Author Archives: Alyson Schafer
Your Family Life In 2011
Alyson Schafer in For the love of parenting, Just Between Us - 25 comments - posted on Jan 11th, 2011Happy New Year! I hope you’ve had a safe and happy holiday with your loved ones. I sure did. So many of you sent me notes, cards, emails or tweets sharing pictures of your children and showing gratitude for how I’ve helped your families. That is so gratifying and touching to hear. Thank you all for letting me know my work is making a difference in the world. Now that it’s New Years Day, many of you will be making resolutions, revisiting what’s important and setting new goals for the year. I thought it might be a good idea to … Continue reading
Parenting on the Same Page
Alyson Schafer in For the love of parenting, Just Between Us - 2 comments - posted on Nov 3rd, 2010Do you and your partner fight over how to discipline the children? Tired of playing good cop / bad cop? Maybe these tips will help: DO’s Expect Parenting Differences: heck if you both did it exactly the same, one of you would be redundant. Agree to Disagree: Know and accept somethings will never be resolved in how you parent. Its better to accept differences than continue to fight over them. Maximize the Opportunity of Differences: If one is better at getting bedtimes to go smoothly, and another is calmer helping with homework, divide your tasks up to … Continue reading
Thanksgiving Exercise In Gratitude For Your Family
Alyson Schafer in For the love of parenting, Just Between Us - 2 comments - posted on Oct 8th, 2010Happy Canadian Thanksgiving weekend! I hope you enjoy this long weekend and have some nice relaxing family time together. The holiday is about giving thanks, but too often children only hear what is “wrong” with them, and about “problems”. We don’t talk enough about what is going right and what is gratifying about being in our families together and about the joys of our relationships. We gotta amp that up more! Why not get started this weekend? At your Thanksgiving dinner, you could go around the table and pose the question ” One thing I like about being in this … Continue reading
“What did you do at school today?”
Alyson Schafer in For the love of parenting, Just Between Us - 1 comment - posted on Sep 30th, 2010The new school year is in full swing and no doubt you are eager to find out everything that is going on at school. Good luck trying to get a good answer out of your children. They usually are pretty tight lipped. Here is why: 1) You grill them too frequently about every little thing and they’d like a bit more space and privacy in their life away from home. 2) You respond too critically when they do share with you “You should have told tell the teacher he pushed you” or “don’t play with him at recess, he … Continue reading
Mommy, Mommy, I want to be in the Olympics too!
Alyson Schafer in Just Between Us - 0 comments - posted on Feb 17th, 2010Have you been watching the Olympic coverage as a family? Perhaps you have a child who has been bitten by Olympic fever. Check out the following article on the CTV.ca Olympic site where I was interviewed about how to respond to and encourage your child’s new Olympian dreams – and help them go for Gold! The Games are a Golden Teaching Opportunity for Parents by Dave McGinn The Globe and Mail Posted Monday, February 15, 2010 Ray Simundson remembers the exact moment his daughter, Kaillie Humphries, decided she was going to become an Olympian. Ms. Humphries, who is competing in bobsleigh next week at … Continue reading
Divorced? What your Children Really Want for Valentine’s Day
Alyson Schafer in Just Between Us - 0 comments - posted on Feb 10th, 2010Its coming up to Valentine’s Day and lots of articles are being written about ways to show your love. Here is an excerpt from “Helping Children Understand Divorce” by University of Missouri that might give you some ideas about what the children of divorce really want: What I Need From My Mom and Dad – A Child’s List of Wants: I need both of you to stay involved in my life. Please write letters, make phone calls, and ask me lots of questions. When you don’t stay involved, I feel like I’m not important and that you don’t really love … Continue reading
Registration is Open for Alyson’s Winter and Spring Parenting Bootcamps
Alyson Schafer in Just Between Us - 1 comment - posted on Jan 11th, 2010Yes! Registration is now open for the winter and spring sessions of my popular Parenting Bootcamp. These are the last offerings in Toronto until October and each class is limited to 25 people, so sign up soon! This is the best investment you can make in your family life. But why listen to me? Here is an except from an email I received from a past attendee: “I attended your bootcamp this past weekend. I just thought you should know that I cried all the way home after your class ended on Sunday. Not because I was sad or mad but they … Continue reading
A child seeks power over others only when they are denied the chance to have power over themselves. Independence! Alyson!