Bill Corbett

It may seem strange that I'm grouping television with the other two items, but when it comes to parenting, why shouldn't I? What do they all have in common? They can have dangerous effects on our children. Most parents do good jobs keeping their kids away from the later two, but when it comes to television programming, many others let their kids watch it without supervision. Yet experts continue to warn parents that letting their kids have unsupervised access to TV is not a good idea. In fact, in a recent online article , experts in Australia are concerned about coding changes that will allow mature content shows air well before kids are in bed. If experts are making this warning , why aren't all parents concerned? There are good things about television (or even Internett) programming and bad things. Instead of putting more controls on networks, websites and producers, isn't it time to put more pressure on parents to step up and supervise another thing that is int...

Courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net and Bill LongShaw I hear parents complain that their kids don’t appreciate what they have. So much is available to our kids today that it’s hard for them to imagine being without. Then when they push their parents for more, it triggers a feeling of resentment for the parents as they think about all they've done and provided for their kids so far. My own kids occasionally threw in the, “All my friends have an (insert anyone of these here: iPhone, TV, Xbox, Six Flags pass, etc.), why can’t I have one?” It’s common for them to think that every other child has what they want, even though it may not be true. Remain calm when they make these claims and stand firm in your position to not cave at their demands. Instead of reminding your children of all that you’ve bought or done for them, let their cries for more stuff be your reminder to get them involved in something that gives to others. From food banks, to pet adoption groups, to the...

It’s like a drug, they can’t get enough.  They’ll mysteriously forget about homework assignments just to get it.  They’ll fight you tooth and nail not to lose it.  It’s one of the biggest issues that reduces cooperation for many parents and if they could, they would pass up sleep and food just to have more of it.  What I’m talking about is entertainment media for children, and it is highly addictive.  It’s also referred to as SCREEN TIME and it exists in the form of video games, television shows, computer usage and the Internet, and it must be controlled, supervised and allowed in moderation.  If parents would just understand and implement this, they would get a bonus of more cooperation from their children.  Chores would be done as planned and homework would be completed as agreed. I was hired as a parent coach by a family recently.  At our first meeting, they listed the top five challenges they were experiencing with their oldest child....