Parenting Resources

Children actually enjoy sharing. You might have noticed times when your child easily shares with others while other situations lead to "end of the world" meltdowns. This article helps explain why this happens and how to help children manage their feelings. 

This article focuses on uncoerced sharing. Children become more generous the more often they share, but the experience must be voluntarily. Forcing children to share will have negative effects on learned behaviors and emotions. Read and learn a better way to teach children to share. 

Simple parental techiniques to teach your child to share better. From prepping your child before playdates to learning when to be passive or assertive, this quick read covers helpful reminders to help your little ones.

One of the earliest lessons in learning how to socialize is learning how to share. This article focuses on children's perception of time, empathy, and impulse.

Children are built to be kind and considerate. The reasons behind their actions evolve over time, but the bottom line is children enjoy helping! Take a look at these tips to encourage your children to be caring and thoughtful. Don't let a learning opportunity go to waste.

Kindness is declining. Are parents to blame? This thought provoking article discusses how changes in society have altered our core values. Also focuses on how being caring and kind as a child will lead to more success as an adult.

These tips are from the PBS Teachers’ Lounge. These activities were meant for the classroom, but why not use them to promote kindness and cultivate empathy at home?

Ample tips that can be implemented daily. Starting with modeling kindness, then thinking about kindness, and then providing opportunities to be kind. Also provides links to great discussion topics.  

"What does it mean to be kind?"

"How can you show kindness to others?"

Acting impolite is not always intentional. Kids are still kids. They are in the beginning stages of understanding good and proper social behaviors. Learning manners is a lifelong process. This article covers 25 manners all children and adults should know. 

Good manners are taught. We aren’t born with them. Children need to be reminded so stay patient. Read on to learn about important talking points such as meeting strangers, filtering thoughts, phone etiquette, and how to say goodbye.

Learning good manners isn't easy and it takes constant practice. But every incident provides an opportunity to teach our children proper etiquette. Read this article for tips on how to raise good children with manners.

Learning manners is a lifelong process and being consistent is important. This article discusses five facts that all parents need to know and four basic manners to teach. 

You have the power to teach your child in many different ways. Exposing your child to our diverse society promotes understanding. People watching while trying to guess a person’s feelings is a fun game to play. Owning up to your mistakes and using yourself as an example can be powerfully effective. Read on for more helpful advice.

We teach our children at a young age to be caring and compassionate. But those ideals need to be nurtured at every stage of childhood to fully develop. This article from Harvard’s Graduate School of Education provides 7 actions to teach empathy. 

Caring for living things is an empowering activity to foster empathy. These actions allow children to understand that “1) everything has needs; 2) these needs are not always identical; and 3) they can help meet those needs.” This PBS article provides many links to additional helpful resources. 

Discover the benefits of empathetic thinking. From better mental health to higher levels of overall happiness, the benefits are life changing. The ability to understand and share the feelings of others is a life skill every person must learn. 

Ten Tips to help toddlers manage their anger. The first tip is to teach the House Rules. Every house is different. The youngsters will have a better chance to be successful if provided a written set of rules to understand and follow. Post it in the house somewhere everyone can see. Providing healthy distractions is another good tip. This approach is quite powerful. There is nothing wrong with intentionally changing the focus. 

Anger is a normal emotion. It is something we have to manage throughout our lives. Teaching your child healthy coping skills is important. Creating a “coping box” to help your child calm down is a good strategy. Fill it with a coloring book, a toy, a game or anything your child likes. Engaging the senses can help calm the mind and body. Read on to learn more.

Written by Laura Markham, Ph.D., the editor of Ahaparenting.com and the author of The Peaceful Parent Series. It doesn’t help your angry child when you’re angry too. Read this article to learn 15 ways to manage anger responsibly when your child is upset.

“1. Set limits BEFORE you get angry. 2. Calm yourself down BEFORE you take action. 3. Take Five. 4. Listen to your anger, rather than acting on it…”