by janetedgette | Nov 6, 2020 | Family life, Mental health, Parent-Child communication, Parent-Teen communication, Parenting
“Mom, there’s a guy in our driveway with a tow truck,” my son tells me, urgently. With miscalculated insouciance I reply, “No worries, dude, I’m sure it’s Bill.” Bill is our neighbor, and he owns a service station. “But he’s hooking up...
by janetedgette | Jun 6, 2020 | Parent-Teen communication, Parenting, Parenting teens, Teenagers
My last post expressed my concern about the way we talk about teenagers in our culture—you know, that kids are just “hard-wired” to be difficult once they reach adolescence, that puberty and all those hormones make them crazy, etc… I wondered whether we could afford...
by janetedgette | Dec 6, 2019 | Bullying, Family life, Mental health, Parent-Child communication, Parent-Teen communication, Parenting, Parenting young children, Self-esteem
People love Mr. Fred Rogers and the recent movie, It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, elegantly illustrated his abundance of empathy, generosity, emotional intelligence, and grace. Yes, he was kind, but there was something more that drew children toward him and...
by janetedgette | Jul 4, 2019 | Family life, Parent-Child communication, Parent-Teen communication, Parenting, Parenting teens, Parenting young children, Teenagers
A teenage girl stares at her mother who waits patiently and smiles kindly at the elderly man whose unfamiliarity with paying electronically is holding up the line at the register. “Why were you smiling at that guy?” the daughter asks on their way out, her impatience...
by janetedgette | Jan 15, 2019 | Boy behavior, Boys, Boys and sports, Bullying, Home Page, Kids who are afraid to play sports, Kids who don't like sports, Masculinity, Nonathletic boys, Parenting
For too long this familiar adage — “boys will be boys” — has served as nothing more than a thin disguise for poor behavior that boys and men should have long outgrown or never developed in the first place. Countless acts of cruelty, bullying, teasing,...
by janetedgette | May 21, 2018 | Boys, Boys and sports, Masculinity, Parenting, Self-esteem
Myself and other professionals were invited to weigh in on a piece written by the Clinician’s Digest where we discuss young boys and the challenges they face with expressing emotions. Below is an excerpt with my contribution but feel free to read the full...
