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Presence or Presents? Five Ways to Be More Present During the Holidays

As you reflect on the holiday season, what images, sentiments, or traditions come to mind first? Maybe it’s religious services. Or family meals and tasty sweets. Perhaps it’s traveling near and far to see loved ones. Hosting large celebrations or enjoying more intimate affairs. Exchanging store-bought or homemade gifts, or maybe you forgo gift-giving altogether? Whatever your holiday rituals and customs involve, is there room to explore a new tradition? This year, I encourage everyone to …
Dec 12th 2022 Erin Green, MS, Director of Boys Town Press and Co-Author of Teaching Social Skills to Youth, Fourth Edition

Helping Your Child Deal with Rumors

Your child comes home from school feeling sad, embarrassed, and angry. After probing, you find out your child has been the victim of untrue rumors being spread about him. Why is this happening? How can you support your child through this? How can your child prove something didn’t happen…when it didn’t happen? There are steps to take when dealing with rumors and gossip.First, find out where the rumors started. Ask your child if she knows how the rumors started? Does she know the child/ren wh …
Oct 4th 2022 Jennifer Licate, Boys Town Press Author and School Counselor

Value of Face-to-Face Connections

In today's digital world, it's common for scenarios like this to play out: A teenage girl comes into the kitchen obviously upset. When her dad asks what's wrong, she says she is having a fight with a friend who said hurtful things to her.Her dad can't believe the friend would say some of the things his daughter told him about. For proof, she takes out her cell phone so he can "read" the argument. The entire thing was happening via text messages, and they hadn't actually spoken about the problem …
Jul 12th 2022 Boys Town Parenting
Helping Children Deal with Anxiety

Helping Children Deal with Anxiety

If you have noticed an increased level of anxiety in your child, you are not alone. The past two years have been unlike anything we’ve experienced before. There were so many unknowns as we entered the pandemic, which created fear and anxiety. Even now, we continue to learn more about this disease and the vaccines, so this period of uncertainty is not over. The abrupt change to our routines increased the level of fear in children and their families. Children were asked to stay home and lea …
Sep 1st 2021 By Jennifer Licate, Boys Town Press Author and School Counselor

When the Parent Becomes the Therapist

The world-wide pandemic changed many things in our lives. One of those big changes was school closures which thrust parents into a new role as educator and therapist. This may seem scary and you may want to react in a big way. When you stop to think about it, as a parent you are one of the best possible teachers for your children. Not only do you know them so well but you spend many more hours a day with them. Instead of just thirty minutes of language or social skills practice, with …
Nov 24th 2020 Kimberly Delude, Speech Pathologist and Boys Town Press Author

6 Tips for Creating a Smoother Back-to-School Experience: A Parent’s Perspective

A few weeks ago, I walked all three of my sons down to the end of the block and watched as the oldest two, ages seven and five, climbed onto a yellow school bus. The five-year-old, who started Kindergarten this year, sat by the window, waving and blowing kisses. My oldest, who is now a second grader, settled in next to him, gave us a brief head nod, and turned to talk to his friends. We waited until the bus disappeared around the corner, then my two-year-old and I walked back up the sidewa …
Sep 24th 2019 Tacheny Perry, Blogger

Choosing Kindness: Part 2 - Teaching Kids to Choose Kindness

Earlier this month, I discussed how one of my son’s middle-school teachers focused on his kindness towards others as the highlight of our parent-teacher conference, and how it inspired me to look at my own behavior and seek ways to choose kindness and reinforce the same with our children. In this week’s post, the story continues with a reflection on kindness and tips for teaching children to choose kindness. Our son has always been a kind soul. From the time he was young, he had wha …
Sep 24th 2018 Erin Green, Director of Boys Town Press

Choosing Kindness: Part 1 - Learning from Our Children

School conferences have generally been good experiences for my husband and me. With few exceptions, we often hear about our kids’ achievements, how they seem to be doing in class or at school, and hear very positive things about their behavior.But when our son (who is now entering 10th grade) was in sixth grade, he hit a rough patch in school. He was doing fine overall, but definitely not living up to his potential in some classes. Homework had been missed, projects not done to completion, …
Sep 10th 2018 Erin Green, Director of Boys Town Press