My child hits me, his own mother!

Why do children hit their mothers? Is this a sign you are a bad parent? Stay tuned to find out

Parenting, Emotional Intelligence and the At-Risk Child

Parents all want to help their kids be as intelligent as they can be. Intelligence is not just one dimensional. It turns out there are many different intelligences. Among these are verbal, visual-spatial (artistic), athletic, musical and emotional intelligence. At risk children are often gifted in intelligence. It is important to understand that giftedness may not extend to all areas of intelligence. There is one intelligence that predicts success in friendships, marriage and career. That intelligence is emotional intelligence.

At risk children are at risk in part, because they have a hard time with emotional intelligence. They may be intellectually bright but at risk children may be "learning disabled" when it comes to emotional intelligence. Furthermore, at risk kids who fail to develop emotional intelligence may be handicapped for life. Emotional intelligence is is required for all three abilities of the inner triangle that I discuss in my books: ability to love, impulse control and moral reasoning. Remember, it is problems in these three abilities that cause risk for ADHD, addiction and antisocial behavior.

Emotional inteligence means capacity for emotional self-awareness, self reflection, anger management, reading other people's social cues, empathy, joy in affection, impulse control, self motivation, and the ability to delay gratification. Ability to love requires, emotional self-awareness, anger management, reading other people's social cues, empathy and joy in affection. Impulse control includes self motivation and the ability to delay gratification. Moral reasoning requires empathy and self reflection. Parents need to explicitly work on building these aspects of emotional intelligence in at risk kids.

I have put together a set of tools to help you build your at risk child's emotional intelligence. At the top of the list are Just Like His Father? and The Child Well-Being Workbook. These books teach you about the core character ablilities: Ability to Love, Impulse Control and Moral Reasoning. They also provide you with explicit exercises for building these abilities in your child and yourself. The rest of the tools found in The Parent's Store-Emotional Intelligence Page, are especially selected to go with these books and meet the needs of at risk kids.

Enhance your child's moral reasoning with tools for teaching moral values

Just Like His Father? A Guide to Overcoming Your Child's Genetic Connection to Antisocial Behavior, Addiction and ADHD, AND The Child Well-Being Workbook introduce parents to the idea that genes code for temperament, and that temperamentally at risk children need intensive parenting. The books also provide a framework for that intensive parenting which takes at least 15 years.

The intensive parenting that at risk children require involves encouraging the development of three specific abilities I have called the Inner Triangle. These abilities are 1) Ability to Love 2) Impulse Control and 3) Moral Reasoning. On a regular basis I want to provide you with even more tools for parenting your at risk child.

Just Like His Father? and The Child Well-Being Workbook both include chapters on enhancing your child's moral reasoning ability. The process by which children come to understand morality is called moral development. During moral development, kids learn moral values. Values are emotional connections to ideas. So moral development means to fully possess the moral emotions of caring, guilt, respect and shame, and knowing moral rules. We may not think that guilt is a good emotion to experience. While excessive guilt is not good, recent studies show that too little guilt is a cause of behavioral problems. In order to have respect, children and teens must be capable of shame. So while shame is not a positive force in a child's life, it is important that children be capable of shame. Many child development experts agree that today's parenting practices are not helping children develop the capacity for moral emotions.

I have recently reviewed a number of parenting aids that will help you enhance your child's moral development. These may be found at The Parent's Store, Character Building Page and are all affordable. All the products in the character building section of the store will help parents of elementary school children and teens teach moral values. Moral values are a combination of moral thoughts and moral emotions. Moral values lead to positive character traits like caring, citizenship, cooperation, courage, fairness, honesty, respect, and responsibility.

Among current the list of recommended resources is a great book for kids What Do You Stand For? By Barbara A. Lewis. There is also a teen version of this book. The true stories, inspiring quotations, thought-provoking dilemmas, and activities in this book help kids grow into capable, moral teens and adults. This award-winning book is a must for parents of at risk kids.

There is also a book for young children, 26 Big Things Small Hands Do written by Coleen Paratore and Illustrated by Mike Reed. AGES 1-4, Go beyond “A is for Apple” with an alphabet book that builds character. As children learn and review their ABCs, they discover positive actions they can perform with their own small hands—like applauding, building, giving gifts made with love, helping, planting, recycling, and volunteering.

There are also games, magnets and stickers that promote positive character traits and values.

I am continually adding pages of resources to The Parent's Store. Some pages are simply links to recommended books, games and toys. If you have a product you would like me to review for inclusion, email me.

Teach your child with movies

If you are raising an at risk child, I strongly recommend you visit Teach with Movies. The team at this web site has put together a wonderful resource for parents and teachers. The idea is simple, get out the popcorn and the drinks, sit back and enjoy a great movie with your family. After the movie discuss the relevant themes. This is where Teach with Movies helps you. In addition to recommending the best movies, they have put together discussion guides for these movies. Topics they have covered include:

4. SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL LEARNING:

Alcohol & Drug Abuse Ambition Bad Associations Breaking Out Brothers Caring for Animals Child Abuse Coming Of Age Courage Courage in War Crime Disabilities Divorce and Separation Education Families In Crisis Father/Daughter Father/Son
Female Role Model Fighting Friendship Gambling Addiction Grandparents Grieving Human Rights Humility Illness (Serious) Justice Leadership Male Role Model Marriage Mental Illness Mother/Daughter Mother/Son Parenting Peace/Peacemakers Peer Pressure
Rebellion Redemption Revenge Romantic Relationships Running Away Self-esteem Sexual Orientation Sisters Sportsmanship Spousal Abuse Suicide Surviving Taking Care Of Yourself Talent Teamwork Work/Career

5. MORALS/ETHICAL EMPHASIS:

trustworthiness Respect Responsibility Fairness Caring Citizenship

They also index by age:

Three Years Four Years Five Years Six Years Seven YearsEight Years Nine Years Ten Years Eleven Years Twelve Years Thirteen Years Fourteen Years Fifteen Years

I cannot reccomend this program more highly. The subscription that supports this work is only $1.00 each month. Those who purchase anything from The Parent's Store receive a coupon for $1.00 off this already low price.

More on Anger Management

At risk children often have problems managing anger. At risk children may become angry more easily than other children, so they have more anger to deal with. They also may have less impulse control, so they are more likely to explode verbally and physically in response to angry impulses.

When other children are at the other end of your at angry risk child's verbal and physical aggression, they are likely to react by rejecting your child. Interestingly, good impulse control in kids predicts popularity with peers. Sadly, the at risk child craves social status and popularity but behaves in ways that undermines his standing with peers.

It is important that we parents teach our at risk kids anger management techniques. To help you do this, I recommend Hot Stuff to Help Kids Chill Out by Jerry Wilde, Ph.D. We are happy to offer this book through The Parent's Store. You can get Hot Stuff to Help Kids Chill Out, Just Like His Father? and The Child Well-Being Workbook for only $25.oo

Sign up for our NEW program

Many parents have written me about their lives with their at risk children. The most common question is, "I do everything I can to love my child and be firm with limits and he/she is still a handful!"

If that is you, don't give up. We now have an online program for you and your kids this summer. The program is called FIT AND SMART. It has three components:
1. 30-60 minutes of exercise each day for you AND your child.
2. At least 20 minutes of reading each day for you and your child.
3. Weekly story writing for your child.

Exercise treats anxiety and depression in adults and will help with child behavior. Exercise is a WIN-WIN for everyone.

Sign up for FIT AND SMART TODAY

The link between exercise, diet and sleep patterns

Does your preschool or grade school child have poor sleep? Does your preschool or grade school child refuse to eat healthy food? The reason may be a sedentary lifestyle and insufficient exercise.

I have always believed that exercise is an important part of a program of prevention of ADHD, addiction and antisocial behavior in at risk kids. This belief has only been strengthened over the past 3 months.

Late winter, it was rather cold in the Northeast. We did not go out a lot and I am sorry to say my at risk son did not get enough exercise. He attends preschool where he plays indoors for at least 30 minutes a day but this was not enough. If you read my website you know that I am a mother who believes in authoritative parenting with lots of love accompanied by rules for conduct that are enforced. I have to tell you that this parenting style was NOT ENOUGH to prevent the problems that developed at the end of winter.

My son developed an extreme sweet tooth and an aversion for good healthy food. I thought I might have to ban him from the dinner table because he fell apart the moment he saw his healthy dinner stating, "I don't like that!" No amount of bribery or discipline was effective in eliminating this behavior. The same time this behavior developed, he also became more hyperactive-impulsive in general. He had poor sleep as well.

In response to the problems managing his behavior, I began a program of exercise with him. This program is at least one hour a day, either biking or walking. We also spend all Saturday afternoon doing an outdoor activity together. Within a weekof beginning this program, the change was dramatic. The improvements have been maintained over the last 3 months.

These are the beneficial effects of exercise I have observed for my son:

1) Dramatic reduction in hyperactivity
2) Dramatic reduction in impulsivity
3) Better mood, less anger
4) Less defiance, better cooperation
5) Better self direction- he plays nicely on his own with blocks and even colors on his own
6) Reduced aggression
7) Better sleep patterns
8) Much improved appetite- He now willingly eats vegetables and even TOFU!
9) LESS craving for junk food

These are the beneficial effects I have seen for myself:

1) Better mood and good feeling about mothering
2) Better sleep
3) A feeling of physical fitness
4) Weight loss (6 pounds so far)

The only down side is that I truly don't have enough time to clean house. I have decided that we can put up with things being a little messier because of the other benefits we are receiving.

In conclusion, your preschool child and your grade school child need a lot of exercise, but so do you! As a nation we are becoming obese, unhappy and substance dependent. The three are directly connected through insufficient exercise. Exercise is one part of a program to correct the chemical and spiritual imbalance that results in impulsivity and risk for addiction. Both you and your child will have better well-being if you exercise together. You will also have more love in your lives as you enjoy this healthy activity together!