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John's Most Recent Articles

Playing Well With Toddlers

Posted on 11/8/2022

Q: I have two boys, 18 and 33 months. How much time each day should I spend involved in activities with them? Also, they chase one another around the house and other sorts of...

Help Big Brother Understand Baby’s Limits

Posted on 8/2/2022

Q: Our soon to be 5-year-old son enjoys playing with his 14-month-old brother, but there have been three times recently when the baby has started crying and when I check, big brother has a guilty...

Cure for Kid Who Hits

Posted on 10/26/2021

A 4-year-old – I’ll call him Popeye – had a habit of hitting other children in his preschool program. His teachers tried various approaches, including rewarding him with a treat on days when he...

Dress-up for 3-Year-Olds Is Just Fun

Posted on 5/25/2021

Q: Although we’ve given our three-year-old twins a range of toys to play with, our son prefers playing with vehicles of various kinds while our daughter usually plays with dolls. Over the last...

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Recent Questions

Cutting the apron strings 3yo

Posted on 11/5/2023

Our daughter is an only child, and I am a stay at home wife. She turned three in June and we are starting to have some difficulties separating her from our interactions as husband and wife during...

Climbing Toddlers

Posted on 11/1/2023

I have two very busy little people (2.5 and 1.5). They are very curious and love to explore but can also be naughty at times. Christmas time will be coming soon and I love to decorate for it. But...

1st Grade Son Prefers Silly Play

Posted on 10/8/2023

My 1st grade son who has always preferred oral "silly" play including making rasberry sounds, whistling, and staccato outbursts of word like but unintelligible syllables, and exaggerated laughter,...

13-Year-Old Pickleball Pouter

Posted on 10/1/2023

Hello Parent Coach - I play pickleball with my 13 year old son every so often on the weekends. I am a better player and he is a beginner, learning at school in PE. After we rally to warm up, we...

How to Purge the Toys

Posted on 8/25/2023

I have 2 boys aged 5 and 3 and a 1-year-old girl. We are trying to reduce the number of toys we have by gifting the toys we don't need anymore. However, I am finding it difficult to decide which...

Let's Play! Or Not.

Posted on 10/16/2022

Thank you for your help RE my previous post on homeschooling. I always find this forum so empowering. How do I get my son into sports? He lacks confidence and avoids it. There is a lovely...

Natural Consequences Are EffectiveTeachers

Posted on 7/9/2022

My 9 year old boy frequently acts like a baby and very odd in a socially unacceptable way like a feral child. When leaving his friends he will say “bye friends” in a silly voice. He also was...

3-Year-Old in Hyper Mode

Posted on 6/22/2022

My 3.5 year old will get hyper and annoying when he is overtired or overexcited. When he’s in a “hyper mode”, he’s running around, trying to roughhouse, jumping into people, being loud and...

Lazy Bones needs to Play

Posted on 6/21/2022

I have a twelve year old son. My concern is that he is incredibly lazy. He has no ambition to do anything. He finishes what we require of him and takes up his spot on the couch. Sometimes he reads...

Out of Sorts with Sports--the Angst of a 7-year Old

Posted on 4/14/2022

Our seven year old son wanted to sign up for soccer this season. He played soccer once a few years ago but hasn’t played organized sports in a few years. So far, he has yet to go to a practice or...

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