Category: Children, family, and relationships

  • Bedtime bargaining: Getting your child to sleep without sacrificing your sanity

    Children are remarkable bargainers, especially as their bedtime approaches. And the outcome is critical indeed, as a bad bedtime bargain not only guarantees a crabby morning; it also leaves parents frustrated in the face of their own weakness. Willing an unwilling child to bed is tough. But it’s negotiable! Today I’ll discuss a seemingly trivial…

  • Getting them out the door on time: How to make the first offer

    If you’re anything like me, you have a need (even a compulsion) to be on time. But if you’re uncannily like me, you’re frequently frustrated by a friend or family member who, when accompanying you to your appointments, sees no particular difference between 10:30 and 11:00. The nerve! How can you possibly convince them to…

  • Why won’t they eat (sleep, use the potty)? Making the first offer to a toddler

    Why not start with one of the toughest problems of all—convincing a toddler to do what you want them to do? If you have kids, you know that this problem often seems insurmountable. From eating, to sleeping, to using the potty, your priorities for toddlers only occasionally correspond to their priorities for themselves. Not that…