Chores/Responsibilities
John's Most Recent Articles
Solution to Teens Leaving Clothes on Floor
Posted on 1/3/2023
Q: Getting my daughters, fifteen and thirteen, to pick up their clothes from the floors of their rooms requires constant nagging from me. I’m at my wit’s end. Please help me out with...
Read MoreChores for 3-Year-Olds? Yes!
Posted on 5/31/2022
Q: In certain of your books as well as your newspaper column, you have written that children as young as three should be doing daily chores around the home. Exactly what chores are reasonable for...
Read MoreDon't Enable Entitled Teen
Posted on 4/19/2022
A recent online article concerned a mom who refused to pay her teenage daughter for doing household chores. A poll of readers found that an overwhelming majority of them agreed with the...
Read MoreOn Chores, Discipline, Potty-Training
Posted on 3/29/2022
Q: When I give my 5-year-old daughter a chore, she does it, but all the while she is muttering under her breath, huffing and puffing, and so on. Do I discipline that behavior or just let her...
Read MoreIn Defense of ‘Because I Said So'
Posted on 2/1/2022
Q: Concerning chores, another expert recommends giving a child a certain number of chips, like poker chips, every month and if he or she fails to do a chore or doesn’t do it properly, you take a...
Read MoreHow To Help Your Child Get More Grit
Posted on 9/7/2021
It’s all over the web, that “grit” thing. Seems like every day, I get some promo for a webinar on how to get more grit, project more grit, or get in touch with your inner grit. So, allow me to...
Read MoreKeep It Simple With Your Kids During Quarantine
Posted on 4/14/2020
One website is titled “How to Cope with Kids During Coronavirus.” Another, featuring a staged photo of an obviously frazzled mom with a toddler on her lap, tells the reader that “Parents are...
Read MoreLet Your School-Aged Kids Dress Themselves
Posted on 1/9/2019
“So, anyway, after they take showers I lay out their school clothes for the next day. And then….” “Hold on right there,” “How old are your girls again?” “Um,...
Read MoreCar Gives Eric a Chance to Grow Up
Posted on 4/27/2018
"Dad! I've decided what kind of car I want to get when I'm 16! Look at this!" "Eric," I said, brushing away the copy of Car Trader he'd stuck in my face, "I've told you a hundred times, I'm not...
Read MoreRaising a Can-Do Kid
Posted on 3/2/2016
Can-do kids are make-do kids. They usually have several traits that distinguish them from dependent, underconfident children: <b>1. Resourcefulness</b> Today, resourcefulness may mean turning...
Read MoreRecent Questions
Time management motivation
Posted 3 weeks ago
We are entering a season for my 12 year old daughter when we would like her to be more independent. She is great with homework, but still needs to be told to stop homework to go shower, wash up...
Read MoreTechnology and the Preteen Boy
Posted on 4/26/2023
Aloha, I want to use the weekly ticket system, or throwing the child out of the garden, to discipline my 12 year old son (6th grade). The problem lies in that much of the homework now is given...
Read More9 YEAR OLD PUSHING BACK AGAINST HOUSEHOLD RESPONSIBILITIES
Posted on 2/27/2023
My son is nine years old and the middle child. He is a very capable, charming and intelligent little boy. He’s doing very well in school but is the laziest person I have ever come across. We...
Read MoreThe Third Year of Life - A Time to Learn and Blossom
Posted on 5/24/2022
What chores and responsibilities should a 3.5 year old have? Should there be a designate “workbook/learning” time every day?
Read MoreTime for a Reboot
Posted on 5/18/2022
Since the first email our son (8yrs) was operated on for septic arthritis 6 months ago. The pain returned 2weeks ago (now gone). His hip bone has a small weakness and he needs to ensure he has no...
Read More12 Year Old Daughter Unmotivated to do School Work
Posted on 4/6/2022
My 12 year old daughter is not motivated to do school anymore. She is in 6th grade and has always been home-schooled. But now, she is just "dead in the water" and paddling no where. She just lays...
Read MoreSix Year Old Loves to Scream
Posted on 2/20/2022
My 6 year old has screaming fits nearly every day usually related to being told to do something he doesn't want to or when he is mad at his brother. We have gone back to making him go to his room...
Read More6-Year Old Fit-Pitching: Stay Strong, Mom!
Posted on 2/12/2022
Our six and a half year old is not getting her responsibilities completed on school nights. She is in school all day and then goes to an after school program for a couple of hours (we both work)....
Read MorePerfect time for a reset
Posted on 1/18/2022
Our 9yo girls currently rule the roost. They speak to us flippantly, complain constantly, whine and pester after receiving a "no" answer, expect others to fetch/carry for them, ignore directives...
Read MoreFear of the New
Posted on 12/15/2021
Our Foster son (8 years old) who we will be adopting in the next 6 months (working on paperwork and all the legal stuff that goes with it) has a very low self esteem and melts down and has a full...
Read MoreAudio
Parenting the Strong Willed Teen
Posted on 3/16/2023
This is an entertaining and informative talk on understanding and managing even the most petulant of today’s teenagers. The talk was recorded live before an audience in San Diego, CA, and is based...
Read MoreTopics Covered
- ADHD and other disorders
- Adoption/Foster Parent
- Aggression
- Allowances
- Alpha Speech
- Anxieties, Fears
- Arguments with Children
- Audio Files
- Bedtime/Sleep
- Bedwetting
- Behavior Modification
- Biblical Parenting
- Bill of Rights for Children
- Bonding With Baby/Child
- Boundaries
- Bullies/Bullying
- Character/Values (teaching)
- Chores/Responsibilities
- College
- Consequences/Punishment
- Daycare/Preschool
- Depression/Self-Harm
- Developmental Issues (e.g. late talking)
- Discipline Methods (e.g. time-out)
- Disobedience/Defiance
- Divorce/Custody
- Drugs (marijuana, cocaine, etc.)
- Education
- Electronics (Computers/Video Games/Television/Cell Phones)
- Elementary School
- Extracurricular Activities/Hobbies
- Fathers
- Food/Eating Problems
- Gender
- Gentle Parenting
- Grandparents/Grandchildren
- High School
- Homeschooling
- Homework
- John's Discipline Methods
- Learning Disabilities
- Lying
- Manners
- Marriage Issues
- Mealtime/Eating
- Mental Health
- Middle School
- Miscellaneous Discipline Problems
- Miscellaneous Editorial Columns
- Mothers
- Nouveau Parenting
- Only Children
- Pacifiers/Security Blankets/Thumbsucking
- Parent Leadership and Authority
- Play
- Post Modern Psychological Parenting
- Preschool
- Psychology
- Rebellious Behavior
- Respect
- Rewards
- School Issues
- Seasons of Parenting
- Self-Esteem
- Seven Biggest Mistakes Parents Make
- Sexual Issues
- Shyness
- Sibling Conflict
- Single Parents
- Social Issues (fighting/arguing with friends)
- Socialization/Social Skills
- Spanking
- Step-Families
- Strong-Willed Child
- Tantrums
- Teenage Issues
- Terrible Twos
- Toilet Training
- Videos
- Webinars
- Woke Parenting
