A Fine Parent

A Life Skills Blog Exclusively For Parents

About Edie Jones

Whether leading parenting groups, directing summer camp, teaching Girl Scout leaders or sharing information with childcare providers and parents, Edie Jones has been working with kids and their parents all of her adult life. Being the mom of 4 and the grandmother of 7 she has many stories to share in, Raising Kids with Love, Honor and Respect: Recipes for Success. Full of basic ideas, her book is organized so the reader can use the section most pertinent at a particular time. Spanning years from birth to young teens, it guides in building relationships through unconditional love, always accompanied with honor and respect. Edie’s book was awarded a gold medal by the Living Now Book Awards and was the first-place award winner in the “Parenting & Family” category of the 2016 Best Book Awards. Recently it received a five out of five star book review from the Seattle Book Review. The reviewer concluded her remarks with, “Raising Kids with Love, Honor, and Respect: Recipes for Success is definitely one to check out.” You can learn more about Edie and her book by visiting here!

How to Help Your Kids Understand and Curtail Angry Outbursts

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(This article is part of the Positive Parenting FAQ series. Get free article updates here.)

angry-outbursts-mainHave your kids ever screamed at you in total, uncontrolled anger?

Pretty much every mom I know has had this experience – some more than others – and still, every time we experience it, it still feels as raw as the first time it happened.

I recently had a mother pose the situation of her eight-year-old son who was having difficulty with anger. This had motivated her to ask for ways to help him. It usually happened when he didn’t get his way. This would cause him to lose control and was even affecting his ability to make friends.

Reflecting on her question took me back to when my kids were young, remembering how easy it was to respond to such outbursts with my own anger, especially when the outbursts continued.

[Read more…]

What is Resilience and How to Raise Strong, Resilient Kids

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(This article is part of the Strong Kids series. Get free article updates here.)

What is Resilience - Main PicLooking into the face of your newborn is one of the most mesmerizing experiences a parent can have, even when it’s number two, three or four.

There’s nothing that surpasses it! Unless it’s watching them walk up to receive their diploma 18 years later.

The fear of every parent when a new baby comes into their lives is that they won’t measure up to the challenge or be able to provide the kind of life that develops kids capable of being strong, competent adults. How well I remember, even though those years were long ago, and I now watch grandchildren move into the adult world.

Looking back and reflecting on qualities that truly make a difference, I feel there are some that stand out as essential. One of those is RESILIENCE – defined in Raising Resilient Children by Robert Brooks and Sam Goldstein as the ability to have inner strength to deal competently and successfully with challenges and demands. It is a quality every parent hopes his or her child develops; however, it is one that doesn’t happen automatically. [Read more…]