John's Articles

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Posted on 6/11/2013

"Are you trying to tell me something?" I asked my pre-teen grandson. "Um, uh, yes." "Then don't use that word. You know how I feel about it." "Okay." And the conversation proceeded...

Parenting Stone Age

Posted on 5/7/2013

When I was a child, back in the Parenting Stone Age (a.k.a. the Parentocentric Era), your parents were the most important people in the family. They paid the bills, bought your clothes, prepared...

Leave the Homework to the Child

Posted on 8/23/2011

<i>As the new school year begins, it's time for me, once again, to make my perennial case against parental involvement in homework.</i> First, it is significant to note that as...

Parents Involvement with Homework

Posted on 8/23/2011

Parents should liberate themselves from homework As the new school year begins, it's time for me to make my perennial case against parental involvement in homework. As recently as 40 years...

Parochial Schools Offer Best Education

Posted on 3/11/2011

A few weeks past, I summarized the problems plaguing America's public schools, including administrative bloat, drastically lowered academic and disciplinary standards, an addiction to...

Paying Children for Good Behavior, Chores, Good Grades, Etc.

Posted on 11/30/2010

Time for the really bad parenting advice award Every so often, when I'm feeling in an especially mischievous mood (as opposed to my typically mischievous mood), I award a RALPH - Rosemond's...

Fifth Grade Boy School Issues

Posted on 11/2/2010

Parent wishes school would act on discipline Q: Our son's fifth-grade teacher has recently sent home notes to the effect that our little darling isn't paying attention and is missing homework...

Grades and Today's Parents

Posted on 10/5/2010

One of the differences between parents of the 1950s and today's is that the former did not care what grades their children made in school. Mind you, they insisted that their children do their...

High Self Esteem

Posted on 9/21/2010

Spare the praise and save our civilization The notion that adults should do all they possibly can to advance the self-esteem of children is dying a slow but, we hope, unavoidable...

Growing Up in the 1950s

Posted on 8/31/2010

What today's kids are missing What do today's children seriously lack that children in the 1950s and before enjoyed in abundance? To assist the reader in figuring out the answer before it is...

Sixth Grade Son Excessive Homework Load

Posted on 8/3/2010

How much homework is too much in sixth grade? Q: My son will be starting sixth grade at a new public charter school. This school uses a classical curriculum that does not draw from pop culture...

Children Need Leadership

Posted on 6/1/2010

Children need leaders, not managers Over 40 years of behavior modification propaganda has the typical American parent convinced that the discipline of a child is accomplished by effectively...

Parents Should Not Be Involved With Their Children

Posted on 10/14/2008

LET KIDS LEARN LESSONS VIA TRIAL-AND-ERROR Q: In a recent column you had the audacity to say that parents should not be involved with their children. Can you elaborate and explain? A....

HIgh School Girl Blame Game

Posted on 4/8/2008

A LITTLE HUMOR WILL BURST TEENAGER'S INFLATED EGO Q. Our daughter has average ability but a better than average view of herself. She's in high school and her self-esteem is getting in the way...

Children Not Putting Backpacks in Proper Place

Posted on 3/4/2008

PARENTS SHARE THEIR 3 STORIES OF 'TOUGH LOVE' TURNAROUNDS It's one thing to give advice on the rearing of children, which is what I do through this column. It's quite another to share...

Second Grade Girl's Teacher Does Not Correct Homework

Posted on 2/5/2008

REVIEW CHILD'S HOMEWORK IF TEACHER ISN'T CORRECTING IT Q. My daughter's second-grade teacher does not correct homework but only checks whether or not it was done. I find that my daughter often...

7-Year-Old Boy Homework Issues

Posted on 11/6/2007

GIVE SON THE FREEDOM TO SET HIS OWN HOMEWORK SCHEDULE Q: My 7-year-old second-grader would prefer to come home from school and play with his friend across the street. The rule in our home,...

17-Year-Old Does Not Want To Go To College

Posted on 6/26/2007

HELP! OUR 17-YEAR-OLD SAYS HE DOESN'T WANT TO GO TO COLLEGE Q: Our 17-year-old son just graduated from high school and doesn't want to go to college. I think he should get a job and take...

Too Big For Their Britches

Posted on 5/8/2007

HAVE YOU LET YOUR CHILDREN GET TOO BIG FOR THEIR BRITCHES? When I was a child, my parents found frequent reason to tell me that I was a small fish in a big pond. Sometimes, to keep me on my...

8th Grader - Defiant, School Issues, and Video Games

Posted on 2/13/2007

THROW AWAY THE XBOX, AND YOU'LL CHANGE SON'S ATTITUDE Q:Our eighth-grade son is obviously intelligent, and is in his school's gifted and talented program. Furthermore, he scored in the top 5...

Respect, Responsibility, and Resourcefulness

Posted on 7/18/2006

PARENTS HAVE FORGOTTEN HOW TO SHAPE A CHILD'S CHARACTER One of the great ironies of our time is that today's parents, with more professional resources at their disposal than ever, are...

Family Obligations

Posted on 3/28/2006

FAMILY OBLIGATIONS From the Department of Ironies Abounding: We live in the "Age of Rights." Women, children, every ethnic minority group, handicapped people, pets, barnyard animals, wild...

11- and 14-Year-Old Computer Use

Posted on 9/13/2005

SUPERVISE CHILDREN'S INTERNET USE ESTABLISH FIRM GUIDELINES, AND THAT SHOULD INCLUDE LOOKING AT THEIR E-MAILS Q: My husband and I have allowed our 14-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son...

Paying Children for Chores and Treating Adults with Respect

Posted on 7/19/2005

QUESTION'S RIDICULOUS, BUT I'LL ANSWER IT ANYWAY I LIKE CHILDREN - WHEN THEY BEHAVE AND TREAT ADULTS WITH RESPECT Most Ridiculous Item of the Week: Someone recently asked me if I like...

Discipline is Leadership

Posted on 6/14/2005

DISCIPLINE'S GOAL: ADULTS WITH CHARACTER With rare exception, today's parents believe discipline is all about the clever manipulation of reward and punishment. They think this because...

7-Year-Old Homework Issue and 5-Year-Old Discipline Issue

Posted on 12/28/2004

LEAVING CHILD BEHIND NEVER PROPER INSTEAD OF PRETENDING TO DRIVE OFF AS PUNISHMENT, PULL PRIVILEGES LATER ON Q: Yesterday, while I was helping my 7-year-old daughter review for her spelling...

Single Parenting

Posted on 12/14/2004

"So what about single parents, John?" asks a single mom. She was responding to last week's column in which I proposed (I will dare to say proved) that it is in a child's best interest for his...

4- and 8-Year-Old Unruly

Posted on 11/30/2004

UNRULINESS IS REACTION TO STRESS IN THE FAMILY Q: My husband and I have a 4-year-old boy and an 8-year-old girl. They both whine and cry when they do not get their way and do not seem to think...

5th Grader Not Doing Homework

Posted on 11/23/2004

GIRL'S WILL MAY OVERPOWER PARENT'S DISCIPLINE Q: My fifth-grade daughter tests well and does well in class but will not do her homework unless I stand over her and make her. That, however, has...

7-Year-Old Junk Talk

Posted on 11/9/2004

DON'T OVERREACT TO CHILD'S 'JUNK TALK' Q: My 7-year-old is hypercritical of his homework and grades. He will often cry over his homework, saying, "This is my worst work ever!" and "I'm stupid!"...

9-Year-Old Homework Overload

Posted on 10/12/2004

IT MAY BE TIME TO CHALLENGE YOUR KIDS' HOMEWORK OVERLOAD Q: My 9-year-old fourth-grade twins attend a "high performance" public school. Their teacher assigns homework every day except Friday,...

Potty-Training

Posted on 9/28/2004

POTTY-TRAINING NOT MUCH TRICKIER THAN SPOON-TRAINING A journalist recently asked me whether it was better to "push" children as young as 2 to learn to use the toilet or wait until they decide...

Are Public School Teachers Slackers?

Posted on 1/27/2004

ARE PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS SLACKERS? On the members' side of my Web site at www.rosemond.com, debate simmers over whether today's public school teachers, as a group, are lazy or dedicated and...

Homeschooling isn't Sheltering

Posted on 4/22/2003

HOME-SCHOOLING ISN'T SHELTERING Q: Several of my friends who home-school maintain that home-schooling keeps children away from bad influences within the peer group and other inappropriate...

16-Year-Old Academic Problems

Posted on 12/18/2001

EXPERIENCES OF FAILURE ARE NECESSARY FOR KIDS' GROWTH A mother recently asked for advice on her 16-year-old son's academic problems. He needed nightly help with his homework, she said, and she...

Discipine is a Matter of Leadership

Posted on 10/30/2001

DISCIPLINE IS MATTER OF RULE, NOT RULES As you might have guessed, parents frequently ask me for advice concerning discipline problems they are having with their children. Almost as...

8- and 10-Year-Old Like to Discipline 4-Year-Old

Posted on 10/23/2001

AUTHORITY ISSUES? TRY ACTION, NOT 'YADA YADA' Q. We have three children, ages 10, 8 and 4. The problem is with the older two, who obviously feel they are qualified to discipline their little...

Parent Should Not Be Homework Buddy

Posted on 7/24/2001

LIMIT HELPING WITH HOMEWORK TO ENCOURAGE RESPONSIBLE CHILDREN Q: Is it possible to get today's children to do their own homework? At the school our daughter attends, the teachers believe...

7-Year-Old Frustrated Doing Homework

Posted on 1/23/2001

DOING HOMEWORK ALONE CAN END MELTDOWNS Q. Our 7-year-old son often, almost nightly in fact, becomes very frustrated doing his homework. If he encounters a problem that gives him difficulty, he...

School's Issues with Parents

Posted on 1/9/2001

HERE'S WHY YOUR KID'S SCHOOL IS AFRAID TO ANSWER THE PHONE A teacher somewhere in America sent me a message one of her colleagues proposed for the new phone system in their high school. She...

Homework is not Parents' Job

Posted on 10/3/2000

HOVERING OVER HOMEWORK ISN'T PARENTS' JOB An outraged mother recently showed me a letter received from her son's second-grade teacher, the theme of which was the importance of parental...

13-Year-Old Homework Issue

Posted on 8/1/2000

TEENS WILL RESIST YOUR ATTEMPTS TO 'MICROMANAGE' THEIR LIVES Q. My 13-year-old son waits until the last possible moment to begin doing his homework. He no longer has a set bedtime, but he must...

Don't Micromanage Teenagers

Posted on 7/4/2000

TEEN-AGERS LEARN FROM EXPERIENCE, NOT NAGGING Q. In a talk you recently gave in Ohio, you warned of the pitfalls of trying to micromanage a teen-ager. This is a new concept to me. Can you...

Today's Mom are Trying to Clear the "Mother Bar"

Posted on 6/6/2000

TODAY'S MOM SHOULD EMULATE YESTERDAY'S Today's women are a paradox. They have taken admirable giant strides forward politically, professionally, economically and educationally, and yet, when...

10-Year-Old School Issues

Posted on 4/25/2000

ADD? NO, THIS SOUNDS LIKE A CASE OF SSS Q. I am apparently the mom of a severely messed-up 10 year-old. According to his teacher, he shows signs of attention deficit disorder (about 3 out of...

After-School Activities

Posted on 1/25/2000

BEST AFTER-SCHOOL ACTIVITIES TAKE PLACE AT HOME Q. I read the recent column in which you called on parents to take their kids out of all after-school activities. I couldn't help but wonder...

Cut Out After-School Activities to Reduce Parenting Stress

Posted on 1/11/2000

CUTTING EXTRAS AFTER SCHOOL COULD CALM THE HOUSEHOLD I asked a recent audience, some 450 strong, "I can virtually guarantee that by making one simple decision, you can reduce parenting stress...

Parents Want to Know of Unique Challenges of Having Kids Close Together in Age

Posted on 12/14/1999

MAKE THE MOST OF WHAT YOU KNOW, AND YOUR 3 KIDS WILL BE FINE Q. We have three children: 3 years, 22 months and 9 months. Are there any insights you can share regarding any unique challenges or...

Too Many After-School Activities

Posted on 10/26/1999

ONE OUTSIDE ACTIVITY PER CHILD IS ENOUGH Q. We have three daughters, ages 8, 6 and 2. Our concern is whether we are scheduling too many extracurricular activities for the two older children....

Advice on Picky Eaters

Posted on 7/6/1999

WITH NO OTHER OPTIONS, PICKY CHILD WILL EAT Parents have asked me a lot of questions lately about young children who refuse to eat the food put in front of them, generally at the evening meal....

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