honest, he was also a master of the toddler meltdown, the preschooler meltdown and the beware-of-the-10-year-old-boy meltdown. You could say he's been building up to teen meltdown form for years and he's #nailedit....
Most kids and teens love listening to stories and as they get older the urge to tell their own stories grows too. For some kids (often those we call ‘born writers’) this is an easy thing to do - no list of creative writing ideas for kids needed. They grab a piece of...
Critical thinking skills for kids are considered crucial for problem solving and effective decision making. In fact, critical thinking may be the most important skill our kids can develop. It's not enough to know things. We need to be able to independently make sense...
This is a really simple phone rule for kids, but it surprises me how many families don't make it mandatory. Let me tell you, it's non-negotiable at our place. If my kids ever break this rule, their phones get confiscated immediately. It's super-simple: Turn off phone...
used to be the kind of school swimming carnival mum who says, "go and support others, even if you don't participate", but not anymore. I don't make my kids go to the school swimming carnival anymore. I did for years, but I'm done with it. Even though I'm really...
It's no doubt the #1 response parents make when they ask what they want for their kids in life: "I just want my child to be happy." “I just want my child to be happy.” We mean it wholeheartedly when we say it. Then we leave that happiness to chance. We talk to our...
Do you feel guilty all the time about the way you have raised your children? I have always felt so guilty from day one: I didn't give my kids enough of my time and I escaped to work as soon as I could, because mothering was so hard. Now my daughter is self harming,...
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