Sometimes it is Okay to NOT Answer Your Child’s Question!

I recently received a distraught call:
“My daughter wants to know if the Easter Bunny is real. I don’t want to lie, but I don’t want to spoil her fun.”
Parents confront the dilemma of how much ‘truth’ to divulge with questions at every stage of development: “Do you promise you’ll never die?”; “Did you drink smoke [...]

The Cursing Kid

Question: My 4-year old has just started cursing, so much so that the other parents have commented on his language and will not allow their children to play with our son. Now I’m concerned that he won’t be allowed in preschool. How can I teach my child not to curse?
Answer: When a child curses this much he does [...]

Is Shouting Really the New Spanking?

Last week the New York Times ran an article: For Some Parents, Shouting is the New Spanking. This got me thinking, are we really yelling at our kids more today than yesterday? After speaking with several family therapists, the answer is yes and for a variety of reasons which include:
1). It has become socially unacceptable [...]

Dr. Susan’s Fit and Fun Family Action Plan

Current childhood obesity statistics are alarming as over 12% of children 5 and under are obese and over 17% of children 5-19 are obese. Nearly 23% of kids don’t engage in any free-time physical activity, and the typical American child spends about 44.5 hours per week using media outside of school. The economic slump has [...]

What Single Moms Need to Know About Sexting

Do you know what sexting is? If your child has a cell phone (or will have one at any time in the future) you should know what it is and how to talk to your child about it!
What is sexting?
Sexting is sending a sexually suggestive text message picture of oneself to someone else. There is [...]

Healthy and Yummy School Lunches

While conducting research for my new book, Dr. Susan’s Fit and Fun Family Action Plan, I discovered that parents struggle with how to pack a healthy school lunch that their kids will actually eat! I found that often moms and dads avoid, or give in to whining, temper tantrums or begging, so that school lunch [...]

Ask Dr. Susan Bartell: My Child’s Acting Out!

 Question: My second child is nearly 4 years old and has been acting out in an aggressive manner for the past several months. My husband and I recently separated and when we are together, it is often times explosive. While we try to keep our tempers in check around the kids (older son 10), there [...]

Stress Relief Tips for Single Moms

Economic and emotional times are admittedly tough these days…my Less Stress for Life Success seminars (especially those for single moms!) are filling up more quickly than ever!
In fact stress can impact enormously on every aspect of your life-both at work and home–causing symptoms that you may not even realize are the result of stress. And [...]

A Teachable Moment: End of the Year Paper Purge

As the end of the school year approaches, artistic creations, book reports, poster boards, folders and workbooks arrive home. Your child hands each one to you with an expectant look on his face: “You’re going to keep this, right?”
Well…are you?
To a child, everything she creates is worth saving, but you might not be as sure. [...]

On Bullying

As a parent I was recently faced with a situation that frightened me to the point that I thought about home schooling my daughter. Earlier this school year, my 7 year old daughter became the victim of a bully. This child taunted my daughter, belittled her and even struck her!
Following proper school protocol, we alerted [...]

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