Owner: Awareness * Connection URL:http://enjoyparenting.blogspot.com Join Date: Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:34:20 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: Awareness * Connection explores parenting, self and relationships in today\\\'s world. From book reviews to practical tips to the latest research, it is worth the trip. Site statistics:Click here
Using Children's Books for Difficult Topics 2008-07-09 13:42:16 I am a big fan of using books with young kids for discussing difficult topics. Though we may have the best of intentions, with young children, it is just not a good developmental fit to sit across from them and simply talk about a difficult topic as we might with a friend or much older child. Of course it's not that conversations aren't appropriate at all. Though there are some tricks as far as ti Read more:Children
, Books
What You're Not Saying That Says So Much 2008-07-09 01:17:51 Early in my teaching career I learned about a concept that first got me thinking seriously about just how important our use of language can be when talking to kids. I overheard a skilled, veteran teacher making a mistake with a kid. I remember clearly that it was a group of first graders walking down the hallway. One of the kids was messing around in line. His teacher walked up to him, took him b Read more:Not Saying
Alter Your Information Diet 2008-07-07 02:38:15 I just came across a blog with all sorts of useful information called the Positivity Blog by Henrik Edberg. I like the way that most of the articles are along the the lines of lists of practical tips, usually with the number of items in the list included in the title. An example is this article that I first came across linked from Merlin Mann's 43 Folders site: 5 Compelling Reasons to Adjust Your Read more:Alter
Seven Inside Tips for Mastering New Skills 2008-07-07 02:33:34 Be patient with yourself. This is the most important one. People often have unrealistic expectations for how quickly they are going to master a new behavior. This unrealistic expectation sets up for early discouragement.Pick one or two new skills to focus on. Don't try to change everything at once. Just as it makes sense to help your kids to work on only one or two new skills at a time, you should Read more:Seven
, Mastering
, Skills
Be the Trend Setter 2008-07-07 01:49:27 I've been very encouraged by the traffic this blog has been getting. It is fascinating to see people reading from everywhere from South Africa to Texas to Stockholm. This Internet stuff is amazing. And to think that it wasn't even around a couple decades ago. As encouraging the traffic is and as grateful as I am for the readership, I'd love to see folks weigh in with comments.All it is going to ta Read more:Setter
Gorslini's Fabulous Quesadillas 2008-07-07 01:40:40 Well the kitchen has been finished for a few weeks, so where are all the new blog posts you might be wondering? Well I've been using the new kitchen more than I ever dreamed I would, which has translated into less computer time. I often seem to do this in life where I rediscover something that in the past I very much enjoyed, but have just gotten away from for one reason or another. In this case,
Enjoy Parenting Again, Again 2008-07-07 01:37:48 It is hard to believe, but it has been about seven years since my friends Amy and Reese designed my Enjoy ParentingAgain
logo and my website. They did it back when I started up teaching parenting classes again, toward the end of my graduate work at Lewis & Clark in Counseling Psychology. Over the years since Amy and Reese first got me launched Erin did the maintenance on the site for me, atta
The Joys of Ziti 2008-07-07 01:36:12 I have only recently discovered the joys of baked ziti. I think I actually first became aware of the dish when watching the Sopranos. I made my first one based on this recipe by Mario Batali with a balsamella sauce: Baked Ziti al Telefono. The name refers to the cheese being nice and stringy and apparently reminding some Italian folks of telephone wires. With this nice little allusion, combined wi
The Prozac Goose Chase. Why Prozac Probably Works Differently Than We Thought 2008-07-07 01:14:44 The Boston Globe reports on a theory that I'd heard about a while back that seems to be gaining traction, amassing evidence to support it, Head Fake: How Prozac
Sent the Science of Depression in the Wrong Direction. The idea is that rather than depression being due to a shortage of some neurotransmitter or other, that it is actually due to neurons (brain cells) shrinking and dying in much the same Read more:Probably
, Works
Quick Rant on Leaving Comments 2008-07-06 11:48:05 I know at least two people have mentioned that they tried to leave a comment and weren't able to because the protocol for leaving it is not all that intuitive. Though I'm grateful for the Blogger software, which overall is very well-designed, especially considering the price (free), I have to agree with the critique for comments.At the bottom of each post, you see a envelope icon. Kind of looks li Read more:Quick
, Leaving
, Comments
A Catterpillar, a Butterfly and Swarms of Contractors 2008-07-05 18:10:22 With the help of a couple of new inhalers, I've finally broken through to the other side. With the weather turning and being able to breath more freely—not having a fever is always nice too—I feel a bit like a butterfly crawling out of my cocoon.And speaking of insects, just outside my cocoon is the remainder of the swarm of contractors that have been doing everything from replacing old galvan Read more:Butterfly
, Contractors
I Had it Coming, Apparently 2008-05-04 10:57:05 If I'm recalling correctly I got through the entire fall and winter without a single cold or flu incident this year. Now that it is spring time I'm on my third round, and this last one has been a real doozy. This one I guess you call a cold because of all the nasal and cough symptoms, but the fever that won't stay down, the chills, the sweats and all that make me want to call it the flu. Whatever
Merlin Mann and the 43 Folders 2008-04-27 14:06:43 I can't believe that I'm writing more on Merlin
. I am fascinated with his site 43 Folders
. I am growing to really love this guy's nerdy, offbeat and tenacious approach to getting organized. I've posted before about finding the ideas that David Allen outlines in his book Getting Things Done very useful. But there is a formality about it that seems to be aimed at business folks that just isn't nearl
Useful Site / Email Ninja Skills 2008-04-27 00:14:55 Time for a next installment on Getting Things Done (GTD). It is becoming increasingly clear that one of the top challenges of our age is sifting through information to mine out what we need. How do you sort through all the junk and marginally useful info to get to the handful of gold? How do you face all piles of paper, or the heap in your inbox to end up with practical, useful information that yo Read more:Skills
, Useful
, Email
, Ninja
Setting up for Sleep Success 2008-04-10 00:05:36 Time Magazine has a nice little article on children and sleep that touches on the results of a few studies. It starts off with the results of a new study by Valérie Simard of Hôpital de Sacré-Coeur in Montréal, which looked at the link between parent bedtime behaviors and sleep disturbances in children during infancy and early childhood. The study was published by the Archives of Pediatrics &a Read more:Setting
, Sleep
, Success
Getting Things Done: Taxes & Root Canals 2008-03-30 14:38:48 Taxes are finally complete, sent off through cyberspace and satisfyingly checked off my Getting Things Done (GTD) list**. Getting tax stuff done with a lot less stress is one of many examples of how tedious chore type stuff has gone more smoothly for me since I've been using the system...and I have to say, I don't tend to be much of a personal organization "system" type of guy. If I'm able to use Read more:Taxes
Other Therapists Respond to In Treatment 2008-03-21 17:37:11 A comment on the original post provided a link to an L.A. Times article where therapists respond to the content of the In Treatment
that is worth sharing here. Along with some positive responses in the article there are a number of complaints about the way that psychotherapy is portrayed. Prominent examples of what they dislike are lack of professional boundaries and the therapist's life being a Read more:Respond
Some Very Good Television 2008-03-21 09:45:54 I've had a good friend hounding me for 6 weeks now to watch some clips from an HBO show called In Treatment. It is a show that has been adapted from a popular Israeli series. It is a clever arrangement. Each day of the week Dr. Paul Weston sees a different client. On Monday he sees a distraught young anesthesiologist struggling with partner. Tuesday he sees an egotistical young navy pilot whose ev Read more:Television
A Factor to Consider with ADHD Treatment 2008-03-20 20:52:08 I see parents frequently who are wondering whether to have their child assessed, believing he/she might have ADHD. The parents who do go on to have their child assessed and discover their child does meet criteria for the diagnosis of ADHD also wonder about whether to treat it primarily with behavioral approaches or whether to consider stimulant medication. This headline was all over the place rece Read more:Treatment
Working with Parts of Us 2008-03-17 12:26:42 The conference was very worthwhile. It was nice because it was actually led the the creator of the model, Dr. Richard Schwartz—in my mind it is always best to get it straight from the horse's mouth when you can. I continue to see this model as being very promising for working with a number of issues that clients commonly face. One of the things that I like about it is that it evolved out of clin Read more:Parts
Allergies Affect Kids In Multiple Contexts 2008-03-17 11:51:56 Here is a Reuters story (pic from them as well) that certainly matches my own childhood experiences. I remember years of miserable days and nights in the spring and early summer. The gist of the story is that allergies don't just make kids uncomfortable. Allergies
affect their sleep, concentration in school and even physical activity like on the playground. My bet would be that the interrupted sle Read more:Affect
, Multiple
Kelso Helps Kids Practice Problem Solving Skills 2008-03-11 10:41:11 When I was teaching elementary school out in Hillsoboro I ran across a copy of a handout that I found very helpful with young kids. It was a black line drawing of the choice wheel above. On it are eight options that visually illustrate what kids can do when they run into problems interacting with other children. I could tell immediately that it was going to be helpful so I did what many new elemen Read more:Skills
, Practice
, Problem
Multiplicity: I'm Talking to All of You 2008-03-07 11:39:52 I'm off to a family therapy conference in Washington to learn about Internal Family Systems Therapy. It is an approach that I was recently exposed to and that makes a great deal of sense to me. The idea is that we all experience ourselves as having different parts to us. An easy illustration is how you can be yourself and feel comfortable visiting with your grandmother and you can feel comfortable Read more:Talking
"The Medicated Child" on FRONTLINE 2008-01-05 21:42:33 Frontline is a show I enjoy as an info resource, especially in today's sound byte world because it attempts to stick to the facts and presents more or less evenhanded portrayals of whatever topic it takes on. It's been called "...the last best hope for broadcast documentaries." Coming up on Tuesday, January 8th at 9 pm on PBS they are going to examine the issue of the increase in psychiatric medic
Crucial Confrontations 2007-10-31 16:02:53 I'm in the middle of a book called Crucial
Confrontations about how to directly confront peers, supervisors, spouses, anyone when agreements aren't upheld, promises are broken, etc. I'm about half way through with it. I'm finding it quite good, the recommendations specific and realistic and the authors well versed in both psychology and social psychology. I'm already playing with a couple of the i
An iPhone 2.0 Day of Ups & Downs for Me 2008-07-23 19:01:52 ThursdayUp: New version of iTunes is here. Here we go.Up: The app store is now open. Check all this out.Up: Lots of free apps.Down: No scrabble for iPhone
.Up: I just bought some apps. Esp the OmniFocus app I've been craving to sync with my iPhone. The desktop version is the all time greatest GTD app by a mile. Synchage could be amazing.Down: No iPhone 2.0 yet.Down: No midnight release.Down: No
GTD Flow Chart Made Outwardly Beautiful Too 2008-07-23 15:25:22 This is from over at anabubula. I think I'll keep my Portland Japanese Gardens rock garden on my phone, but it makes a nice little jpg reference that I have tucked in a GTD reference folder on my desktop. It will certainly suit some folks tastes more than David Allen's more corporate blackline master. Enjoy, however you use it. Thanks to anabubula for creating it and making it available.If you enj Read more:Chart
, Beautiful
Shared Control: The Art of Offering Choices Within Limits 2008-07-23 15:24:59 At some level we are all aware that sharing control with children is essential. As I mentioned in my last post, kids get bossed around all day. Others decide what they can eat, what they should watch on television, who they can play with, etc. I'm not suggesting that this shouldn't be the case. The adult should be making a lot of these decisions. But think about this from your child's perspective Read more:Control
, Limits
Another Bump in the Technology Road for Yours Truly 2008-07-23 15:23:53 In my travels around the blogosphere I ran into Disqus (pronounced discuss). And like so many of my technology adventures go, I ran over a nail and now have to pull over for repairs. I'll explain first what I was after. The idea of Disqus, so far as I understand it is that comments from your various blogging interactions on your own blog and where you leave comments elsewhere all end up in one pla Read more:Technology
, Yours
iPhone 2.0 Activation Fix. Get Through Server Overload 2008-07-23 15:19:56 Here is the fix that finally got me through after hours of hitting the okay button on the -4 iTunes error message:1) When the error message comes up hit okay, but Do Not Disconnect your iPhone
. 2) Quit iTunes3) Relaunch iTunes4) Voila. If you had the same luck I did, you're likely breathing easier now just like me. Hope this helps. Read more:Activation
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