Do you let your kids help when you're in the kitchen? They can make a pretty big mess, but there's great lessons to be learned there for kids. In fact, the kitchen can still teach us adults a few things, too! My youngest son loves to help in the kitchen. I stared at my sister [...]
A parent submitted a question about a child who lies, and I will answer it here in case any other parents have a similar one. Q: My eight-year-old continues to lie. For example, if I ask if she has eaten breakfast, she says “yes” when she really hasn’t. When I ask if her homework is done, [...]
I have been considering getting a trampoline for years, but my physician husband told me that they were just too dangerous and preferred not to get one. In fact, the official position from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is that they advise against the use of recreational/ backyard trampolines. They created a policy statement [...]
One day I just sat down on the sofa and cried — a lot — for no reason. Instead of doing what I typically do as a psychotherapist, which is to jump into solving mode to “get myself out of this,” I just allowed myself time to cry. I did this because I had faith [...]
Having children brought out the worst in me (at first). I expected parenting to be more joyful than it actually was. My reality, however, was that I spent a lot of time crying when my children were born. I don’t think we do a good enough job of admitting how hard parenting can be sometimes. [...]
Years ago, each time I posted pictures of my children on Facebook, I felt joy knowing my family members and friends could see my boys' smiling faces. I had put my privacy settings on the highest settings, feeling secure that I could safely post pictures of my children and know they would not meet stranger's [...]
A calm-down corner (or area as it doesn’t have to be in a corner) is a place for angry and upset children to go to engage their minds and release their anger. I used this when my children were little in place of time-out because time-out didn’t work for my sensitive son. Here, I’ll show [...]
When my three boys were two, four and five, we played a game called “Secret Teddy.” Teddy was a small, ragged stuffed bear that “mysteriously appeared” on one son’s pillow each night with a little note describing how he had been especially caring that day. (Trying to be sneaky was always challenging). I only needed [...]
Laura Markham, PhD recently wrote about “radical self care” on her Facebook page. I love the word radical as is applies to taking care of ourselves as parents. I am certainly a radically different parent when I am rested and my buckets are full than when I’m not. A few years ago I discovered something [...]
From the moment your baby bump starts to show, others are likely to provide unsolicited advice or comment on your parenting strategies. The motivation for unsolicited advice is interesting. Some people are genuinely concerned with helping, whereas others might be attempting to steal power from you by asserting a false parenting superiority. The comments I [...]
Andrea Loewen Nair is a counsellor, parenting educator and international media parenting expert based in London, Ontario, Canada. Her therapy background helps parents to understand at a deeper level what to do when kids drift away, behaviour goes wild, buttons are pushed and old negative self-talk gets too loud.
Her goal is to let parents know they are not alone in their struggles and to provide practical help that makes big positive changes. Parenting can be very hard—and Andrea wants to help.
