Parenting

Four Compassionate Picture Books For Children About Death

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Reading Time: 6 minutes It might very well happen that a child learns about death from fairy tales, where monsters die and the good triumphs. The death of these characters reassures children that all is good with the world: evil is defeated, and good prevails. Yes, there are turns and twists in fairy tales, and the heroes have to prove themselves, but in the end, we all know how the story ends. Nasty things happen to nasty people, and good things happen to good people. And children do …

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What I Wish I Knew Before Having My Child

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Reading Time: 11 minutes While creating the outline for an article about preventing parenting burnout, I kept thinking about what I wanted to know before I had a child. So, I asked my husband and some of my friends what they wish they knew before their first newborn. In random order, and under the guise of anonymity, here are some ideas:  Breastfeeding  One of the biggest myths about breastfeeding is that it is easy, billions of mothers have done it before us, and it only takes a bit of …

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Talking about Relationships with Our Children

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Reading Time: 9 minutes While reading Between: A guide for parents of eight to thirteen-year-olds  (a great read full of practical advice), I came across a crucial topic that caregivers need to discuss with their children. What should our children look for in a positive relationship, and what red flags they must check? Positive signs for a healthy relationship  Both people trust, respect and support each other.   Both people enjoy spending time together and having fun. There is honest and open communication between both people.  Being with that partner brings …

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How to Introduce the Pomodoro Technique to Children

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Reading Time: 6 minutes The Pomodoro technique is a simple, yet efficient study method, developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s. This method consists of alternations between 25-minutes of work with five or ten-minute breaks.   First, we turn off all distractions (phones, blocking sites on computers, etc). Then we set a timer for about 25 minutes. Cirillo used this method with a tomato-shaped kitchen timer (Pomodoro means “tomato” in Italian). Next, we focus as intently as possible for those 25 minutes. Naturally, our mind will wander, but we will gently …

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Wise Ideas from Morgan Housel’s Book The Psychology of Money: Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness

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Reading Time: 9 minutes One of the better books about financial education that I have read is Morgan Housel’s book, The Psychology of Money: Timeless lessons on wealth, greed, and happiness. This book started as a blog post that can be read here. Some sharp insights in this book struck me, and I will discuss them in more detail in the following paragraphs.  Investing is not the study of finance but how people behave with money The premise of this book is that doing well with money has little to …

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Cognitive Reappraisal or How to Cope with Unpleasant Feelings through Reframing

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Reading Time: 5 minutes In psychologist Guy Winch’s book The Squeaky Wheel: Complaining the Right Way to Get Results, Improve Your Relationships, and Enhance Self-Esteem, I came across one of the most descriptive explanations of how to handle the emotional load of uncomfortable situations.  What we call feelings are complex experiences composed of several elements. Anger, frustration, sadness, rage, exasperation, etc., are our subjective experiences (“feelings”) of particular events in our life. First, these emotional experiences are always accompanied by physiological reactions: potential elevated heart rate and blood pressure, stress hormones …

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Letters to my Daughter: Learning How to Pass a Test

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Reading Time: 7 minutes So here we are, my dear, facing the test. I showed you all the learning techniques, and you know which methods are efficient, and which aren’t. You know how to take good notes in class, you read your assignments, you do your homework. And most importantly, you know that the most efficient method of studying is self-testing. Minute per minute, you will retain more if you spend one hour taking a test on a topic than studying an hour on the same material.  Long before the …

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Mastering a Crucial Skill for Adaptation: Learning How to Learn

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Reading Time: 15 minutes Muad’Dib learned rapidly because his first training was in how to learn. And the first lesson of all was the basic trust that he could learn. It’s shocking to find how many people do not believe they can learn, and how many more believe learning to be difficult. Muad’Dib knew that every experience carries its lesson. Frank Herbert, Dune  An article published by the World Economic Forum says that we are “in the middle of a global reskilling emergency” as AI will automatize some of our …

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