Search Results for: blog lady get control of your kid

Teaching Kids To Amuse Themselves

“Do you have something for me to do?” This is Tyler’s roundabout way of saying that he’s bored. It’s hard to understand how a child with so much cannot find something to do. One of his biggest problems is he’s so accustomed to doing things with me that at times he’s unable to enjoy time alone. He can amuse himself for hours on end one day and be unable to tear himself away from me the next. Being an only child, he’s used to having me to himself and I think he’s grown comfortable with that. What I am attempting … Continue reading →

One Word That Can Ease Your Mind

I remember when my son was a toddler and I was imprisoned by his tantrums. It was difficult, if not impossible, to go anywhere. On one occasion he screamed so loud and violently that I took him by the hand, abandoned our shopping cart, and went home in tears. I was so troubled by the stares and scowls of onlookers. And I remember the grief I felt initially when I learned my child would be different from other kids. Well, I was reading a magazine article the other day and had a moment of enlightenment. (They don’t come often, so … Continue reading →

Don’t Get Frustrated–Take A New Look at Your Child’s Behavior

Sometimes developmentally delayed children will exhibit behaviors which are hard to understand. That’s because the behavior is occurring at an age when we typically wouldn’t see it happening in ordinary kids. For example, if a two-year-old hits another child, as a parent we might say “Let’s not hit,” but we don’t become tremendously concerned. A two-year-old hitting another toddler is normal behavior. But if an eight-year-old hits his peer, it’s more troubling. Most eight-year-olds have learned that hitting someone else is wrong. It’s important to remember that in the special needs child, inappropriate behaviors may have a purpose. The child … Continue reading →

Is Your Kid Having a Meltdown Day? Try “DROPPING” It

We’ve all had one of those days–especially with a behaviorally-disordered child–where everything just goes wrong. You know the kind: your kid is constantly frustrated. He’s having multiple tantrums and refusals. Everthing makes him come unglued. He won’t listen and won’t settle down. Maybe he causes a scene in a public place or gets in trouble at school. And you’d just like to dive into a black hole and disappear. Carol Stock Kranowitz, M.A., in her fabulous book The Out-of-Sync Child has Fun, suggests that we just “drop it.” What does she mean? Here are the seven drops: 1. Drop Your … Continue reading →

You Know Your Kid is the BOSS When…

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Raising a child is a difficult job. Raising a special needs child, especially one with behavior problems, is an even greater challenge. We make a lot of mistakes as parents, but it’s good to relax and laugh at ourselves once in a while. We all can relate to things occasionally getting WAY out of control. (More than occasionally?) Anyway, just for fun and a bit of humor, I’ve written the following: You know your kid is the BOSS when… 1. He tells you what you’re making for dinner tonight. 2. She’s the one pushing the shopping cart while you sprint … Continue reading →

“LADY, get control of your KID!”

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Those of us with behaviorally disordered kids get them all the time: Stares. Glares. Looks of indignation. Eye rolls. Huffs. Puffs. Expressions that say, “Lady, get control of your kid!” So this blog is dedicated to those people who shoot the looks of disapproval. Dear shoppers on the run, strangers waiting in line, and cashiers at the counter, It may look like I have failed miserably at raising a well-behaved child. He appears to be an ordinary kid who somehow turned into a monster from bad parenting. And maybe he is irritating you. Maybe you’re annoyed beyond belief at my … Continue reading →

When Your Child Throws a Tantrum in Public: 4 Steps to Regain Control

“Please…make it stop!” With most of life’s problems, we can’t just ignore them and hope they’ll go away. However, tantrums can be an exception. With the right technique, you can ignore your child’s tantrums and eliminate them–hopefully forever. But it takes guts and determination. My Tantrum Hell When my son Kyle was five, his autism made language difficult. Rather than express his frustration in words, he screamed. He would lay on the floor, screeching, sometimes hitting himself and kicking his feet. This made traveling to public places a challenge. At the grocery store, Kyle would spot a toy or book … Continue reading →

Analyze This

You know that dream where everyone in the world hates you, but somehow you gain an invitation to compete on Iron Chef America where the secret ingredient is barley and one of the guest judges is Anderson “I love me some Crack Pie” Cooper, and you burn fish so badly that it looks like chicken until you pull back the skin and a sea of pin bones are revealed, and suddenly the entire kitchen goes up in flames… What do you mean you don’t remember that one? I get that one all the time, which probably explains why my 8-year-old … Continue reading →

When Daddy Has Long Hair

“Mommy, is that lady a man?” My daughter’s unabashed question rang out like a clap of thunder in the night sky. Her voice was strong, her intonation direct and her face was as sincere as a priest blessing a sick child. There was no time to pray for her to lower her voice, the question was already out there, well within ear shot of a tall, burly guy with dirty blonde hair down to his shoulders walking a few feet in front of us at O’Hare International Airport. All I could do now was close my eyes and hope that … Continue reading →

No More Rules!

In my previous post answering homeschool questions for a young lady who wants to homeschool her senior year of high school, it was clear that her questions were the result of 12+ years of public school restrictions. Even her follow up questions indicated that she expected homeschooling to be as restrictive and regimented as public school. In answer to her follow-up questions, “when are midterms and finals?, it was clear to me that she was not seeing beyond her current and past educational experiences. Here is my response to her. Testing is up to you and the person who teaches … Continue reading →