Monday, March 7, 2011

Anger Management Tips Moms and Dads Need


By A. Scott Walton
Last week, our first-grader came home from charter school with a swelling knot on his head the size of a Titleist Pro-V1.
How exactly he got pushed into a support pole on the playground's monkey bars remains a mystery. He's acted like a reluctant witness for the prosecution when asked to explain how the girl (whose name he only mumbles) ambushed him after she was "kicked out" of a group assembling cedar chip mountains. He talks fast, in evasive terms.
Perhaps I'm violating the "What happens on the playground stays on the playground" ethos by even asking.
If that's the case, what parent couldn't use timely advice to help prevent, quell, or resolve incidents of angry outbursts their kids play a part in?
A recent report by Parenting magazine reminds us that, "The way kids express anger evolves as much as they do". And the article, shared by CNN.com, offers toddler-to-tween tips about communication skills that concerned parents should practice at home and encourage for confrontations that occur at school.

Friday, March 4, 2011

The "Laughing Baby": Funny 'ha-ha', or funny 'strange'?

















The details surrounding how a sourly staged video clip showing an infant giggling under manipulative stimulation became one of the world’s biggest news stories escapes.
So, frankly, does any hint of interest.
Upon viewing the clip some “monster” server spewed at me with “must-see” urgency, I clicked off; out of boredom and revulsion.
So, Dad, you’ve found a way to make your kid laugh to the brink of gagging. So much so that the convulsive impulses you elicit while tearing up rejection letters just HAD to be recorded and “shared”.
Congrats. You’re social media’s latest one-hit wonder.
Wasn’t it enough to just enjoy quality time with the kid? Shouldn’t you just reflect on the fact that most people these days aren’t even being shown the decency of having a rejection letter (Seriously? A printed letter?).
You may have a seat on the morning couch next to Matt Lauer now, but I suggest you read the new issue of GQ where Billy Ray Cyrus confesses how much his parenting experience suffered from foisting his child, Miley, into the spotlight.