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About Kim Biasotto

Kim is a wife, mom and Morai (Irish for grandmom) living in Wilmington, DE. While her favorite place is the beach, spending time with her Hub, playing with her grand-daughter, co-leading an 8th grade girls group, and helping her youngest get ready to leave the nest keep her off of the sand much of the year. Kim's passion in writing and speaking is to inspire others to not just "hang in there" or "make it through" but to thrive. "The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark." Michelangelo

How To Raise Kids Who Love Hanging Out With You No Matter How Old They Get

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

Raise Kids Who Love Hanging Out With You - MainDiapers, no sleep, carpool, calls from the school nurse, sports, cooking, yelling, begging, pleading, dating, still no sleep, prom, work, college…

And then, all of a sudden—the nest is empty. The world around you is strangely quiet.

Where did all the time go? Where did my babies go? Will they ever come back to me?

While I know that in life there are no guarantees, I also believe we can raise our kids in a way that, when they get older, there is a good chance they will still love to hang out with us.

My husband and I may have gotten a few things wrong while raising our kids, but we also did a lot right during this time. One of the most important things has been establishing a rock-solid foundation for our relationship with all four of them.

Today, I want to share nine things that I truly believe helped us connect with our kids when they were little—that have helped us stay close even now when they are grown.

[Read more…]

How to Raise a Child Who Can Think Out of the Box and Survive in Any Situation

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

Critical_Thinkers_Main_28337801.jpgAt a recent youth retreat my 12-year-old nephew, Joey, was called up on stage along with four other preteens. Each participant had a box of tissues set in front of them. They were told, “at the word GO your challenge is to be the first person to remove all the tissues from the box. The winner will receive a large box of candy.”

At Go, four of the middle schoolers began to frantically remove the tissues from the box, one at a time. Joey, looking puzzled, watched his frenzied competitors for a moment, picked up his box, ripped off the top and pulled all the tissues out at once. Done!

When I asked him later how he came up with that idea he said, “It was the fastest way to get them out of the box.”

Critical thinking – being able to look at a problem, analyze it, and come up with a creative and effective solution – is one of the most important skills our children can learn. Critical and creative thinking skills help us make good decisions and solve problems. Those children with good critical thinking skills will be more successful as adults.

Joey saw the problem, thought outside the box, and emptied his box to receive his reward.  So how do we raise kids who think like this? How do we raise kids who can look at a situation and come up with creative and alternative ways to address it?

Here are 3 easy ways you can encourage critical and creative problem solving in your own kids.

[Read more…]

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Fair Warning: While none of this is professional advice, it is powerful stuff and could potentially change your life!
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