What’s your parenting mindset as your children return to school? In addition to getting your student ready, back-to-school is also a time when most parents revisit strategies that help support their children during the academic year.

As a writer and researcher with a passion for positive youth development, I regularly connect with educators and psychologists who write superb articles for parents.

These authors share the latest thinking and research on learning, achievement, family well-being, parent engagement, special needs children, youth sports, media, technology, discipline, homework, bullying, and much more.

As your children get resettled into the school routine, take some time for yourself – to reflect on your own values about education and how you can more intentionally support your children.  I’ve compiled what I believe are some of the best recent articles for parents – from a variety of reputable bloggers. The list is divided by topic and I’ve put a short summary of what you will find in each one. read more »

It’s easy to think that parents of smart kids have it easy. After all, their kids have the potential to achieve their dreams. Right?

Well, not so fast. Fostering true potential in bright children isn’t as stress-free as it may look from the outside.

If you are parenting a bright or even gifted child, you know the journey can be challenging. Sometimes our definition of potential is limited by a narrow vision — a notion that success can be measured by impressive accomplishments like school grades or test scores. In our eagerness to support children’s achievement, we sometimes forget that potential is not a lofty end goal but the capacity to grow, learn, and adapt to change throughout life. It is about discovering a fulfilling and meaningful life, one that cannot be measured by numbers.

Reinforcing this broad view of potential, Smart Parenting for Smart Kids: Nurturing Your Child’s True Potential, is an excellent book by Eileen Kennedy-Moore, PhD, and Mark Lowenthal, PsyD, that provides well-researched guidance for parents of bright children. Suggesting that it takes more than school smarts to create fulfilling lives, they highlight some of the special challenges facing smart kids and provide helpful parenting strategies to support children’s positive growth and development. The following describe three common challenges some smart kids face. read more »

How do children learn to feel connected to their communities and know they can make a difference in the world?

The answer isn’t as complex as it might seem. Like many college students who became committed to social and environmental causes, Danielle talked about developing compassion at a young age. When her father took her to visit nursing homes as a child, Danielle said, “I could see how much people were hurting there and how they appreciated our presence. Learning compassion for people I didn’t know is something that’s stuck with me.”

Developing compassion in elementary and middle school-aged children is akin to developing muscle strength. The more you use your muscles, the stronger they get. Children who participate in programs that teach kindness, respect, empathy, and compassion and who have families that reinforce those strengths at home develop the muscles they need to become civically-engaged adolescents and adults. During the teen years, they reach deep within themselves, access these muscles, and develop social and civic identities that last a lifetime. read more »

Meet Dorothy Law Nolte. She’s a woman who understood the field of positive youth development before it was invented.

Born in 1924, Dorothy Law Nolte became a parent educator, family counselor, and writer known for her inspirational poem, Children Learn What They Live. First published in 1954, it was pasted to refrigerators, printed on posters, and distributed to millions of parents by a baby formula maker.

As a researcher, I am always delving into the latest study and looking for cause and effect relationships that show how children develop.  Sometimes though, I find a refreshing simplicity in the words of a poem. When I came across this poem by Dorothy Law Nolte I envisioned numerous research studies that support her assertions.  I thought I would post it for your enjoyment.  Who knows, maybe you’ll paste it to your refrigerator! read more »

We all wonder how children grow up to be happy, fulfilled, and engaged in life.  

While there are no easy answers, research shows that three things make a big difference.  First, children need positive life experiences that engage them in meaningful activities.  Second, they need adults who help them believe in themselves.  And last, they need families, schools, and communities who model and instill positive values.

The growing field of positive youth development seeks to find better ways to foster mental health rather than merely correcting, curing, or treating children for their developmental deficits.  It aims to engage young people in activities and positive relationships that help them thrive in life. read more »

Yes, service and learning go together!

And parents can play an important role in helping tweens and teens get the most from service learning during the summer months!

Research shows that civic engagement promotes higher academic achievement and develops many skills, including critical thinking, organizing, and planning. It also helps young people form an identity, an essential role of adolescence. But all volunteer jobs are not created equal and finding the best experiences for teens can be challenging.

Most likely, you have heard the term service learning. It usually refers to an organized program, part of a school curriculum, that gives kids the opportunity to link what they learn in the classroom to real world situations in their communities. Service learning programs work with a variety of community agencies that agree to work with schools to provide rich learning opportunities for youth. read more »

Adults understand that making mistakes is part of life.  What’s important is how we learn from them. 

Yet, many children are growing up in a society that pressures them to be perfect – to get the highest SAT scores, to land prized scholarships, to get into the best universities.  Some parents complete or correct children’s homework to get them a better grade. So how does all this focus on testing and perfection affect kid’s learning?  And how can we help them learn from mistakes?

I recently came across an article in Scientific American, Getting it Wrong: Surprising Tips on How to Learn that supports a number of learning and developmental theories.  Historically, many educators have created conditions for learning that do not encourage errors.  And parents have followed suit.  For example, if we drill children over and over again with the same math problem, they will eventually remember the answer. And if they are lucky, they will remember the answer on a standardized test. read more »

Parents and families play a key role in character development.

Parents who create positive home learning environments know that communicating about academics and homework is important.  They also understand that family values get passed from one generation to the next.  But how we instill values and character strengths in kids often seems mysterious.  Is it through discipline, living our own values, treating kids with respect, or a combination of the many ways we interact with our children?

Maria Rose Reifler, a fifth grade teacher in East Los Angeles, recently asked, “Where are the parents?” And for good reason.  Children are losing hope, giving up on life, and feeling insecure about themselves at alarmingly young ages. read more »