Bill Corbett

Many parents assume their primary job is to provide answers. Children ask questions. Parents give answers. Simple enough. But what if some of the most important moments in a child's development happen when we resist the urge to answer? Children are constantly trying to make sense of their world. They are organizing thoughts, processing experiences, exploring emotions, and building confidence in their own ability to think. Unfortunately, adults often interrupt this process without realizing it. A child begins telling a story. Before they finish, we explain what happened. A child asks a question. Before they have a chance to think, we provide the answer. A child expresses a feeling. Before they can explore it, we rush in to make it better. While our intentions are good, we sometimes rob children of valuable opportunities to develop their own thinking. Three simple phrases can help. 1. Tell Me More This phrase communicates one powerful message: "I'm interest...

Six Laws about Kids That Parents Need to Accept Much of the frustration we experience with our children’s behavior is caused by a lack of understanding kids.  Expanding our thinking about our children and accepting some basic, rudimentary facts will help us change the way we see their behavior and also change our behavior as a parent.  We will be much more successful as caregivers if we see the world from our child’s point of view.  Here are six irrefutable laws about kids that will change the way we use discipline. They Live Only In The Moment.  Whatever the young child happens to be doing at the moment is his entire world.  His full attention and focus is on the activity in front of him and he is usually unable to think about anything else unless another activity offers more incentive than the current activity. What Adults Can Do:  Establish rules prior to the start of each activity Use visual timers to create limits for some activities Be patien...