Tag: ages and stages

  • How to stay connected with your kids into the teen years

    How to stay connected with your kids into the teen years

    As a parent, I thought the baby years were the hardest. They certainly were new and sleep-deprived, but as my children grow, I’m learning that every stage of parenting has its own struggles. We’ve been through starting daycare, then school, and dealt with some learning difficulties as my oldest moved into those middle-elementary years where…

  • Let’s lose the provocative parenting labels: you do you

    Let’s lose the provocative parenting labels: you do you

    How do you parent? Do you let your kids run amok (free-range parenting), or do you schedule their every moment while standing very nearby (helicopter parenting)? Are you a “gentle” parent, “attachment” parent, “crunchy” parent, “authoritative” parent? And does it really matter? I recently read an article about “puddle parents”: “Puddle parents encourage their children…