Time Out Is Out by: Lepage Associates Psychological Services Q: My husband and I are adamantly against spanking so we’ve always used Time Outs to help get control of a situation and teach our children about managing their behavior. But now I’m hearing about that Time Outs are bad. We never figured out the secret to getting them to work that well anyway, but now we don’t know what to … [Read more...]

Teaching Kids To Apologize by: Lepage Associates Psychological Services Q: My kids won’t apologize to each other. It drives me crazy! Usually they just stand there and say nothing, and if I push it they grunt like a caveman. I’m worried what will happen (or may already be happening) to their friendships and future relationships if they can’t learn to do this. How do you teach a child to say … [Read more...]

Things To Try Before Logical Consequences by: Lepage Associates Psychological Services Last month we discussed the benefit of logical consequences over punishment, and how (and why) to choose logical consequences. But it’s important to note that even if we follow all those guidelines and give a perfect logical consequence, it’s punishment if the child perceives it as such. It’ll have the … [Read more...]

Logical Consequenes by: Lepage Associates Psychological Services Q: I have a 9 year-old and a 16 year-old and with both I sometimes struggle with figuring out appropriate punishments. My husband thinks mine are too severe and my teenager recently told me that what I came up with yesterday “didn’t make sense.” And I agreed with her! But I didn’t know what else to do. How do you figure out a … [Read more...]

Connecting During Distress by: Lepage Associates Psychological Services Q: My 4th grade daughter has been in a really bad mood lately – moping around, angry, crying sometimes. My wife and I handle it in different ways: I try to distract her and get her mind on something fun, and my wife pushes her to talk about what’s wrong. Nothing we’ve tried works and we’re arguing with each other a lot … [Read more...]

Childhood Anxiety by: Lepage Associates Psychological Services Q: My 6 year old is now suddenly afraid of a lot of things – getting on the bus, staying with a sitter, getting hurt, etc. I spend hours every day trying to convince her she has nothing to worry about but it doesn’t help. I’m getting very frustrated but also worried for her because I see her life getting more limited as she … [Read more...]

Sharing by: Lepage Associates Psychological Services Q: My 3 year old son is generally a sweet kid but he’s a beast when it comes to sharing! I model it at home and we practice it together when we play, but he just won’t do it with other kids. Trying to encourage sharing in the moment hasn’t helped – he just seems to dig his heels in faster and harder now. I don’t want him to be seen as … [Read more...]

Setting Limits: Toddlers by: Lepage Associates Psychological Services Q: I am struggling to set limits with my son who is not yet two years old. The thing I’m most concerned about is safety - he laughs and squirms away when I try to hold his hand or tell him he cannot go into the road or parking lot. He is so curious and adventurous; I don’t want to crush his spirit but I’m afraid one of … [Read more...]

Non-Thing Gift Ideas For Kids by: Lepage Associates Psychological Services Q: I have three kids (3, 7, and 12) and each of them has about a million toys. Our house always looks like a tornado hit it and I don’t think they use most of these items anyway! The holidays are coming and I know I can’t control what other people give the kids but I don’t want to contribute to the clutter. … [Read more...]

Going To Sleep Alone by: Lepage Associates Psychological Services Q: I have one four-year-old daughter who has been having a very hard time going to sleep by herself at night. I usually lie down in her bed and read to her before she goes to sleep. When I finish the book she doesn’t want me to leave. She wants me to lie in bed with her until she falls asleep. I do this but then when I get up … [Read more...]