Respecting My Kids: Feelings
"Parents… fear that by giving a name to the feeling, they’ll make it worse. Just the opposite is true. The child who hears the words for what he [or she] is experiencing is deeply comforted. Someone has acknowledged his [or her] inner experience.” Adele Faber & Elaine Mazlish, How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk
Read MoreRespecting My Kids: The Case Against Spanking Children
“A person's a person, no matter how small.” Dr. Seuss, Horton Hears a Who!
"Elizabeth Gershoff... has been studying corporal punishment for 15 years, and is known as the leading researcher on spanking in the United States today... 'There's no study that I've ever done that's found a positive consequence of spanking,' Gershoff said." Sarah Kovac, CNN
Respecting My Kids: Privacy
"She didn't have to go and tell that, thought Ramona, feeling that her mother had betrayed her by telling, as if it were funny... She still thought Chevrolet was a beautiful name, even though she was old enough to know that dolls were not usually named after cars." Beverly Cleary, Ramona and Her Mother
Respecting My Kids: Physical Boundaries
"Excuse me, please! I have something I want to say. It's my birthday, and I'm tired of being pinched, noogied, hit, hugged too tight, picked up, tickled, and touched in ways that I don't like. I am six years old, and I'm the boss of my body!" Ruby's Studio: The Safety Show
One morning a couple of weeks ago, I was dropping off my 5-year-old, Rachel, at school. I asked her, "Do you want a hug or no hug today?"...