NFL star Terrell Owens doing his outrageous touchdown dances. American Idol’s Simon Cowell humiliating well-intentioned—if not untalented—singers. Hip-hop artists who demean women in their music. There is no shortage of forces in popular culture that resist your efforts to teach your children the value of respect. It can sometimes feel like you’re being overwhelmed by [...]
Because of the messages of selfishness and disregard for others that popular culture communicates these days, your children aren’t likely to learn compassion on their own. You must nurture the ability to care about others in their early years. If the value of compassion isn’t evident in your daily lives, your children are less likely [...]
You’re under tremendous pressure these days to give your children every opportunity and advantage. Whether piano lessons at age four or being a part of a traveling soccer team at age eight, you feel compelled by popular culture to get your kids on the fast track as soon as possible, otherwise they’re going to be [...]
Perfectionism is one of the most destructive diseases among American children today. Perfectionism is a double-edged sword. One edge of the sword drives children to be perfect. These children push themselves to get straight A’s, be top athletes, and save the world on weekends. The other edge of the sword is that I have never [...]
One of the most frequent comments I get from parents is “I just want my kid to be happy.” Though an admirable and common objective, happiness is one of the most neglected family values in twenty-first-century America. Few parents grasp the essential meaning of happiness for their children and fewer still understand how they can [...]
One of the most powerful ways you can encourage your children to become successful, happy, and contributing people is to teach them good decision making and then to allow them to make their own decisions. The decisions that your children make as they approach adulthood dictate the people they become and the life paths they [...]
Play is becoming a dinosaur in the lives of children in 21st century America. According to studies, school-age children’s playtime decreased by 25 percent and older children’s playtime by 45 percent between 1981 and 1997. Unstructured outdoor activities also declined by 50 percent. Between school, homework, organized youth sports—which is no longer real play—music and [...]
Popular culture conveys to children very unhealthy messages about responsibility. Through its focus on the pampered lifestyles of the rich and famous and advertising that suggests that life should always be a party, popular culture communicates to your children that if it’s not fun, easy, or interesting, they just shouldn’t have to do it. If [...]
Conflict is a natural part of the parent-child relationship and essential to your children’s separation from you into independent beings. The challenge is not that you are going to have conflicts with your children periodically, but whether they develop into full-scale war that drives you and your children apart, and interferes with their development. How [...]
Fear of failure among children in America today is at epidemic proportions. Fear of failure causes children to experience debilitating anxiety before they take a test, compete in a sport, or perform in a recital. It causes them to give less than their best effort, not take risks, and, ultimately, never achieve complete success. Cause [...]