It’s so important for our children to experience natural consequences in life. As much as we want to protect our children from feeling pain or hurt, natural consequences prepare them for the real world. But how to put them into play practically? Here are the How, What and Whens of natural consequences.

Why kids lie - ever feel like you’re constantly playing detective. Trying to figure out if your child is telling the truth, or at least part of it? Here’s the clues you’ve been looking for.

Picture this scenario: Your son comes home hours after soccer practice and you want to know where he’s been. “Oh my bike broke down and I had to bring it over to Mike’s house to get it fixed.”

You look at your son and you’re thinking – hours? Did it really take hours to get it fixed? What was he really doing? Is he getting into something bad that he doesn’t want to tell me about?

You want to teach your child moral values – but how to delineate right from wrong when his behavior is all over the place with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and ODD (Oppositional Defiance Disorder)? If you’re busy just trying to survive the day’s tantrums and defiance, how can you ever take the time to concentrate on the values and traits that are important to you?

Here are my top tips for how to discipline a child with ADHD and ODD.

How to Create a Safe Haven for the Truth in your home? Building moral values for kids is not always an easy feat – especially when it comes to telling the truth! But the honest truth is the biggest barrier to kids not wanting to tell the truth is their not feeling safe to do so. The real work doesn’t begin until you can create a safe haven in your home where your kids will always feel safe to tell the truth.

A few weeks ago I noticed that my 6-year-old had left his bike out again – on the side of the house instead of putting it away in the garage. Not the first time…. Now trust me, I’m all up for natural consequences, especially when it comes to teaching moral values for kids, but first it’s important to me to teach problem solving for kids to learn important lessons.

Think of all the times in your life you have lied. What did your parents say? Which reactions did you appreciate and helped you open up and tell the truth the next time? Which responses had the absolute opposite effect?

What about now, when you are the one parenting? And you’re on your ever present quest to teach moral values for kids of every age in your home. What responses have been effective for lying? Here are 8 responses that will NOT get your kid to stop lying.

Do you ever feel totally lost when you are trying to figure out how to stop a toddler from hitting? They might be hitting you, their siblings, or some kid at play group. Is there anything more humbling than to have this little kid who you just can’t get to stop hitting everyone? Yep.

Here’s one amazing tip that helped me a bunch of my toddlers. Too bad I didn’t hear about it until the 3rd but it was absolutely amazing and I should have done it with all my kids.

I don’t go to the movies that often with my kids, but when I do, I try to pick a movie that will have some great moral values to impart for my kids. I find that after we walk out of the theater, the kids are all excited about the movie and we could just talk for hours about what we saw, why the characters did what they did and of course, what we could learn from them. Here’s one movie that I would watch any child who’s feeling different.

Discipline has gotten a bad rap over the years, but – it’s actually a good thing – when done the right way, with the right intentions. I’m going to share with you a 3-prong approach to positive discipline, so you know just what 3 questions to ask yourself when misbehavior is in the air in your home. (Although of course I wish upon you only smiling compliant little angel faces looking up at you! 😊)

You have a power. It’s a mighty and strong power. It has a huge impact on building character for kids. It can build or tear down, strengthen love or create hate. With this power you build a person. It all depends on how you use it. It’s the power of the tongue.

One of the reasons I believe strongly that my kids should be doing chores is because I want to instill in them the value of responsibility towards their family. The generation today is one of entitlement. “The world is here to serve me” type. A mentality of “I don’t need to do for you unless it’s worth it for me”. I don’t want my kids to be raised like that. I want my kids to grow up feeling responsible (in a healthy way) for themselves and those around them. That’s why I don’t pay kids for chores.