Playful Exploration Often Precedes Serious Accomplishment
Before those who’ve yet to fix on a passion are ready to spend hours a day honing skills, they must trigger interest through playful exploration.
Why You Need to Be an Emotion Detective
Help your child recognize the presence of particular emotions and then, over time, encourage them to explore different ways of responding to them.
You Can’t Control Your Child, But You Can Decide What You Will Do
You can’t force your children to behave well, but you can decide what you will do if they don’t. Share your plan in advance, hold firm, and watch them grow!
A Gentle Way to Help Children Learn Right From Wrong
Instead of lecturing, create the space your child needs to consider the ethical consequences of their actions and learn right from wrong the natural way.
Discuss Racial Differences Naturally and Positively
By discussing racial differences openly and positively, we signal that race is not a taboo topic and we appreciate and respect all kinds of people.
Teach Your Child the American Political Spirit
More important than passing along your beliefs is passing along the founder’s vision of the American Political Spirit: tolerance, curiosity, and humility.
The Sacred Space of Conversation
Conversation is the crucible of learning and friendship, where we learn how to recover from setbacks, build relationships, and discover what matters most.
Role Play Your Way to a Better Place
When a child is struggling, try attaching their emotion to someone or something else and then role play with it in a low-stakes kind of way.
How to Use Humor to Connect With a Distressed Child
A little lighthearted humor teaches your child that laughter and foolishness are great ways to melt away disappointment, frustration, and anger.
What Happens When Children Grow Up in Concentration Camps
Isn’t it amazing that little children could come out of a concentration camp more concerned about feeding their companions than feeding themselves?
Make Sure Your Child Knows the Special Status of Their Teacher
Let your child know that your child’s teacher has a special role in your family. Your child should consider them like an extended family member.
The Childhood Roots of Adult Social Personality
You can’t replace the role of peers, but you can help your child avoid long-term damage that can come from toxic situations.
Another Reason to Chill Out: “It’s Hard to Know”
If the bottom line is “It’s hard to know,” then why stress out about any given parenting choice? Use your best judgement in the moment, keep learning about your child, keep building your toolkit of smart moves, and enjoy the day.
Trust: The Underappreciated Feature of Great Schools
Looking for a school for your child? Good schools almost always have a high level of trust among parents, teachers and administrators.
What My Mom’s Friend Taught Me About Competition and Excellence
Identify friends who exemplify values you hold dear and ask them to play a modest role in helping your child find their way.
What Can Your Friends Teach Your Children?
Tell handpicked friends what they mean to you, and asked them to impart their unique perspective and values to your children, in an age-appropriate way.
Keep Reading Aloud to Your Child Even After They Can Read Themselves
Reading aloud is a great way to stay connected with your child, open their eyes to new ideas and perspectives, and foster interestings conversations.
To Identify Good Books, Try The 3 Question Test
When you come across a children’s book you’ve never seen before, trust yourself to make good judgements, and use the 3 Question Test to help you.
Reading Should Be Like Chocolate Cake, Not Spinach
Most parents know that reading benefits children — a lot. It helps them do better in school, fosters social and emotional growth, and provides a foundation for lifelong learning. Knowing this, many parents naturally conclude: My kid has got to
Three Small Bowls, Ten Beans, and a Little Curiosity
This week I’ve got a simple challenge for any of you with kids in about first to fifth grade. Gather three small bowls and ten dry beans (or similar small round objects). And also a piece of paper and pencil.
When (Slightly) Wrong Answers are Better than Precisely Correct Answers
Many children get the idea that mathematics is all about precision. In order to be right, you have to be exactly right. After after all, there is only one correct answer to 7 X 6. But precision isn’t always what’s
Help Your Child Develop Number Sense — Playfully
What is six? “Well, it’s a concept that means six things,” you might say, and you wouldn’t be wrong. You could define “six” by gathering six beans and counting them and saying: “There, that’s six.” But six is something else,
Calculating matters less than setting up math problems
Ask an elementary school child “What is math?” and you’re likely to get an answer something like: “it’s problems….addition, subtraction, multiplication, division.” That’s what math feels like in school: rules and procedures that you follow to solve problems. It’s too
What I Hope My Kids are Learning in the Age of the Coronavirus
In the age of the coronavirus, I hope my kids are learning to join teams working to foster caring and connection among people, and between people and nature.
Focus Less on Your Child’s Happiness and More on Their Well-Being
![[photo of boy engrossed in playing chess; well-being comes in part from engagement]](https://raisereadykids.com/wp-content/uploads/RRK_kid_playing_chess_1200-710x300.jpeg "Focus Less on Your Child’s Happiness and More on Their Well-Being")
Support your child’s well-being by helping them build lives filled with engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment.
How to Help Your Child Avoid Depression
To help your child avoid depression, help them develop strong relationships, become deeply engaged in activities, and discover purpose and meaning.
How to Get Your Kids Playing Outside With Other Kids
Do your kids play outside with other neighborhood kids for at least an hour a week? Do they decide for themselves what, where, and with whom to play? Do they sometimes create their own games and rules? Do they settle
How to Raise Concerns With Your Child’s Teacher
Follow these five steps to raise concerns with your child’s teacher and you’ll be well on your way to building a strong parent-teacher partnership.
Do This One Thing at Back to School Night
Look your child’s teacher in the eye, shake their hand, and introduce yourself, using your child’s name as well as your own. Communicate that you care deeply about your child and their education.
Practice the Parenting 2-Step
The Parenting Two-Step works because it helps us to become and stay our best selves through the many challenging moments of parenting.
How Rich Environments Promote Learning
The takeaway: Rich environments foster learning all by themselves — especially when children enjoy them with other children.
Scaffold Your Child to Learning Success
Want to watch a master teacher at work? Spend a few minutes watching a mom play with her one-year-old on the floor. She’ll choose a toy that might interest her child, and she’ll place it within reach. If the toy
Why Stories Matter So Much
Stories help us discover who we are, start important conversations, and help us understand and relate to other people. Tell lots of stories to your kids.
Perfect Parents Are Bad for Children
We might wish we could be perfect parents, but our children need to see us being imperfect to learn important lessons about life and themselves.
Efficient Learning Often Involves Struggle Before Aha!
Efficient learning usually starts with desire. Parents or teachers provide help, but only after the child has struggled a bit on their own.
Asking, “Which Teaching Method Is Best?” Is Like Asking, “Which Tool Is Best?”
There is no one best teaching method. Like carpenters, effective teachers choose the teaching method that suits their objective in the moment.
Teach Your Child to Love Growing Understanding
![[Photo: Growing Understanding]](https://raisereadykids.com/wp-content/uploads/5cocean-creditUN-MiltonGrant_2x-710x300.jpg "Teach Your Child to Love Growing Understanding")
Children who grow up in this kind of environment will already know the rich pleasure to be had from constantly growing understanding of the world.
To Help Children Learn, Build on What They Already Know
Learning is rarely successful when parents or teachers tell students about the world without discovering and building on what children already know and believe.
What This MIT Job Ad Means for Your Child’s Education
![[MIT campus]](https://raisereadykids.com/wp-content/uploads/MIT-710x300.jpg "What This MIT Job Ad Means for Your Child’s Education")
Hiring a new assistant professor, MIT is looking for “unique and iconoclastic experience” and “evidence of extreme creativity.” What does this say about how we should be preparing our children for the changing world of work?
A Quick Introduction to the World of Charter Schools
What’s different about charter schools, and how do they work? Here are 11 facts about charters that may be helpful to you as you consider whether a charter school might make sense for your child.