Bringing the Kids: Why Expecting Good Behavior Works
My boys and I had quite a day this past Friday. I’d known for months that May 22 would be a big day: my niece, my beautiful Tara, would be graduating from Marymount Manhattan College. I had to be there, no question about it. Tara was born when I was a senior in college, and 21 years later, it was my turn to be there to celebrate her accomplishment and see her shining smile. Oops, sorry — proud Auntie brag over, and back to the subject at hand: Sure, I would be there. But what about my boys? Would I …Keep Reading
The Marshmallow Experiment: Does Your Child Know How to Wait?
I read a fascinating article in The New Yorker yesterday. (Which, having read the magazine weekly for years now, is a sentence that pops out of my mouth pretty frequently.) It’s called “Don’t! The Secret of Self Control,” by Jonah Lehrer. The piece opens with a description of an experiment conducted in the late 1960s, in a nursery school on the campus of Stanford University. In the study, four-year-olds were allowed to choose from an array of treats. The girl in the piece picks a marshmallow (right away I was hooked; I, too, can’t resist those puffed bits of pure …Keep Reading
Feel like a failure as a parent? You may be doing everything exactly right.
The other day, in the midst of the Worst Head Cold Ever (turned out to be a sinus infection, during which I’ve still shuttled and cleaned and fed my kids — there are no sick days in parenting, but I digress), I interviewed a child psychologist at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City for a magazine story I’m working on. Writers will know just what I’m talking about: Sometimes you do interviews, get the stuff you need, and move on. Other times, much rarer, your brain is firing like mad the whole time you’re talking. Sure, you’re getting what …Keep Reading
The Cult of Snacking: Are Your Kids Obsessed? Are You?
Let me say this right upfront: I love snacks. I love chips, both potato and chocolate. I love little, picky things, finger food, cheese and crackers, nuts, trail mix… I love the good kind of snacks (baked pita chips dipped in hummus) and the bad kind (day-glo cheez doodles that turn your fingers orange). But. I have come to believe that, for this generation of kids, snacking has become a sort of religion. There’s a belief in snacks, a cult of snacks and snacking. Many parents simply do not leave the house without arming themselves with snacks. You’d think when …Keep Reading
The Lesson of the Lamp: Why Sleep Training is Worth the Effort
Not long ago, someone I know slightly was having a problem with her young son. Seems the darling boy was developing a very unlovely habit of waking, shrieking, at 5 a.m., and the only thing that would calm him was a visit to his crib from Mom or Dad — and all the better if either parent were carrying a nice bottle of juice and a “let’s start the day, already” attitude. Poor woman was at her wit’s end. Various people offered good ideas to shift Wakey Baby’s sleep habits. Put him to bed earlier (he was already going to …Keep Reading
The Birth of a Mean Mom
“I hold their hands in parking lots and when crossing the street, but then let them run ahead.”
