Traditions That Bring Families Closer
Extraordinary moments often masquerade as ordinary life. So look around the pandemonium and remind yourself to be grateful for every minute you get to spend with your children as they grow. These years pass more quickly than we can imagine, and when kids look back, these are the memories that will define family for them.
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Why Do Families Need Rituals?
What's a ritual? It's a routine with meaning. Children love ritual. Repetition, the comfort of belonging, the sense of wonder, magic, and celebration -- all create a bonding experience that nurtures both kids and parents. Rituals hold families together.
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Autumn Holiday Rituals that Nurture Family Connection
Parenting is tough, and often we're just rushing against the clock to get our kids out the door in the morning, pick them up on time, get them through their homework and dinner, into the tub, into bed...so we can get up the next morning and do it all over again.
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Thanksgiving Rituals To Teach Gratitude
"If we want to be happy, and to raise happy kids, we need to practice gratitude — deliberately, and consistently, or we may end up feeling more entitled than appreciative. When we feel entitled, we often stew about unfulfilled expectations. Disappointment is not a happiness habit. Gratitude is." - Christine Carter
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Parents' Holiday Survival Skill #1: Manage Yourself
No matter what holiday you celebrate, what's your most important survival skill? In fact, what's the most essential skill for parents, at the holidays and every day? It's to manage yourself, so you can stay calm and loving with your child!
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8 Tips To De-Stress Your December
December doesn't have to be stressful, no matter what holiday you celebrate. The increasing dark of the Northern hemisphere can be a signal to turn inward to your family, to create more warmth, light and peace in your home. It can be a time for cozy connection and deep joy, whatever your personal beliefs.
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Easy Homemade Presents to Make With Kids
If it’s the thought that counts, then what matters about a present is the love that goes into it. There's no need to spend a fortune on gifts, whether for grandparents, cousins, friends or teachers. Your kids will love making them, and the recipients will treasure them.
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Help Your Child Discover Her Inner Angel
Read More"On Christmas morning, before we could open our Christmas presents, we would go to this stranger's home and bring them presents. I remember helping clean the house up and putting up a tree. My father believed that you have a responsibility to look after everyone else."
-George Clooney
Holiday Survival Guide
Disrupted schedules, traveling with little ones, the crash and burn from all the excitement -- Holidays can easily be a recipe for tears and tantrums. Here's a baker's dozen of my top tips to help you manage life during the holidays, so you can minimize the tears and maximize the joy.
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50 Meaningful December Traditions for Families
Want more family joy and deeper meaning this holiday season? Experimenting with a new family tradition or two can lift your spirits and bring your family closer.
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You Don't Have To Make Up for Not Being a Perfect Parent
"We often don’t feel the wonder and beauty because we're too busy trying to live up to the ideal in our head.... The cost of perfection is that it stresses us out to the point where we no longer enjoy the moment we're living in." - Pastor Jon
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Looking for Love at the Toy Store
"Television advertisements for toys and games often exploit children's underlying needs and desires. Many commercials show a child playing with a game or toy with her parents. The message is clear to young children: Ask for this product and your mother and father will pay attention to you. It is an offer they cannot resist." -- Lawrence Kutner
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New Year's Rituals for Families
“Tomorrow is the first blank page of a 365 page book. Write a good one.” - Brad Paisley
Children are fascinated by the passage of time, which seems magical to them. They LOVE the idea of a new year, a new beginning, a celebration of life. And so do adults! We can all use the momentum of a fresh start.
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The Secret of Making a New Year's Resolution You Can Keep
Did you make a New Years Resolution to be more patient, or to stop yelling? Surveys show those are the #1 resolutions for parents.
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Do you have a New Year's resolution about parenting? Let's do this!
Many people joke about New Year's resolutions as if they're impossible to keep. But there are some people who are able to change their lives in positive ways, using the new year to give them a psychological boost. What do they know that we don't?
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10 Simple Ways To Improve Your Parenting, No Resolutions Necessary
Tired of resolutions? Here are 10 Simple Ways To Improve Your Parenting, No Resolutions Necessary. Put these on your fridge and read them daily. (You can download a pdf from the link at the end of the article.) I guarantee you less drama and more love.
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5 Resolutions That Will Make You a Better Parent This Year
"Dr. Laura....My new year's resolution is to be more patient. But when I told my family, they reminded me that I made the same resolution last year. I feel like a failure, even though I know I've become a better mother over the past year." -- Christina
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"I read your Toddler tips yesterday and tried each suggestion, and LO! My daughter has not been fighting me! Like some kind of magic it just works!"
Karina
Dr. Laura is a parent whisperer! - Liz McIntosh
Liz McIntosh
Dr. Laura's parenting advice completely changed my relationship with my daughter, improved her self-esteem, and transformed our lives. Providing my daughter with acknowledgement of her feelings and point of view reduced her oppositional behaviors and emotional meltdowns to nearly none. - Jodie Tokatlian
Dr. Laura, you have created miracles, large and small, in so many lives and our children thank you.
Folks, she's brilliant. It's wonderful to have parenting experts who don't see the child as the enemy in a locked combat, for one thing. I recommend it.
"I'd really recommend Laura Markham's Aha! parenting books and website for brilliantly practical ways to parent with kindness instead of punishment." - Makchoon
Makchoon
I have seen amazing improvement in my *very* angry 17 year-old son after acknowledging that there was a reason he was so angry and acting out. We have had several heartfelt conversations and I have seen a real change in how he treats his younger brother, and how he treats me.
I know that I am a better parent thanks to Dr. Laura's inspirational words and suggestions.
I love AhaParenting because there is always a "pick yourself up and try again" to it. - Chantal Harrison
Chantal Harrison
It's like these emails were meant for me. - Caroline Henry
"Just wanted to say how much I appreciate receiving your regular emails. They've improved my parenting (and me as a person!) and made my children's lives better. Thank you!" - Andrei
Andrei
My daughter reacts so much better when I empathize and stay patient. And now I get to model that behavior instead of letting my frustration get the better of me.
Thank YOU so much for your encouraging weekly newsletters and your Facebook posts. Since I began following your approach, I have noticed a difference in the compassion I show to myself, and how much more that helps me connect with my kids. We are all feeling a lot more overall peace!
Thank you for your weekly emails and your books. They're a life line for me when I really need support during a rough patch. - Lisa Fernandez
Lisa Fernandez
Today I say thank you, tears streaming from my face, so proud of my little boy and all he will become. Thank you. - Jennifer B.
Jennifer B
Yes. It works. And the more rest I get, the more patience I have. It makes a difference.
Dear Dr. Laura Markham! I am a mother of 2 boys - 16 and 7 years old. I am extremely grateful for all the emotional and relational education that you provide us and also for your incredible loving energy to support our evolution as parents, as human beings. I took your course 3 years ago. Although the challenges of the parent-child relationship change almost every year, your parenting principles are equally valuable and effective. It's hard to reprogram the emotional-behavioral pattern learned in my own childhood... so I find it very helpful to go back to your teachings to regain trust and patience as a parent every time new challenges trigger my anxiety. To have more clarity, to reset my energy. Thank you!!
Janina-Madalina Dobrescu
Your philosophies are the only tools we've come across which offer practical advice grounded in clearly laid out lay terminology. Our family life day-to-day is nothing short of a miracle, thanks to you! - Dana Questad
Dana Questad
