(2008/07/25)
Q I want my kids to clean up after themselves. I don’t think it’s asking too much to put their dishes in the dishwasher. I work all day and come home to a kitchen full of dishes and everyone asking, “What’s for dinner?” I have to clean the kitchen to start dinner. I’ve tried yelling, removing privileges and nothing lasts for more than a day or two. I am at my wits end.
(2008/07/25)
Q: My daughter is 33 months old and has been potty trained for a year now. Short of wiping herself after pooping, she is tall enough to take care of her potty needs without any assistance. When my mom comes to visit, or when we go to her house, she still reads my daughter books while she goes and helps her do everything. Should I ignore this or should I insist that my daughter go through the motions herself? Mom also wants to sit or lie down with my daughter at nap or sleep time until she is asleep, which we haven’t done for at least a year now. All of this grates on my nerves, but I try not to say anything. My daughter can be needy, and it took a lot of work on our part to get her to this point. What do I make an issue out of and what do I leave alone?
(2008/07/25)
Sunday, July 20 Creation Station, 1 to 3 p.m., all ages, Children’s Museum, 207 Fifth Ave. S., free with museum admission.
(2008/07/19)
Q: I don’t like our kids to watch television. I want them to read and experience life. I want to give them opportunities to grow. All of these things take money, and unfortunately I don’t have a lot of extra left each month. We have a 12-year-old who would live in front of the TV and a 14-year-old who enjoys swimming and biking and spending time with friends. Any ideas on how to expand their horizons without my wife and I creating debt?
(2008/07/19)
Q: I’ve always heard that a child’s character and personality are pretty well set by the time he/she is 5 or 6 years old, and that any dysfunctional behavior patterns the child still exhibits at that age are going to be almost impossible to change. Is that right?
(2008/07/19)
Sunday, July 13 Creation Station, 1 to 3 p.m., all ages, Children's Museum, 207 Fifth Ave. S., free with museum admission.
(2008/07/12)
Q: What do I do with my 14-year-old daughter who talks to me with such disrespect and anger? I am embarrassed when she criticizes and yells at me in front of her friends, but I don’t want to make a scene.
(2008/07/12)
In the mid-1970s, I attended a seminar that promised to train me to become an instructor in positive discipline methods. It turned out that the methods amounted to one: talking. Any behavior problem could be solved, the trainer told us, by properly reasoning with a child. Furthermore, he said, adults should answer children’s questions honestly. To not do so is to disrespect them, to deny they are intelligent. By this point, I had had enough experience trying to reason with my own kids to recognize baloney when I heard it.
(2008/07/12)
Sunday, July 6 Creation Station, 1 to 3 p.m., all ages, Children’s Museum, 207 Fifth Ave. S., free with museum admission.
(2008/07/05)
Q: My son has Asperger’s syndrome and is in high school. He is doing very well academically but is challenged in people skills and real life experiences.
(2008/07/05)
Thankfully, the media paid next to no attention to the fact that April 30 was End Spanking Day as proclaimed by a group calling itself End Physical Punishment of Children, or EPOCH. My former graduate school adviser and continuing mentor forwarded to me an e-mail from one of EPOCH’s members.
(2008/07/05)
Sunday, June 29 Creation Station, 1 to 3 p.m., all ages, Children’s Museum, 207 Fifth Ave. S., free with museum admission.
(2008/06/28)
Q: Our 17-year-old daughter is dating a 26-year-old man. He is a college student, and she will be a high school senior in the fall. My husband and I do not know what to do because we absolutely do not want her seeing him and yet we know that we are powerless to do anything about it. We have only met him once at an event, and it was very uncomfortable. Any ideas?
(2008/06/28)
A number of years ago, after doing some research into the use of suggestion — also known as indirect hypnosis — with young children, it occurred to me that a variation on the technique might be an effective way of addressing certain behavior problems. Since then, I’ve frequently recommended that parents appeal to the authority of “The Doctor’’ as a means of extracting themselves and their children from certain disciplinary quagmires. More often than not, The Doctor comes through.
(2008/06/28)
Sunday, June 22 Creation Station, 1 to 3 p.m., Children’s Museum, 207 Fifth Ave. S., free with museum admission.
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