What Children Can Teach Their Parents

hikingEvery parent has experienced the phenomena of their child begging for their favourite story to read, their favourite song to be played or their favourite movie to be watched for the 100th time. 

Even though we adults might be tempted to hide the favourite book or introduce a new book, CD, or DVD, we must stop ourselves because our children are actually teaching us a huge lesson about how they want and need to be parented.

When our children repetitively make a request for their favourite story to be read, it is because children have an innate interest in ‘mastery’.  Of course they love to explore new toys, corners, books and movies, but once the all-important excitement of discovery has occurred, children set out to ‘master’ the things that interest them the most.

Mastery occurs through repetition.  Young children are driven to discover and then master all aspects of their world. 

Discipline is another area in which children innately crave mastery.  Children test their parents because they are trying to figure out how their world works and what is acceptable behaviour.  While they do their research they do things consciously and unconsciously to investigate their world and it’s limits so that they are able to ‘master’ it.

The best thing parents can do is to learn a simple methodology for discipline, get trained to use it and then apply it consistently.  This will decrease the number of times their child needs to test and will diminish the intensity of the testing.  Children whose parents often use different strategies, use bribes or threats become very confused and unsure of themselves.  It is for this reason that many parenting experts say that discipline makes children feel safe and secure.

One can liken children’s feelings to the experience of hiking down a trail with very few trail signs or markers.  It’s confusing!  Without clear signals to keep one on course, one is more likely to make wrong turns and get into trouble.  This is what it’s like for children as they try to learn the path of acceptable behaviour.  When limits are unclear or inconsistent, children often steer off course and get into trouble, thus making mastery of acceptable behaviour very difficult and unsettling.

So, as you spend time with your child, remember what it is that they crave the most…mastery.  Let’s be concious of this and then make a decision to help them master their world with confidence and ease.

5 Ways to Make This Valentine’s Day Really Meaningful

heartTake a look at the marketing out right now and see the images that they are trying to project so that we will buy or spend money. Furthermore, they love to put ideas into our heads about how certain gifts will make our partners feel. Not to say gifts are bad, but do they TRULY represent what love is all about? Do they TRULY show our partners how we feel about them and why we appreciate having them in our lives? Not really.

How then do we make Valentines Day more meaningful for our partners as well as our families? Here are five ideas that are sure to do the trick!

1) Cook pancakes using a heart-shaped cookie cutter to form the heart. Dollop vanilla yogurt on top of two pancakes and drizzle slightly heated strawberries all over the plate. Add a little maple syrup to make it easier to pour. Decorate the table with red heart place-mats cut from red paper and place a card on each person’s chair describing what you love and appreciate about them. Remember to be specific! Create suspense for this by placing a little note on everyone’s pillow at night saying, “Meet me in the kitchen at 10 o’clock tomorrow morning” Love, Mom/Your name

2) Create a “Love Day”. Choose three things to do during the day and early evening. Pick activities your family loves doing together or that you know they would like. For example: Do you all love to go swimming? Take long walks in the country or along water? Eating at a favourite restaurant? Making and drinking homemade hot chocolate? Watching a favourite movie? Playing a sport? Visiting grandparents or special friends? Be sure to announce the day’s plan in an interesting way such as in an extra-large Valentines card.

3) Spend one on one time with each child for an hour or two. Maybe a mother can take her daughter to have a manicure together or her son to watch a new movie he’d enjoy. Or, simply pack a lite snack of Valentine treats and take each child for a “walk and talk” or play in the park.

4) Spend time together as a family then hire a babysitter for a couple of hours and go for a long walk with your partner. Stop somewhere for a warm drink or sweet dessert and talk about the things you appreciate about each other. (Be specific) Also, you might talk about all of your blessings, even if everything isn’t going the way you’d like it to right now. Hold hands and enjoy being together, without children, and in a different environment.

5) Invite good friends over with their children and plan the menu for the dinner together. Discuss decorations, what to serve for dinner and what would make a nice dessert. Have your children phone the friends to invite them over, then cook and decorate together. Nothing has to be extravagant, it’s simply the thought that matters and those simple little “Valentine” touches.

BONUS Idea:
Snuggle up in bed with tea and croissants for the adults and strawberry milk and croissants for the little ones. Pass out Valentines to everyone telling them why you appreciate them (Be Specific) and then just talk and giggle for a little while.

5 Steps to a Calmer Evening

Lifestyles Housework HasslesWhether you work outside the house or stay at home full-time, the toughest part of the day is the same: those frantic early evening hours when there are mouths to feed, homework to do, and cranky kids to handle.  The trick is to streamline your to-do’s so you can feel calmer and focus on what counts – spending time with your family.  Here’s how. 

1) Ease into the Evening

 Instead of walking in the door after work or errands and immediately launching into another chore, allow time and space to downshift into evening mode.  It’s basically about transitioning.  In other words, giving yourself and your family that unwind time.

Creating a calming ambiance, by turning off the TV and playing soothing classical, jazz, or instrumental music, can instantly reset the emotional tone of the house.  Another idea is to dim the lights and light a few candles – it makes for a warm, cozy atmosphere that will relax the family. 

Another transition idea is to create a ritual.  Set vegetables and dip or cheese and bread on the counter and serve juice or water in fancy wine goblets.  This will not only take the ravenous edge off so you avoid meltdowns before dinner, but it will feel special and establish the transition time.

2) Create a Dinner System 

Rushing to get dinner on the table is a major source of evening mayhem, but a little bit of preplanning can help you power through with a minimum of stress.  Use weekends to chart out your nightly dinners, grocery shop, and even preassemble parts of a meal when possible.  Consider writing a weekly plan and checking the calendar to see which nights are going to be particularly busy – so you know when frozen pizzas or easy-prep meals are a must.  

3) Keep the Kids Busy

All the shortcuts in the world won’t help if you’re constantly being interrupted, so a little creativity may be needed to get the kids out from underfoot.

Make the time you cook be about you and let your older kids, who should be doing homework, know that you are there only to be asked a very important question.  Other than that, you are off limits.  For younger children, it might be necessary to involve them in the meal preparation or to put on an appropriate DVD.  When my son was younger I used to put him in his highchair and talk in an animated way – sort of my own version of a cooking show.  Now that he’s older, he helps put ingredients in bowls and pots and stirs just about everything! 

4) Plan Homework Time

To avoid last-minute cries of “Mom, I haven’t done my homework yet,” having a homework routine is a must. 

After the kids have had a healthy snack and 30 minutes down-time after school, they should begin their homework so that it is completed before dinner. 

5) Share the Work..and a Break

Dividing tasks between you and your partner can make family time more serene for both of you.  It might be that when your husband walks in the door, it’s his turn to take the baby for 30 minutes so you can get dinner started.  Then, after 30 mins, you take the baby back and your partner has 30 minutes to change and unwind.  This way you’ll both be refreshed enough to start your evening together.

Be flexible with this.  If your partner is stressed when walking in the house, offer a later-in-the-evening task, such as washing dishes or packing lunches for the next day.

All in all, evenings can be calm if routines and decisions are made ahead of time.   Decide what you and your partner truly value and then set up some systems to make it work.

Feng Shui Changes to Our Home

feng-shui-bedroomI’ve always seen and felt the effects of living or working in an organized, uncluttered space.  Tasks and life in general are just easier.  When you know exactly where to find something – life is flowing with ease.  When your children know exactly where their (trains) are stored, life is just easier.  When your drawers and cupboards are filled only with things that you consistently use, life just flows easier. 

After moving countries 3 times in 2 years, my husband and I were ready to organize our home so that life was flowing to it’s best ability and that balance and harmony were felt throughout our home. We’ve always been pretty tidy people, however when we hired a feng shui expert to come to our home to give us suggestions on how to make it even better she saw pockets of clutter and a few other things that needed attention.

With regards to the clutter, our expert asked, “What’s in those pretty baskets at the top of your wardrobes?”  I couldn’t answer.  “Some hats, I think”.  We had moved so many times that it turns out we had trinkets and decorations in those baskets still waiting to be placed somewhere, thrown away, or donated.  We got to that right away and realized that we didn’t really connect with 3/4 of them anymore.  Stagnant energy is what they represented, so we did away with them.

The second area she commented on was our bedroom.  She complimented us for only having photos of us in the room.  She said that too often parents have loads of pictures of their children in their bedroom and that this is not good in terms of feng shui principles.  A couple’s bedroom should be a sacred place for their relationship and only things that inspire or mean something to both of them should be in there.  She also commented on the peaceful feeling in our bedroom because of the colour scheme we have, however, she said you always need a touch of passion represented in your bedroom, so be sure to add cushions in a vibrant colour such as red, pink, orange or purple to the bed, chairs, or art.  

One of the other main things she mentioned was the need for more live plants in our home.  Again, because we have been moving so frequently having real plants seemed unrealistic – even the ones that friends came to water on a weekly basis didn’t really survive.  However, I know that beauty (in terms of my surroundings) is one of my top five values, so having and enjoying live plants and flowers seemed to really sit well with me, especially since I know we are staying put now.

 There were many other slight changes or additions she suggested and we have managed to implement almost all of them. I cannot describe the difference that it has made in how I feel in each room of my house.  We’ve got a couple of things left to do, however the plan to do them is underway. I highly suggest hiring a feng shui expert – it seems like a luxury at first, but when you feel the difference, truly, inwardly FEEL the difference, you know it was worth every penny.

The Top 10 Things Children Really Want Their Parents To Do With Them

huggingWhat do you think matters most to your children? You driving them to lessons and practices, or is it the smile and hug you greet them with after school? If you guessed the latter, you are correct.

Sixteen years of teaching and giving the same assignment every Mother’s Day has led me to the exact same conclusion. You see, every Mother’s Day I would ask my students to give me advice on being a mother. They were to think about things their mother or guardian did for or with them that made them feel happy or loved. The classroom would go silent as the students wrote intensely for longer than they had ever written before. Often smiles would appear on their faces as they reflected on the happy experiences they were remembering. After reading their responses I would add to my list all the ideas they mentioned. Surprisingly, many of the responses were the same. Year after year, in every country I taught, and in every type of demographic, the students were saying the same things and had the same message: It’s the small things that their mothers did that meant the most and that they remembered.

Many moms today feel as if they are not good mothers unless they are racing around, shuttling their children from lessons, to practices and back to lessons again. I’ve had mothers tell me that they want to give their children every opportunity they did not have. While this thinking might bring the mother some comfort, it really does not do the same for their child who is potentially feeling overextended, stressed and tired.

After speaking endlessly about this topic with my students, it became clear to me that children today are involved in too many activities and are in turn becoming less in touch with themselves and their families. In addition, my students told me they really wished for more time to “just play”. Of course many of them enjoy their extra curricular activities, but it is not necessary they said to be allowed to do everything. What they enjoyed most, and what made their hearts happiest was when their mothers did simple things for or with them.

Here is a list of the top ten things students around the world said they remembered and loved most about their mothers.

1) Come into my bedroom at night, tuck me in and sing me a song. Also tell me stories about when you were little.

2) Give me hugs and kisses and sit and talk with me privately.

3) Spend quality time just with me, not with my brothers and sisters around.

4) Give me nutritious food so I can grow up healthy.

5) At dinner talk about what we could do together on the weekend.

6) At night talk to me about about anything; love, school, family etc.

7) Let me play outside a lot.

8) Cuddle under a blanket and watch our favorite TV show together.

9) Discipline me. It makes me feel like you care.

10) Leave special messages in my desk or lunch bag.

Children are incredibly wise and tend to see the world more simply than we do. Perhaps it is time we start taking their advice. Maybe we would all feel a little less stressed and be satisfied with the fact that doing little things really is… good enough.

What We REALLY Want For Christmas

christmas treeStores are busy right now.  Maybe people aren’t buying as much as in past years but they’re buying nonetheless.  Everyone is in the spirit of giving, but deep down also looking forward to receiving.  The common denominator here is “things” and “stuff”.  Now, I’m all for making people happy and seeing the smile on their face when they open an exciting gift – that really brings me joy.  And, of course, I love receiving a gift from someone special, but life experience has taught me that this “stuff” cannot really bring what most of us want for Christmas .

 

Over the past twenty years or so our culture has been quite ego-based.  We always wanted something from other people or situations.  There was often a hidden agenda, always a sense of “not enough yet” or lack that needed to be filled.  Sometimes we used people and situations to get what we wanted and even when we succeeded, we were never satisfied for long.  The famous song, I Can’t Get Enough… Satisfaction is the song that describes this best.  Then the crisis hit.

 

People who felt secure and successful suddenly found themselves jobless.  The houses, cars and/or businesses were gone.  It was the biggest shock many of us have felt in our lives.  However, something beautiful has come from this.  People have begun to realize that they can live with less and that they are actually happier with their more simple life.  People realized that they were putting too much pressure on themselves to get this or that or achieve this or that. 

 

Parents have begun to become more creative with the activities they do with their families; instead of going on an expensive vacation, they are going on more hikes and picnics and spending more time in nature.  Family has become the centre of life again, not work.

 

Many people have started a new job or career in an area they always wanted to, but were too scared to try.  They are beginning to make money doing what they love instead of what they thought they “should” be doing.

 

From lemons did come lemonade.  It was time for these things to change and for us to start living according to what we value. 

 

To delve into this more, I suggest writing down your top five values and once this is done, take an honest look at your life as it is now.  If an outsider were to look at your life would they be able to see what you truly value?

 

Now write down ways, and think outside the box here, that you could rearrange your life so that you knew with 100% of your being that your life reflected your values.  We often put road blocks up here, or our egoic fears start jumping in, but just move past them and think what the new year could look like and most importantly FEEL like.

 

Some ideas to consider are:

 

1) Downsizing to one car

2) Downsizing your home

3) Providing your boss with a proposal showing how you could work one day from home (which would ensure that you eat both breakfast and dinner with your family)

4) Waking up 1/2 an hour earlier to work out

5) Plan a date night with your husband or wife once a month

6) Ask for a job transfer so that you work closer to home

7) Plan a one-on-one activity with each of your children every month

8) Create a new family tradition.  For example: After dinner you turn on some classical or soft music and each reads a book for 30 mins OR one person reads aloud a  chapter from a novel for 30 minutes.

9) Brainstorm a way you can be generous at least one time per month.  Example: Babysit for a friend on a Friday night or offer to shovel someone’s sidewalk one day.

10) Regularly buy fresh flowers for your home

 

We’ve come a long way as a culture.  Things can only get better in our family lives and communities if we continue on this great wave of thinking and living.

 

So, this Christmas, spend thoughtfully, enjoy the holiday fully, and give yourself and your family the best gift yet – a less-stressed, more blissful life.  It’s what we truly want, isn’t it?

My Epiphany

xmas shoppingToday while out running errands and doing some shopping I had a huge epiphany that made me feel all warm inside.

Walking around the cobbled streets of Windsor town centre is a true delight.  Musicians are playing Christmas carols and the streets are decked out in their finest Christmas decorations.

I was supposed to be looking for a gift for my husband but I found myself in a home store having a CLOSING OUT sale.  Wow, 6 silver charger plates, a box of bright red candles and some silver decorative trees for only 20 pounds?  Whoo hoo!  I had the Christmas dinner table decorated in my mind  and it brought me such giddiness!  Then I walked into a clothing store.  “Hmmm…, nothing for hubby.  Let’s check out the racks to see if they have a cute top for me.”  I looked around and saw all the mannequins dressed in cute, trendy outfits.  I began to feel down.  Gosh, why didn’t I have the kind of flair it takes to put together outfits like that?  As soon as this negative feeling came into my head I thought, “Okay, I can’t change that.  What action, if any, can I take to make me feel better about this?”

“A personal shopper – yes, I read an article about that recently.  Hey, it would sure same me time, as well!”  I decided to look into that and moved on feeling cheery once again.

Next stop was another clothing store.  I picked up 20 different things to look at but none felt right for my husband.  “What am I going to get him?  He’s so picky!”  Then I remembered what he had told me one day, “All I want is trees.  For Christmas and my birthday just buy trees in my honour.  That would make me happy.”  I admire my husband for this but I really want to give him something to unwrap as well.  “I know, I’ll get him an experience gift – perfect!”

Feeling proud, I walked home with a bounce in my step.  As I walked, a thought flashed in my head, “You just spent 3 hours living according to your values.  Well done!”  One, I was out spending time by myself, two, I bought things that added beauty to my Christmas experience (beauty being something I value – in my surroundings, that is:)) and three, I stopped myself when I began thinking negatively.  I chose instead to take action and move on. 

My epiphany?  How wonderful life is when you clearly know what your values are and when you live your life through them.

How to Take Christmas to a Whole New Level

christmas-presentOur children love certain toys or brands and they make their lists for sure, however, I suggest that we parents do something a little extra special at Christmas.

Christmas is such an exciting time. Family and friends gather together to laugh, eat great food and share gifts with each other. What could be better? There is one way parents can make Christmas even better and that is by giving their children a present that is a tradition.

My parents always gave us presents that we had asked for however my mother always bought us a new pair of pajamas. We were just as excited to see what type or color we would be getting that year. It gave warmth to our Christmas celebration and deepened the connection we had with our mother. My father saw how happy we became, even as teenagers when we opened the special gift from “MOM”, so he decided to start his own tradition. He bought five different types of Scratch n’ Win Lotto tickets for each of us and after all the other presents were opened we sat at the dinner table and used pennies to scratch away. We have continued this tradition throughout boyfriends and now husbands.

It is really wonderful to watch our faces after we have opened the gifts because we all know what is coming next! One year, during the last recession, we lost the two restaurants that my family owned. There were no presents under the tree that year, dinner was tapered down, and there were no Scratch n’ Wins to scratch. Going without the presents was easy, and eating a little less was fine. The one thing we all felt melancholy about was the fact that we could no longer do our special tradition after dinner. It’s silly, really. We never win much, maybe ten dollars, but it was the consistency we missed and the hollers of, “Whoo hoo, I won a dollar!” that we missed. Of course we had other traditions that we continued like playing board games until the wee hours of the night, but it just goes to show how special and cherished traditions are for people and children especially.

So, here are some ideas that you can use to add more warmth to your family’s Christmas experience.

1) books, novels

2) calendar

3) funny or colorful socks

4) crafty toy

5) scientific toy

6) bookmark

7) slippers

8) Christmas ornament

9) Wallet

10) Something with the 1st letter of your child’s name (pens, pads of paper, notebooks, pencils, books, socks, picture frames, calendar, key chain, wallet) The ideas are endless and will always keep your child guessing!

Christmas is a magical time where family is the focus. Deepen the bonds you share with your children by adding a special tradition. I promise you that when your child remembers holidays past, in ten years time, it won’t be the toy they asked for that they will remember, it will be the one that their mom or dad always gave them.

How to Make This Christmas More Fun and Less Stressful

family_skatingChristmas time is a time for doing special things with family, but holiday events can fill up the calendar very quickly.  We often find ourselves running from one event to the next without so much as a breath in between.  The holidays then become about pleasing others and not ourselves or our families.  However, this can all change.

To enjoy a merry time and reduce holiday stress, the trick is to prioritize and organize what is truly important.

  • Together as a family, list the fun things you want to do after looking through the local newspaper/family magazine or remembering what you did last year that was a hit.
  • Decide on a realistic number of events to attend and to host
  • Eliminate unrealistic and unaffordable choices
  • Remember to schedule rest periods

In need of some ideas? You can have great fun and create warm family traditions around these simple events.

  • Pick out the Christmas tree
  • Trim the tree
  • Go to watch a Santa Claus parade
  • Tour a neighbourhood with lights
  • Visit Santa
  • Go on a sleigh ride
  • Volunteer at a shelter or food bank
  • Build a snowman or snow angels
  • Go skating, skiing or tobogganing
  • Watch favourite Christmas movies or shows
  • Read favourite Christmas stories
  • Bake favourite holiday treats

Make a list of the things you want to do during the month of December and the things you feel you have to do then ask yourself these two questions:

1) Did I enjoy this event last year? 

2) Was it important to be there for others?

If the answer is yes, schedule it in.  If not, eliminate it from your schedule and spend your time with the ones who really matter – you and your family.

Who Is Erin Kurt Anyway?

GPUB14760-00001_DS_FinalCoverChildren and families have been of interest to me ever since I myself was a child – funny I know, but so very true!  You see, I would silently analyze every family I came in contact with.  When I would visit a friend’s house I would always end up asking them about their family life and got some incredible information.

Fast forward some years, when I was studying to be a teacher, and you would see that I was still gathering information on children and families.  I became increasingly interested in child development, child psychology, family counselling, and methods of improving children’s self-esteem and learning capabilities.

While completing my teaching practicum (practise teaching, in other words) all the university facilitators and teachers I was working with were astounded at my natural ability to discipline, encourage even the shyest child to get up and sing a song about the story she had written, and connect with the children and their parents on a very deep level.

When I finally began my teaching career, I was met with opposition from some really difficult kids.  My first job was to teach a group of students who had literally gotten two other teachers to resign.  I was to be the third victim.  Picture this: a five foot three inch young lady, fresh out of university, walks in their door and says a cheery, “Good morning, everyone!” only to be met with, “Who are YOU?”, “We got the other two teachers to quit and we’ll do the same to you!” What followed was a lot of snickering, wild laughter in the back of the class and a few kids who thought that doing cartwheels was normal classroom behaviour.

Needless to say this was a challenging year.  The confidence I had gained throughout my teaching practise vanished more and more each day and soon I was crying at home, saying things like, “I’m not cut out for this”, and driving up to the school with pure and utter dread each morning.

Until…

one day, when the most significant thing happened and changed my life forever. The story is too long to go into here, but from that day forward the way in which I disciplined, interacted and bonded with children completely changed.  From that day on the students listened, interacted, laughed, earned higher grades, had higher self-esteems, and were respectful. At the end of the year I was unfortunately declared surplus (that was during the last recession in the early 90’s) so the school had a goodbye ceremony for all the teachers who had to leave. 

The students were all lined up and when I went up to them to say goodbye the response I received was overwhelming (whoo, still brings back emotion).  Boys and girls grabbed me, hugged me, cried on me and said they were going to miss me so much and would remember me forever.  It was incredibly emotional and although I knew I had made a huge difference in their lives, from the way in which they behaved and the comments I received from their parents, I never expected that kind of a response from them, especially the ones who were hard core out to get me at the beginning of the year.

Throughout my teaching career I managed to teach in four different countries and in every type of socio-economic area possible.  I also taught all types of students.  From disorders, to personalities, to family issues, to academic levels, you name it, I’ve taught them!

What started to happen was that the parents of the students I was teaching began coming to me after school and asking if they could schedule a meeting with me.  You see, they were seeing such dramatic changes in their children that they wanted my advice on how they could do the same thing at home.  We would meet during my prep times during school hours, after school or even at their homes!  This was always a true honour for me and I loved doing it!  It wasn’t unusual for me to become friends with many of the parents outside the classroom as well. 

As I sat with more and more parents I realized that I was being forced to come up with a way to describe exactly what I do to bring about change. 

I began to observe myself.  What was I doing when a child misbehaved?  What was I saying when a child misbehaved? I wrote all of my observations down in a notebook.  After a short period of time I realized that I was repeating the same four things over and over again.  How interesting and exciting it was for me to visually see what I was just doing naturally!  These four steps are what I now call my “Tricks of the Trade”.

When I took an even closer look at what I was doing, I realized that it was more than just having a clear discipline system.  It was all the other things I was doing that made the students want to behave, be respectful, kind, considerate and caring towards me and their classmates, and most of all…that made the students so incredibly happy and self-confident. 

The big bonus is that the techniques I teach are simple and straight-forward and are able to be used on ANY child.  Some might say, “That’s impossible! Every child is different!”  Well, yes, every child IS different, in terms of personality, but they are all the same in what they truly need and want from their caregivers.

I have used my techniques on children as young as 8 months old (only slightly modified) and as old as adults.  Yep, I taught an adult evening course for a while and the students were from countries where they had had very little education.  I was shocked myself when I had to use the techniques, but they worked like a charm – exactly as they had with the pre-schoolers I taught, the primary and elementary students I taught, to even the 6 feet tall teenagers I taught!

I also took a year off to study French in France and was a nanny for a family with three boys – ages 3, 7, and 9, and these techniques worked in French as well!  I was able to change my relationship with the youngest boy who at the beginning said to me, “I hate you. I’m going to get all the guns in France and kill everyone in Canada!” to “Erin, (Ereeen, as they in French) I love you.  Here’s a flower that you can keep forever so you remember just how much I love you.”  

Finally, I use these same techniques with my son.  He is an incredible person and our relationship is so very, very special.

Today, I run Erin Parenting, an online and offline business, where I teach all of the strategies I wrote about in my soon to be released book, Juggling Family Life: A Step-By-Step Guide to Stress-Free Parenting. I offer live workshops, online teleseminars and a free weekly newsletter. In addition to this my website offers parents the opportunity to visit my “Erin Recommends” Store and find support for many important parenting needs.  There are books for parents and kids, meaningful, high quality toys and games, useful electronics, and personally reviewed DVD’s which I advocate.  This space makes purchasing necessary items stress-free since one can be positive that what they are getting has been professionally critiqued.  It also saves parents a lot of time so that they can do what truly matters, and that is to spend quality time with their kids.

 I love what I do and am SO passionate about it.  When a parent makes a breakthrough, I am just as excited as they are. My whole purpose is to teach parents how to make family life easier, more fun, and to raise happy, healthy kids.

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