Happiness & Success
Achieving Happiness Through Acceptance of Life
The quest for happiness often leads to frustration, as many fail to realize that the...
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- Written by: Julie Holland M.D.
Psychospiritual exploration, soul-searching, communing with the self — these are normal and important components of the human experience. Adolescence is a prime time for this sort of exploration, and for questioning, testing limits, and defying both death and authority. The chances that your kids aren’t going to have to...
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- Written by: Thom Hartmann
The following text, "Yesterday's Child" by Janie Bowman, was originally published in The Missing Piece (Winter 1993), the newsletter of the Learning Disabilities Association of Washington State. "After only three months of formal education, Yesterday's child walked out of his school in a fit of rage. ...Today's child would be in long-term therapy for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder..."
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- Written by: Francesca Cappucci Fordyce
Self-mutilation is a big problem facing teens today. This affliction is the result of fear instilled by trauma. It is as though the brain contains a computer chip, which has been programmed, because of trauma, to self-mutilate. It is a mental trap that has taken innumerable young people hostage...
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- Written by: Bret Stephenson
Traditional societies transmitted to the young not only lineage and survival information but also the beliefs and expectations of the culture. This system perpetuated the health, longevity, and survival of the community and its values. To do this, it was critical to have...
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- Written by: Frederick Leboyer, M.D.
For the baby, the world is a terrifying place. It is the vastness, the enormity of the whole experience of being born which so terrifies this little traveler. Blindly, madly, we assume that the newborn baby feels nothing. In fact, he feels . . . everything. Everything, totally, completely, utterly, and with a sensitivity we can't even begin to imagine.
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- Written by: Louise Frechette
How you ask your children to listen, and what you choose to see in them will help determine their response to you. Don't allow your ego to make you feel guilty for not doing it perfectly. The myth of the perfect parent is as much a myth as that of the perfect child...
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- Written by: Admin
The first few days of a baby's life can bring a deeply spiritual opening between parent and child. The sheer mystery of birth and the vulnerability of this tiny being you hold in your arms are truly awe-inspiring. Many mothers and fathers have told me that they had no way to predict the powerful emotions that poured forth during those first days of parenting. In some cultures, the time immediately following birth is sacred and protected for both mother and child.
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- Written by: Alfie Kohn
The interesting question is whether those of us who were successful students achieved this success by memorizing an enormous number of words without necessarily understanding them or caring about them. Might we have spent a good chunk of our childhoods doing stuff that was exactly as pointless as we suspected it was at the time?
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- Written by: Jack Heinowitz, Ph.D.
It's pretty hard dealing with the idea of really being a father. Scary feelings come up about accepting it, getting involved, learning what to do and how to participate in family life. The commitment part is a heavy thing for me right now. The dramatic lifestyle changes that accompany the entry into fatherhood bring up fears of all sorts.
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- Written by: Francesca Cappucci Fordyce
Just because a father lives at home, does not mean he is available to his son or daughter. Fathers often overbusy themselves, so they don't have to deal with their own responsibility and subliminal pain from their childhood. A parent has to resolve his own issues before he can completely be present and mindful of his children.
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- Written by: Richard OConnor, Ph.D.
The number of children on Ritalin is rising at a truly alarming rate. At the same time, the incidence of clinical depression among adults -- including parents -- is almost epidemic, and continues to rise. We need to understand the connection between...
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- Written by: Francesca Cappucci Fordyce
by Francesca Cappucci Fordyce. Parents, single or not, might consider co-sharing, i.e. families helping each other out. Co-sharing works in principle like the adage "it takes a village to raise a child" giving single mothers more time...
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- Written by: Julia Loomans
When I was little, my mom and I used to have a lot of fun turning old ideas around and changing the meaning into something we enjoyed more. When we heard someone say, "I'm going to kill two birds with one stone," we changed it to "I'm going to feed two birds with one seed!
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- Written by: Phil Laut
Every generation of parents dreams, works, and saves so that their children experience greater personal prosperity than they. Until the last few years, the steady advances in purchasing power of the average American has made this dream attainable by most. Nevertheless, financial instruction continues to be neglected in school systems and in most families. Perhaps for the first time in American history, better money attitudes and management skills will be required curriculum for the next generation.
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- Written by: Admin
Birth can be scary, and it can also be glorious. Fear of the unknown causes anxiety in many expectant parents. Empowering yourself with information, knowledge, and the support of experienced people can turn fear into joyful anticipation. It can mean the difference between being a passive recipient of health care services and becoming an active participant in the experience of welcoming your child into the world.
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- Written by: Diane Chambers
How your young children spend their time out of your care will have an enormous impact on how well they perform, both socially and academically, in the future. The following are a few suggestions about choosing daycare and how to ensure your child is getting the most from a childcare situation.
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- Written by: Christopher S. Hyatt, Ph.D.
A child will learn ethical philosophy by observing how you treat others around you. Severity is sometimes necessary, mercy is sometimes necessary, and mildness is sometimes necessary. Use your head. Think things out before overreacting to situations. Do not moralize with the child. Speak of actions and behaviors in terms of real consequences.
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- Written by: Admin
When parents have a baby, they unwittingly have to deal with their own brittle past. At every new stage, memories sneak up. A parent recalls what happened when they were that age. Just as we cope with unfulfilled expectations, the most effective way to avoid recalling childhood memories is to keep moving. There is a syndrome of "running parents", always on the go. The neurosis of running becomes a family affliction, parents insist that their children remain busy as well.
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- Written by: Mario Kamenetzky
The most important decision faced by a modern household with children is how to harmonize the time and energy invested in satisfying financial needs, career ambitions, parental responsibilities, sexual urges, and intellectual and recreational cravings...
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- Written by: David Walsh, Ph.D.
Each of us as parents must identify the values we have intentionally taught and displayed to our children. But, we must also ask ourselves another question: What values have we as a society taught our children? Every morning when we pick up our newspapers we see more and more of the consequences of this "education". We know that our kids are in deep trouble because of what we as a society have done.
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- Written by: Jann Mitchell
Parents of teenagers, take heart! There is affection after adolescence. Even friendship. For those of you who’d like to deep-freeze your teen till twenty-one — you’re not alone. It’s a toss-up whether puberty is tougher on the kids or the parents...
