The Keys to Being a Good Dad: Part 1
by John Hoffman In my final three blogs I’m going to focus on what I think I’ve learned about what it takes to make a good father. Some people might start with words like commitment or love or parenting skills, but I’m going to start with another word: stress. Why...
What Part Of Your Child’s Brain Are You Talking To?
by John Hoffman Today’s parents are much more into reasoning with kids than parents of a couple of generations ago. Back then parent-child dialogue was much more about telling kids what they had to do (and not do), and what would happen if they didn’t (or did) do it,...
What’s the best way to stop yelling at your kids?
The first thing I’d suggest is doing a careful think about why you yell. We often tell ourselves we’re yelling to get a strong message across to a child. But I don’t buy that. I think parental yelling is at least as much, probably more, about the parent than the child. It’s a stress reaction. Usually we yell when our coping reserves are at low levels, as was the case with Tony Errington the day he lost his voice.
FUN: It’s important to child development in more ways than you think
by John Hoffman It always sticks in my craw a little bit when people say, “Play is child’s work.” I know what they’re trying to get at. Play is a really important part of children’s development. But what bugs me about comparing child’s play to adult work is that,...