Many years ago, I heard an Oprah interview with the novelist Toni Morrison, who passed away in August. Morrison described how, when her children came into the room, she thought she was showing care by fussing over their appearance, “to see if they had buckled their trousers or […]
“A boy at my table made fun of me during math today,” my second-grader told me one evening after bedtime. Worries tend to spill out after lights out. “He said, ‘What?! You are still working on that packet? I finished that yesterday.’” Swallowing my fierce first reaction, I […]
In the aftermath of a huge New England snowstorm, a friend’s car got stuck driving down KJ Dell’Antonia’s driveway. So she and her four children bundled up and headed out with shovels. After freeing the car once, it slid into a snowbank, and they had to start again as […]
As we approach the summer solstice, it’s harder to maintain my strict evening routine. The sky is light long after dinner, and my four-year-old and six-year-old find bugs, birds, and bark more appealing than bath and bedtime. Who can blame them? Everything they see sparks their wonder: spiders’ […]
“Go pick your bedtime book, right now,” I told my four-year-old. Afternoon meltdowns had turned into bedtime battles, and I was tired. He returned clutching the book Glad Monster, Sad Monster and curled up beside me. His body began to relax as we read about all the things that made these […]
Originally published on NPR’s MindShift. Katie Hurley’s office is filled with young girls who struggle with courage, confidence and friendship skills. Hurley, a child and adolescent psychotherapist and author of the recently published “No More Mean Girls,” has noticed an escalating trend: Girls right now are overwhelmed with adult-directed activities. […]
“Did anyone have an oops today?” asked my four-year-old son at the dinner table last night. “Oh, I did!” replied his six-year-old sister. “I left my Patriots hat on the bus in the morning. But my oops is also my yay because the bus driver found it and gave it to me in the […]
Originally published on MindShift. Popularity is a loaded word. For many adults, it evokes powerful memories of jockeying for position in high school cafeterias and hallways. These memories are salient for a reason, said Mitch Prinstein, a professor of psychology and author of “Popular: The Power of Likability in a […]
Originally published on MindShift From an early age, children are sensitive to social cues from adults, peers, media and their surrounding environment. A closer look at adults’ nonverbal signals — including their tone of voice, facial expression and body language — found that children can “catch bias” simply by observing adult actions, […]
“Open up!” “The doctor said you need to take your medicine.” “This will help you feel better!” “You can have one chocolate chip if you drink it all gone.” My four-year-old needed to take a dose of antibiotics yesterday — a heaping spoonful of chalky goo — and […]
