Teaching Kids Respect – Part 2: Conscious Communications

April 16, 2010

conscious (n.)  aware, sensible, deliberate. communication (n.)  message; sharing or conveying information to another. Last week we focused on becoming more mindful – more aware of your attitude and mindset towards teaching your kids respect.  Now let’s put those loving intentions to work. If you want different OUTPUT from your child – you want him […]

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Teaching Kids Respect – With Mindfulness

April 9, 2010

“Teaching Kids Respect – Part 1: Mindfulness” By Dr. Peter Montminy mindfulness (n.) the trait of staying aware of, or paying close attention to, your responsibilities; a mental state of calm, enhanced awareness. respect (v.) to honor or revere; to have a good opinion of someone, and to avoid doing anything they would dislike or […]

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Spring Cleaning for Parents

April 1, 2010

Well, I’ve had enough.  The rats have won the race.  I give up.  It’s over. You can’t ever do enough it seems.  You try to do the best you can, but it never feels good enough.  There’s always another item on the to do list – another 10 items, just for today.  Forget the 100 […]

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The 4 Paths to Reaching Your (Child’s) Potential

March 25, 2010

“My child is so bright, but he is so disorganized/inconsistent/unmotivated… How do I get him to perform up to his potential?” This is a common refrain for parents and teachers of kids with Executive Function difficulties – again, kids with plenty of brain power, but their control panel freezes up or goes offline with maddening […]

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Why You Must Know Your Child’s EF Profile

March 14, 2010

The Executive Functions of the brain are responsible for coordinating almost all of our interactions with the outside world.  When you stop and think about it, it’s pretty amazing.  We take in sensory information through our eyes and ears, and if our frontal lobes are working optimally, we STOP AND THINK before we act.  In […]

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Behavior Management Plans for ADHD

March 7, 2010

There can be many frustrations for students and teachers when a child has significant deficits in the brain’s ability to inhibit impulses (delay gratification) and sustain attention (stay focused and follow through on tasks).  For many kids with ADHD or other Executive Function Deficits, this is exactly the problem – being able to internally control […]

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Understanding Executive Functions and Self-Control in Children

February 28, 2010

I met with a team of middle school teachers recently who were livid.  They had a very bright student who was “marching to the beat of a different drummer” in a way that was highly frustrating and disruptive to their classes.  Even though they reported that he often appears “lost” in class and there “seems […]

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Youth Sports and Life Lessons

February 20, 2010

The Olympics are in full swing again.  It’s so fascinating to listen to the stories of the world’s top athletes, what it takes for them to fulfill their dreams, and then watch them go for it.  The thrill of victory… the agony of defeat… the human drama of athletic competition.  No guarantees, just like in […]

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“Preventing Youth Violence” Part 2

February 14, 2010

The Solutions So, given these major contributions to youth violence, what can we do?  The answers are simple enough to state.  The key is whether we have the political will as a society, and the personal resolve as our children’s caregivers, to practice what we preach.  I sincerely pray we do. 1. Listen, empathize, and […]

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“Preventing Youth Violence” Part 1

February 11, 2010

News headlines about youth violence sporadically rear their ugly head, as they did again this week about a 12-year-old boy who faces adult murder charges for allegedly shooting and killing his pregnant step-mother-to-be following some disagreements. We can’t know all the specifics of this particular tragedy.  But we can use it as an opportunity to […]

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