Parenting Blog

"If you clean your room, ill give you a candy bar". Now this will probably work...once. Sure, if a kid is feeling like a candy bar at that moment, he will go clean his room. However, if you just gave him a candy bar for practicing piano he might rather skip out on the sugar. Now what? If this is your go to bribe how will you help your child know it is time for him to clean his room? You are out of options. Or are you?  Family researchers have spent countless hours studying how children respond to bribes. Dr. Steve Dennis, Dean of Education & Human Development of BYU- Idaho helps us understand this concept in his article " What's the problem with Bribes?"  He says that "The problem (with rewards) comes when parents use rewards or punishments that are neither authentic nor logical. They are arbitrary and have no connection to the situation."(Dennis, Steve) He further explains that as a reward is connected to the situation or rather is it "aut...

Teaching intimacy can be scary!! What if we tell them too much? What if they are not ready for what we tell them? What if they don't take it seriously? WHAT IF THEY BECOME TOO CURIOUS?  These are all questions that parents fear when they think of teaching intimacy to their children. These are some concerns I had. My parents did not talk about intimacy or anything of the like. I wish they had. Luckily I had wonderful older sisters and young women leaders who I could go to if I had a question or concern. When it came time for me and my fiance to marry, I felt awkward going to my Mom because she had never been open with me about intimacy.  Teaching intimacy can be scary!! What if we tell them too much? What if they are not ready for what we tell them? What if they don't take it seriously? WHAT IF THEY BECOME TOO CURIOUS? I firmly believe that if parents can openly and appropriately speak to their children about intimacy they will be able to better prepare and enjoy ...