School Age (6-10 years)
John's Most Recent Articles
Youth Sports Drive Adults Crazy
Posted on 6/6/2023
My family moved to Westchester, Illinois, in 1956, where I began fourth grade at High Ridge School. At the time, my athletic skills consisted of catching and throwing a baseball. The kids in my...
Read MoreWhy Hanna Sleeps With Us
Posted on 5/9/2023
My wife, Willie (nee Wilma), and I are the happy caretakers of a happy seventeen-month-old pure white toy schnauzer, Hanna. Hanna occupies the center of our attention. If you spent a day in our...
Read MoreDaughter Worries About Getting Sick Again
Posted on 4/18/2023
Q: Our 7-year-old daughter recently had a short-lived stomach virus. Ever since she has been fearful that eating may make her sick. Every night at dinner she becomes concerned that she’s...
Read MoreSchool Principal Asks About Discipline
Posted on 10/25/2022
Q: I am a principal at a private church-affiliated school. Contrary to my graduate school training and most of my peers’ practice, I believe disciplinary actions should "fit the crime."...
Read MoreWhen It Comes to Your Child’s Education, You Know Better Than Them
Posted on 9/14/2022
Q: I have homeschooled my seventh-grade daughter on and off through elementary school. This school year, I began homeschooling her, but she’s now telling me she wants to go to “real”...
Read MoreHomeschool Discipline Problems
Posted on 9/6/2022
Q: Ever since toddlerhood, we have had significant behavior problems with our 6-year-old son—defiance and general disrespect, mostly. We have tried various disciplinary approaches with...
Read MoreA 3-Point Plan to Get Kids to Do Their Own Homework
Posted on 8/16/2022
Q: The school our 10-year-old daughter attends believes parents should micromanage homework sessions – they call it “being a homework buddy.” As a consequence, our daughter believes we...
Read MoreShould I Tell My Best Friend to Discipline Her Bratty, Bossy Daughter?
Posted on 5/17/2022
Q: My best friend’s 6-year-old daughter is an only child and a spoiled brat. She screams at her parents when she doesn’t get her way, always wants to be first at everything and is extremely bossy...
Read MoreDiscipline Differences Between Divorced Parents
Posted on 5/10/2022
Q: We see my husband's 9-year-old son every other weekend and two weeks in the summer. He has major issues in school with both behavior and doing his work. He's well behaved when he's with us, but...
Read MoreDon’t Just ‘Settle’ Dispute, Solve It
Posted on 5/3/2022
Q: Our sons are six and four. When their same-age cousins, come over, they all go down into our basement to play. Invariably, within thirty minutes my youngest comes upstairs crying because his...
Read MoreRecent Questions
BOYS WILL BE BOYS AND BOYS ARE WEIRD
Posted 1 week ago
We have a 7, 2 and 2 month old. All boys. Sometimes my 7 year old likes to shake his butt (or front side) in our 2 year olds' face. Usually while changing or rough housing. The boys share a room...
Read More7 YO TAUNTS 2 YO
Posted 1 week ago
Our 7-year-old son is home for summer with our 2-year-old and 2-month-old. I've noticed him acting manipulative and greedy. For example, when the two-year-old gets up from his nap he will tell him...
Read MoreCHILDREN HATE READING OUT LOUD TO THEIR PARENTS, AND I DON'T BLAME THEM
Posted 1 week ago
We have 3 boys, ages 7, 2 and 2 months. Our 7-year-old son has shown patterns of lying and gaslighting. It's very concerning. For example, he was reluctantly reading out loud at bedtime while his...
Read MoreTroublemaking Siblings
Posted 2 weeks ago
Our two youngest children, when together, are troublemakers. They are 6 and 7, but when they are together they revert to large babies—don’t do their chores, lay around, giggle, tickling,...
Read MoreLeadership is an antidote for emotionality
Posted 2 weeks ago
Our daughter, whom we have asked about before, is lying more often about small & big things, however we have noticed she pulls away from us and will hardly talk to us or open up. Whenever we...
Read MoreCall the "Doctor" for Damsel in Distress
Posted 2 weeks ago
Our 7 yo daughter will act like a damsel in distress—getting fake hurt or acting like she can’t do something. My husband and I ignore it, or nonchalantly guide her to her room to ‘rest’. It has...
Read MoreTime for a New Approach with 6YO
Posted 3 weeks ago
My son turns 6 next month and has hit a stage where if I use alpha speech and he doesn’t like what we’re doing, he follows me around whining or trying to convince me otherwise. If I tell him to go...
Read MoreNo fair rules and personal responsibility
Posted 3 weeks ago
My 10-year-old daughter is insolent and disobedient at home, especially towards my husband, her stepfather for the past year ("you're not my father"). She doesn't like the new rules that have been...
Read MoreRecognizing the Value of Childhood Chores
Posted 3 weeks ago
Hi there! I am wanting to know what chores I should expect from my three daughters, 3.5yo twins and 6.5yo. They help out here and there, but Dad and I are tired of doing all the clean up and no...
Read MoreGRANDMA EINSTEIN
Posted 3 weeks ago
Our children are in the ages of 5-10. Their grandmother (my mother-in-law) is employed by the school system, and acts like an expert in children’s health and mental health, although with no formal...
Read MoreTopics Covered
- Academic Issues
- 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
- Emotions
- Extracurricular Activities/Hobbies
- Fatherless Homes
- Fathers
- Food/Eating Problems
- Gender
- Gender Identity
- Gentle Parenting
- Grandparents/Grandchildren
- High School
- Homeschooling
- Homework
- John's Discipline Methods
- Juvenile Antisocial Behavior
- 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
- Podcasts
- Post Modern Psychological Parenting
- Preschool
- Psychiatric Diagnoses
- Psychology
- Rebellious Behavior
- Respect
- Rewards
- School Behavior Issues
- School Issues
- Seasons of Parenting
- Self-Esteem
- Seven Biggest Mistakes Parents Make
- Sexual Identity
- 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
- Violence (Looting, Stealing)
- Webinars
- Woke Parenting