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If you need some parenting ideas for a challenging situation you have or you've heard conflicting advice or you just have a question about how you can help your children develop important life skills like good self esteem, resilience or a positive attitude, then please submit in the form below and I'll do my best to answer you and support your family.

Developing good habits in your children (part 2)

Dr Rosina continues her entertaining interview with Mitzi Weinman from www.timefinder.net about developing good habits in your children.

If you would like to view the first part it is available here 

Teaching kids empathy, peaceful conflict resolution and resilience

Do your children constantly fight with you, each other and their friends? Do they scream and throw things around when they don’t get their way? Well, if you’d like more peace in your home, then watch this video about how you can help your children learn empathy and manage conflict peacefully.

I’ve been doing research for the last 6 months at the University of San Diego and I met Mrs Watson in her Social Entrepreneurs class. Mrs Watson is a mum of two and a postgraduate student at the University of San Diego who is completing a Masters degree in Peace and Justice. We got to talking and I learned about the wonderful ways she is supporting her children to learn how to navigate life peacefully and respectfully at home and school and I wanted to share them with all parents.

Mrs Watson talks about her vision for parenthood and how that led her to do some study in child development, children’s literacy and other courses to help her navigate the road of parenthood. Establishing a good community for your children to grow up in is a key to helping them learn how to get on well with others and manage the ever present change that happens in life. Mrs Watson shares the main principles peace and justice and how she how translates her learning into her home with her two young children.

Finally, you’ll learn the importance of helping children manage change. Everyday children need to deal with change. When kids can’t cope it can leave them anxious and stressed. In order to thrive children need to learn the skills and develop the personal qualities that will help them move easily through change and bounce back after difficulties.

You can help your child develop their Personal Power – self esteem, confidence and resilience with practical activities that only take 15 minutes at a time.

Developing good habits in your children

Dr Rosina interviews Mitzi Weinman on developing good habits and techniques help reduce stress that can result from procrastinating and rushing to get done things done -- whether homework, projects, etc. These are life skills and life skills are learned through teaching – at any age.

Mitzi speaks on a range of subjects including: Time & Productivity, Projecting an Organized Image, Building a Balanced Routine to Reduce Stress and Clutter; and so on and specializes in Motivational Speeches, Training Workshops, Keynote Addresses and Coaching.

Mitzi realized that the work that she does with managers, executives and entrepreneurs, transcends to students. The daily struggles that students and parents have with homework, school projects and over scheduling has led Mitzi to offer programs and coaching to students from elementary and up and parents. 

Mitzi offers:

Custom workshops (half-day)
Time-saver seminars (1-2 hours )
Individual consultations 
Motivational Speaking 

Many of Mitzi’s tips and techniques appear regularly in many publications and on TV, including Fox 25 News, Investor’s Business Daily, Boston Business Journal, American Way Magazine (American Airlines inflight magazine), Woman’s Day, Marie Claire, Redbook, Bj’s Journal, Mass High Tech and more. Mitzi also publishes her own E-Newsletter, OnTime.

Mitzi received for B.S. from Syracuse University from the Newhouse School of Public Communications and lives in Needham, MA with her husband, son and dog.

Specialties: For Students:

- Organizing: Homework & Studying, Calendar, School Papers, etc.
- Public Speaking & Presentation Skills
- Goal Development

For Managers, Executives, Entrepreneurs & Parents

- Going for your Goal!
- Delegating: An Art in Giving, Receiving & Leveraging Time
- Effective Meeting Management
- Escaping Your TimeTraps!
- From Perception to Reality -- Organize for Success!
- Blending & Balancing Your Professional & Personal Lives

Developing your child’s character: good behaviour, empathy and making positive choices

Every parent wants their child to be of good character. Character is all about how we act in life. We generally say a child is good natured or has “good character” if they behave in a way that is positive and make choices that improve the lives of others and the world.

It is important to know that character is not a fixed personality trait, instead your child’s character is developed like any other life skill. In this interview with Professor Edward DeRoche, Director of the Character Development Center at The University of San Diego, you’ll learn all about:

• What character development is
• Why character development is crucial for your child’s life success
• How parents can help their children develop good character
• Why it is important to educate your child about how to make good choices
• How crucial it is to explain why poor choices lead to negative consequences
• Using opportunities to help children develop empathy and care for others
• Helping children think through their choices and their consequences especially choices they might make that could result in deadly consequences like taking drugs, alcohol and driving dangerously.

Professor De Roche talks about helping children to be honest, respectful and responsible by modelling good behaviour. Social skills are crucial to a child’s development and helping them get on in the world.

Watching age-appropriate TV shows with your children is a wonderful way to talk about many aspects of character development. For example, with teens, watching shows like  the Big Bang Theory, or even reruns of old programs like Friends gives parents the opportunity to  talk about integrity, good and bad choices, friendship, relationships, drugs and sexuality.

Your child is always developing their character based on what they see and experience at home, in the media, at school and out in the world. Listen to this important interview about how you can help your child develop good character, make good choices and have the best chance for life success.

Episode 4: Teaching your children to conserve water in your home

Water is the basic building block for all life including humans, plants, insects and other animals on Earth, so without it we couldn’t exist. While over two-thirds of the Earth is covered by water, most of it, around 97 percent, is salt water held in the oceans and therefore only about 3 percent is freshwater. Of the freshwater, only about 1 percent is easily accessible, and the remaining 2 percent is stored in glaciers and icecaps. So as you can see, water is a valuable but scarce resource that needs to be conserved in order to support life. In this video Dr Rosina talks about the ways you can help your kids understand why it is important to conserve water for life and to protect the environment and teaches your children how to conserve water in your home. Less water wasted means more for the planet and less on your water bill. Win/Win!