Happy Families Blog

Why do adolescents take risks – a lot? It’s almost like they feel they’re immortal.  Adolescents are impulsive. They seek constant stimulation. They don’t weigh risks before they dive ...

Have you ever travelled to a country where your native tongue isn’t the primary language spoken? If you have, what did you notice about communication between the locals and yourself? If your ...

In my last article I discussed a range of problems associated with smacking our kids. The article was designed to demonstrate that there is a lot of evidence that indicates that smacking kids ...

One of the most respected psychologists in the world today, Dr Martin Seligman, recently said: “(Teaching) children is vastly more than fixing what is wrong with them. It is about identifying ...

I’ve noticed a pattern in my own parenting, and in the parenting of many mums and dads I work with. We parents can often exhibit a relatively low tolerance with our kids – particularly when we ...

When I was a child and someone called me a name or said something unkind to me, I was taught to respond with the old poem Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me. But the ...

I recently received an email from a concerned parent. It read as follows: My friend threatened to leave her 8 year-old kid on the side of the road. He had been playing up something shocking and she ...

In Australia in 2010-2011 there were just under 240 000 reports of suspected child abuse and neglect. Can I say that one more time for emphasis? Close to a quarter of ONE MILLION reports were made ...

We have our greatest influence on our children during the first twelve years of their lives. Once adolescence hits, our ability to guide them is reduced as they become increasingly independent, and as...

Research debunking the myth of praise as useful has been published since the 1970’s. However, every time that I talk to parents about why they shouldn’t praise their kids, people look at me...