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The Frog Eraser Incident

Sometimes parenting is like standing in a dark room, feeling around for the light switch. This week I received a phone call from my stepdaughter *Cassidy’s teacher. An incident had occurred at school involving two little frog erasers. The teacher said that another girl in Cassidy’s fifth grade class found her beloved erasers missing, along with a sinister note, “HA HA I TOOK YOUR FROGS.” The frogs were later found in Cassidy’s desk. When questioned by several teachers, Cassidy couldn’t deny that she’d taken the frogs (having been caught “red-desked”) but insisted she had NOT written the note. The teacher … Continue reading →

Negative Reaction Addiction – Could Your Child Have It?

Regardless of your child’s diagnostic “label” (or lack thereof), if your son or daughter is persistently defiant and difficult, he or she might just have an addiction. In this case I’m not talking about a drug addiction, but an addiction to the negative reactions of others. In their book, Transforming the Difficult Child, Howard Glasser, MA, and Jennifer Easley, MA describe difficult children as being “literally addicted to negative reactions.” It sounds a little peculiar, but it makes sense. Some children continue to defy authority, rebel, throw tantrums, and do inappropriate things over and over again. (I’m referring to children … Continue reading →