How to Do Nothing

[No, this post isn't about procrastination, although I do consider myself to be sort of an authority in that field.]

On Monday, Uncle Keith wrote about and shared a link to an interesting article describing the science behind temper tantrums. The idea is that understanding why tantrums really happen will help us figure out a more effective way to handle them.

The consensus reached is that not responding as we instinctively might is the best way to go. In other words, we shouldn't engage, but instead ride it out. We just shouldn't do anything.

But when your child is screaming, stomping his or her feet, and crying....how, exactly, does one do nothing?

Photo from thetoddlertamer.com

Spoiled Rotten?

We’ve all heard this expression.  I know those adjectives were used to describe me – accurately, I suppose – on more than one occasion when I was a child.

Mini-me, circa 1980.

I recently read an article about so-called “spoiled” children.  It really got under my skin because it wasn’t about kids who have fifteen different Barbie dolls or mountains of toys. It was about kids…. whose parents console them when they cry and pay attention to them when they seek it.

That’s what it means to be spoiled?  I think not.