Love and Logic Parenting Tips

Giving Choices


Let your kids make choices throughout the day. Gently remind them of this priviledge when you need to make a big choice.

How to Get Kids To Do What You Want

Model with excitement and joy! Think out loud! Behave!

How to Get Out the Door in the Morning


As you move through your morning routine only give two possible choices for each desired action. Don't forget to make it fun!

Potty Training Tips



Remember children potty train at different ages and it has nothing to do with the child's intelligence. Be a model, make it natural, and it will happen!

Dealing with Whining


When your child whines, smile and say, "Love you too much to argue."

The Invisible Mother

If you are a mother or know someone who is please send this to them. They will appreciate the message!

The Invisible Mother


It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?'


Obviously not; no one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner because no one can see me at all. I'm invisible. The invisible Mom. Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more! Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this??


Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?' I'm a satellite guide to answer, 'What number is the Disney Channel?' I'm a car to order, 'Right around 5:30, please.'


Some days I'm a crystal ball: 'Where's my other sock? Where's my phone? What's for dinner?'


I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history, music and literature--but now, they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going, she's going, she's gone!


One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England. She had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when she turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I brought you this.' It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe. I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription: 'With admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.'


In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work: 1) No one can say who built the great
cathedrals--we have no record of their names. 2) These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished. 3) They made great sacrifices and expected no credit. 4) The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.


A story of legend in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof, No one will ever see it And the workman replied, 'Because God sees.'


I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, "I see you. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does."


No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, no Cub Scout meeting, no last minute errand is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become.


I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on. The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.


When I really think about it, I don't want my son/daughter to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, "My Mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table." That would mean I'd built a monument to myself I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, he'd say, "You're gonna love it there..."


As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible mothers.


Share this with all the Invisible Moms you know... I just did!

Why it's good to let kids get dirty!

Many parent's today dislike when their children get dirty, because it usally means more laundry for them. But the following articles and video explain why it's important for children to get dirty.

Let Your Kids Get Dirty--Explains why dirt is good for our kids immune systems

Dirt-It's Good for Kids--"Relax, Let your kids get dirty!" We are being too phobic about germs.

"Dirt is good" for Kids, Experts Insist--Put away the antimicrobial soaps, let kids play in the dirt



Let kids be kids! They should come home dirty everyday or they are not doing their body good!

Happy Housewives

Are you a housewife? Women who stay-at-home to care for their families and homes tend to get a bad rap. Darla Shine, creator of the Happy Housewives Club, says "Stop apologizing and feel proud of the great job you are doing!" Shine wants you to take to heart the 10 Golden Rules for Happy Housewives. Be proud ladies!!

4 Things Kids Need to Hear

Check out this informative article, Overprotected Kids: How to Let Kids Take Risks. Children need opportunities to take positive risks and opportunities to be responsible. A positive risk for a child could be as simple as holding a wiggly bug in their hands, climbing up a ladder to go down a slide, or cutting paper with scissors. A responsibility for a young child might be having them help prepare a meal and then carry a bowl full of food to the table.

The following was at the bottom of the above article and I really felt it worth repeating:

4 things kids need to hear

Children covet facing positive risks and taking on responsibility because they'll hear four affirming messages from adults and peers, Michael Ungar says in his book Too Safe for Their Own Good.

1.YOU BELONG. Risk and responsibility give a child a sense she fits in somewhere.

2.YOU'RE TRUSTWORTHY. When others trust a child, the child will trust himself.

3.YOU'RE RESPONSIBLE. Children relish the opportunity to be seen as soon-to-be grown-ups.

4.YOU'RE CAPABLE. If adults identify special abilities in children, they'll feel capable of making good decisions for themselves.

I hope that you will give your child opportunities to take positive risks and to be responsible.

Handling Headlice

I was reading an online newsletter recently and there was a discussion about head lice. I don't know about you but I would rather be prepared in case my kids ever had head lice. I just discovered these funny but informative videos about handling head lice. Enjoy!

Have Fun Parenting

Do you hate being a controlling parent, and are looking for advice on how to stop butting heads with your children and have more fun parenting? Scott Noelle's Daily Groove provides daily lessons based on the Attraction Parenting principles. You will love them!

Race to Nowhere

There is a new film coming out called, Race To Nowhere. I really hope that it will come to my area! It is about how our current educational system is pushing our kids to a Race to Nowhere. We are creating stressed out, achievement driven kids, but are they happy? Are they healthy? Do they even know who they are? Some things to think about when you are pushing your kids to sign up for one more activity.

Be sure to watch this film when it comes out:

Child Targeted Advertising

Here is an interesting article, How Shrek and Dora are Making Kids Fat, that claims that child-targeted advertising which uses cartoon characters is making our kids choose foods that are not exactly the most healthy for them. I know that my kids would choose a product with Dora on the front if they had a choice. Interestingly, even when we go through the health food sections my kids want us to get the cereals with the cute animals on them, but then they are let down when they don't like the cereal. What do you think of these marketing tactics?