“Many kids arrive at their challenging and life-threatening teenage years with no clue as to how to make decisions.”Foster Cline, M.D. and Jim Fay open their book, “Parenting With Love & Logic” pointing to the fact that many self-destructive decisions teenagers and young adults make are because they are the first real decisions they’ve ever made. Growing up, decisions were made for…

Imagine you are at a college football game and a foul is committed. The referee says to the offending player, “This is the last warning I’m going to give you. Next time, you’ll lose yards!” While I’ve watched my fair share of bad calls, if referees didn’t call fouls as they see them, games would quickly devolve into chaos.Dr. John Rosemond uses…

Misbehavior results in negative outcomes. Dr. John Rosemond, the author of The Well-Behaved Child, calls this the ‘Backatcha Principle,’ meaning when you do something bad, something bad will happen to you sooner or later. We recognize this as adults after seeing consequences for some of our poor choices, but our kids’ consciences are not yet fully developed. The author convincingly argues that…

One of the most important components of effective discipline is providing the child proper leadership, which Rosemond covers in the second chapter of the book, ‘The Seven Fundamentals of Effective Discipline.’. Effective leaders say what they mean and mean what they say. They “Let their, ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and their ‘No,’ ‘No’” (Matthew 5:37), as Jesus tells us at the Sermon on…

“Without a doubt, the single biggest source of frustration, stress, anxiety, confusion, resentment, and guilt for today’s parents is their children’s misbehavior.”This is the opening thought from Dr. John Rosemond, author of The Well-Behaved Child. The book provides step-by-step instructions for seven approaches and is a workshop-in-a-book, of sorts, to help deal with a variety of discipline problems.Before he dives into the…

Writing about The Soul of Discipline: The Simplicity Parenting Approach to Warm, Firm, and Calm Guidance – From Toddlers to Teens, by Kim John Payne, M. Ed., I am reminded of how wonderful the parent-child relationship can be.But even the best relationship is tested during the teenage years, and Payne's corresponding third phase, The Guide.  The emerging young adult is developing and…

The full title of this book by Kim John Payne, M. Ed. is The Soul of Discipline: The Simplicity Parenting Approach to Warm, Firm, and Calm Guidance – From Toddlers to Teens. It absolutely resonates with every parent's desire for warmth, firmness and calm regarding discipline.Payne's premise is "the right support at the right time." First, he details the three phases of…

Discipline. For many, it evokes negative feelings of an unspoken ensuing punishment. Isn't discipline something that happens when your kids disobey?Not exactly, according to Kim John Payne, M.Ed., author of The Soul of Discipline. It was recommended by another author, Dr. Brene Brown, as a means for parents to remain calm and authentic in the face of discipline challenges.It sounded like a…

Applying these Principles to Myself! Some days I get so focused on a few areas of life where I’m struggling  – menu planning, sticking to a budget, making friends in our new community – that I actually feel like I’m a failure as a wife, mother, and sometimes even as a person. The authors of “The Whole-Brain Child” would say I’m stuck…

Upon reading my previous post you may have concluded that “Whole Brain” principles are like magic beans. After all, my preschooler’s fear of dogs disappeared in a matter of days! Well, let’s just say that applying them to teenagers is a whole ‘nother ball game…As is to be expected, conversations with my teenagers tend to revolve around the same one or two…