Help for Parents Coping with Divorce, Adoption, Teenager and Relationship Issues

Truth?  You Can’t Handle The Truth!
While that’s a bit dramatic, it was a great line in the movie “A Few Good Men” wasn’t it? 
I see a lot of truth in that remark.  If I summed up why kids, or anyone lies, it would be “because they fear punishment for telling the truth.”  Most of us, [...]

When kids lie, parents die. 
Well, of course we don’t literally die.  But, we do freak out, often losing control because we’re hurt, mad, and disappointed.  Fear enters in as well, when we think about what this does to the trust issues between us and our children.  Our concern is that we help kids understand how lying  hurts [...]

The American author Mark Twain once wrote, “Some men worship rank, some worship heroes, some worship power, some worship God, and over these ideals they dispute, but they all worship money.”
Kids quickly learn that money buys things.  Things bring fun and pleasure, even if its short-lived.  How do parents teach kids about money?  It can [...]

Writers and philosophers have long been fascinated by people’s attitudes toward money. 
“The love of money is the root of all evil,” is an oft-quoted adage from the Bible.  Two thousand years ago a Roman poet, Juvenal, wrote:
“Some men make money not for the sake of living but ache in the blindness of greed and live [...]

In a Barbie World, truth abounds.  In our world, kids lie, adults lie, teens lie, children lie, parents lie, everyone lies.
After raising over 250 foster children and 3 active boys of my own during the last 20 years, I’ve crashed into a few lies.  It’s been my experience that using the lie word frequently takes [...]

Tip #1:  What is the Truth?
Before “punishing” or consequencing your child for lying, ask yourself “Why did they lie, or say what they said?”  Think about that and list all the reasons you can come up with.  The purpose of this is to direct your thinking beyond the lie.  Many times what we think of as [...]

For best results, experts advise getting 25 to 35 grams of fiber daily, spread out over the day, some each meal. 
Need easy ways to figure out your fiber intake?

For each serving of whole grain food items, estimate 2 grams of fiber.
For each serving of refined-grain products, estimate 1 gram of fiber.
For each serving of For every serving of fruits or vegetables, estimate 2 [...]

There’s not a parent alive that doesn’t want their kids to eat right.  First step?  You eat right in front of them! 
Finding seafood that kids will eat is not always easy, and many kids are put off by the smell test.  Start children off with introducing them to mild white, flaky fish.  Fish sticks, good quality ones, [...]

During a nightmare, we might feel as though we are being buired, drowned, suffocated and there is no accompanying story that is leading up to it.  Maybe we are being chased or followed, possibly at the end of an ordinary dream.
The simplest nightmares are among the most mysterious of dreams, and are still not perfectly [...]

Teens and drinking is every parent’s nightmare.  My advice to adults and parents everywhere is never leave alcohol where children and teens can get it, and always drink responsibly! 
Without a doubt, nearly every foster child that ever came into our home had a history of alcohol abuse in their family or in their own life.  [...]