On this last day of 2013, our thoughts here at GCP turn to what New Year's resolutions we can make about parenting. We've come up with one resolution, which we hope everyone will make: To be focused, conscientious parents in 2014. Sounds good, but the important part of this resolution is figuring out how you will take it to [...]
With Thanksgiving but a few days away, we focus on gathering with our families and being thankful. In preparation for the holiday, children are encouraged in school to think about what they are thankful for, and often families will encourage everyone around the table to say what they are thankful for as they sit down to dinner. But what [...]
Any parent of a boy and a girl will quickly tell you that there are many developmental differences between the sexes that are evident almost from birth (apart from the obvious physical ones). We recently ran across an interesting article from Eleanor Reynolds, author of a series of books on guiding young children, which suggests that mothers should acknowledge [...]
Navigating those parent teacher conferences for our sons in the lower grades can be really stressful if there are behavior issues to discuss. We ran across these helpful tips for a successful parent teacher conference for parents of younger children with behavior issues from "What Did My Son Do Now?", an article in Early Childhood News, and want to [...]
Today is Veterans Day, a day to thank and honor all who served (or still serve) in the military. Whether your children have the day off from school is a function of your state or local school district (with no legal requirement that schools close on Veterans Day, individual states or school districts are free to establish their own [...]
Did you know that November is Hip-Hop History month? Whether you are a huge fan, a mild enthusiast, or would prefer to hear anything else when your kids are controlling the music, you can't deny that hip-hop has had a significant influence on modern culture. Harvard University's Hip Hop Archive, which is devoted to the serious study of hip [...]
It is an ugly truth: parents of African American children live with the constant fear that our children, especially our sons, may have an encounter with the police that ends in their arrest, or even worse, in their bodily harm. We know we need to have “The Talk” with them about what to do if they are ever stopped, [...]
As you probably know if you've been paying attention to the news recently, Trayon Christian is a 19 year old Black college student who is suing the NYPD and Barney's--one of NYC's luxury department stores--for wrongful arrest after he purchased a $350 Ferragamo belt in the store using a debit card. Christian was stopped by police as he tried [...]
The Wall Street Journal recently revealed news which should gladden the hearts of parents of teenagers everywhere: "cognitive empathy", the wiring in children's brains that enables them to understand and care about how others think, only begins to develop at age 13. So when your sweet middle schooler disappears and is replaced by an eye-rolling, door slamming "who is [...]
When is it good to help our boys, and when is it better to let them fail? In yesterday's New York Times Motherlode Blog, found here, a mother writes passionately of her need to help her middle school son with his schoolwork despite hearing from his teachers that she shouldn't because "we want to see what your child can [...]