The questions in Motivating Kids (1) provide a way to give your kids’ “wanting” muscle some good practice and to allow you as a parent to help your kids get what they want in life and be happy. The next step is to chunk each dream down to realistic, day to day pieces that do not involve genies, kings, fairies or lottery tickets.
Read Motivating Kids (2) »
This happened to me at a huge cultural festival. We had had a hectic week preparing for the festival, with many last-minute notices and a low budget. The weather seemed very threatening – the rain in the previous week had destroyed the entire weekend for an environmental festival, washing away a whole year of hard work. It was still raining heavily and the thought of our work going down the drain was unbearable.
Read My Psychic Mom (6) »
Last week, my son went to a small pool party and one of the kids who were invited did not show up. Somebody said Nick could not come because he was working. Nick, you should know, is a 14-year-old kid and had just started working at a donut shop that had opened next to his house. Obviously, a whole conversation started about working kids and whether or not it is good for kids to go to work.
Yesterday, Ronit wrote about her experiences with kids who were mentally stuck in norms and invisible rules at the age of 6. Their creativity was stifled by notions of “right” and “wrong” and external opinions about what is pretty, messy or appropriate. Today, I would like to share with you some more signs of kids being stuck like this, along with a wonderful video clip.
Read Are Your Kids Free? »
Every time I see a blind man, I am thankful for my ability to see the richness around me and remind myself that I do not need something to be taken away from me in order to appreciate it. Many people have good vision, but cannot see that the world is actually colorful, with many shades, with great landscapes and beauty all around. You see, it is not enough for beauty to be there. We must also learn to appreciate it.
Read Colorful Kids »
Whether we speak out loud or we are in silence, our brain is in continuous chatter. We have thoughts about things to do, feelings, expectations, ideas, reminders, theories and conversations. Here is an example of my mind chatter in the first 30 seconds in the morning. I still had my eyes closed and said nothing at all:
“What’s that noise? … What’s the time? … 6:30 … Oh, no, Noff has swimming today … I wanted to put a bottle in the freezer for her … I forgot … It’s going to be hot today … I should have gone to bed early last night … I talked to my sister … I miss her … Two more seconds … I have to get up now … I’ll go to sleep early tonight … Yes, I said that yesterday too … I’ll meditate … “
Ronit and I love movies about relationships. We prefer movies showing “real” people (as opposed to flashy, overly unique characters) going through “real” challenges and hopefully completing a positive personal journey by the end of the film. This way, we can take something home with us, discuss it, learn from it and share the growth.
Read Everyone Knows the Truth »
Carolyn came to coaching with the big desire to understand herself. She was talented and efficient, yet life was not going in the direction she wanted. Job after job, although she had been very able to “deliver the goods”, she had missed out on promotions when the time had come. Her renovated house was a mess and, although she knew all she needed to know about budgeting, all of her money had vanished towards unexpected renovation expenses, unexpected events (death in the family) and a very long court case against her husband.
Read Ask and You Shall Receive »
My mom always says, “You will eat tomorrow what you cook today” (my mom was a chef, so many of her proverbs come from the cooking world). I think she heard it from her mother, who heard it from her mother, but I am sure that if I trace it long enough back, I will discover this proverb is very ancient, but I doubt most people understand it.
You see, many people cannot find the correlation between their actions and the outcomes they get. When such people are still young, we say it will take them time to learn. When they get older, we call them “stupid”.
I guess this means we are all stupid, because none of us have the ultimate formula for cause and effect. After all, life is a big guessing game based on trial and error and our level of success depends on which attempt we are at.
Nevertheless, there is one thing I know that definitely works and that is doing things in the right order: First we have to cook, then we can eat!
Read Cooking, Eating and Success »
Some time ago, my teen daughter went to a teen motivation seminar (that shall remain anonymous at this stage). Gal and I were very happy she was going to participate. As you can imagine, us two life coaching parents are happy with every opportunity for our kids to hear some of our “preaching” from someone else. However, she came back so disappointed, our heart dropped.
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