Family MattersPractical Parenting Blog

Make a list: Birthday Presents to Ask for

Birthday present

Birthdays should be wonderful events in everyone’s life. For some reason, however, grownups do not think of birthdays the same as kids. While kids see it as a happy moment with lots of gifts, grownups think of the birthday party as a checkpoint for their life and expenses, expenses, expenses.

Obviously, when you are happily wealthy, this is not a problem at all. I remember the stage in our life when we could spend money on everything we wanted and the dilemma was whether to travel to China for my daughter’s birthday for 3 or 4 weeks.

This may be fun, but most people do not have this luxury.

This post is part 9 of 49 in the series Make a List

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Trouble with Loved Ones

I bet that if you compare the amount of love you feel for someone, it will correlate well with the amount of hurt you get from them sometimes and possibly with the number of things they do, which trigger a strong emotional response from you.

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Parenting Kids by Your Values

When we examine values in my parenting workshops, it is amazing to discover that parents put most of their energy on values that are not the highest on their list. In fact, most parents waste their energy on things they rate fairly low. They argue and fight over schoolwork and cleaning the house, while neglecting other, far more important things.

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Make a list: What I like about me

One of my clients, who was very critical about herself, was very surprised when I asked her “What do you like about yourself?” She thought about it for a long time before she found something nice to say about herself and you know what, it is hard to blame her.

This post is part 8 of 49 in the series Make a List

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Motivating Kids (18)

In the process of motivating your kids, you will find that your kids are also influenced by others. If that influence is positive – great! But sometimes, others’ behavior and words might be de-motivating for your kids.

This post is part 18 of 19 in the series Motivating Kids

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Seeing I to I

If you have been in a long term relationship long enough (and since you are reading a parenting blog, it is likely you have been), you can probably come up with quite a few examples of things “the other person” says to you on a regular basis, which you find infuriating. In fact, saying them is just like pressing some invisible button in your mind and triggering anger and resentment.

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100 Ways to Say “I Love You!”

Giving flowers is a great way to say "I love you"

There are many ways to say “I love you” to someone – partner, children, family members and friends. But as you may know, not all of them are as effective. That’s simply because people are different. So here’s how to come up with 100 ways to say “I love you” and choose the best one for each person.

As you probably know, love is one of the most wonderful feelings. Some people claim there are only two feelings: love and fear. Every good thing in life is a form of love and all the bad things are forms of fear. A stronger version of this only recognizes one feeling: love. All the rest (fear, anger, sadness, etc) is lack of love.

Voltaire said, “Love is a canvas pattern furnished by nature and embroidered by imagination”. Whether you define love as the ultimate feeling or just an important one, there is no doubt that being loved and loving can make us the happiest ever.

This post is part 7 of 49 in the series Make a List

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Motivating Kids (17)

Last part of the motivating affirmations list, tips and ideas for motivating your kids (and yourself).

This post is part 17 of 19 in the series Motivating Kids

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Make a list: Childhood Memories

This series about list making revolves around the idea of using lists to examine our life and our perception and to highlight the good things in life. This lets us can enjoy them, appreciate them and be happy.

In this post, I want to explain the importance of remembering. I did write “good childhood memories” in the original list of lists, but I think that the mere act of remembering, even if we recall some bad memories, helps in our personal growth.

It is funny that when I mention memories, people go to the past and start digging. Some people find it hard to remember childhood experiences. For some, the past is more vivid, while for others, it is vague and unclear. Some remember what happened and others only remember what they felt about what happened.

This post is part 6 of 49 in the series Make a List

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Motivating Kids (16)

Here is another part for your list of affirmations, which you can use to remind your kids (and yourself) that the world is a great place to live and that they (and you) are great people who can do great things.

This post is part 16 of 19 in the series Motivating Kids

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