The Well-Meaning, Bad Parent

NPR Radio program Fresh Air recently hosted psychologist Richard Weissbourd in a program called "The Well-Meaning, Bad Parent." Weissbourd talks about the complexities of raising "moral" children and how well-intentioned, thoughtful parenting can produce the opposite of intended results. One of the things he touches on is parents' tendency to "overpraise" our kids, thereby diminishing the value of praise and reducing kids' internal motivation to achieve and/or take risks. Fresh Air's site has an excerpt; you can also listen to the audio podcast on the same page--it's only about 15 minutes long. Thought-provoking stuff!

-- Admin

Sleep Solutions

Feeling tired and grumpy? You're not alone. Sleep issues are one of the most popular searches in online parenting forums.

At our centers, we have had so many conversations about sleep with new and experienced parents alike that we made a summary of our sleep suggestions. You can download a printable copy of our purple page on the topic here. Purple Pages are our coffee break-sized newsletters about various developmental and family challenges. We're up to more than forty different topics by now! Parents and visitors can pick up hard copies at any of the centers. Parents of currently enrolled children can download printable pdf files of all the purple pages plus other original material from our website, on the Child Development tab.

We recently received a mailing from parent educator Elizabeth Pantley introducing her No-Cry books and website. You can download her helpful suggestions at the links below:

• Newborn Babies and Sleep
• 8 Sleep Tips for Every Child
• Moving from Crib to Bed
• Solving Naptime Problems

Ms. Pantley is holding two sleep-related contests on her website. The deadline is Feb. 29th; four inners will have their choice of an autographed No-Cry book.

My own contribution to better bedtimes is a picture book called Hillside Lullaby. It's a story about a "wild little child" lulled to sleep by the sounds of the animals outside her window. You can download a free MP3 file of the song that goes with the book from my website.

Sleep tight!

-- H.V.