Parenting & Education Articles by Other Authors

I was left with a strange feeling that I was out of step with much of America. For my kids don’t know who these celebrities are, and my husband and I have no intention of telling them...

Where there's life, there's chance. Kids are here to learn and grow and do. The idea that there's no trade-off when we lock them inside is wrong. Bubble-wrapped kids get the message that the world is a horror movie, that they are never safe unless their parents are right there to save them...

How is it that such “great” people could think so big and act so small? Judaism teaches that it wasn’t a coincidence. It was, in fact, because they thought so big—or, rather, because they only thought so big—that they acted so small!

What happens to the children of parents who were violent, panic-stricken, depressed or living in an addictive fog?

I remember those moments, sitting there on my daddy’s lap watching the thumbnail marks gradually spreading over the page. That piece of time is crystallized in my memory. I can still replay the fascination with the idea that those thumbnail marks were creating a permanent presence in my prayerbook; that some essence of Daddy was infused in those rhythmical indentations . . .

It’s just that in my newly configured family, any celebration that takes me away from home has acquired an entirely new meaning—another abandonment of our thirteen-year-old daughter...

Energy is power, and it signifies endless opportunities and possibilities. However, energy, it seems, is not exactly equally distributed among the inhabitants of this good earth...

My son was scared. This time, however, he was scared of me. And he had no one else to turn to. How did he react, where did he turn for reassurance? He clung to me, his father, the object of his present fear!

Are you in a fight with the other guy, or are you facing a struggle between the good and the evil inside your own heart?

It’s the first dialogue there is between a father and his son in the Torah. It starts like this:
Isaac to Abraham: "My father?"
Abraham to Isaac: "Here I am, my son"

Kids have a right to know the objective of the hours they spend in school. Sadly, often the message they get is misleading.

When you come to think of it, a child needs the very same things a tree does in order to grow: "earth," "water," "sun" and "air"

The most blessed thing you can say to your children is, "I know you can do it"

Should a parent give a child a tangible reward, such as a prize or a food treat, when a child behaves properly, does his homework or helps around the house?

His cousin has one, his friends have it, but we have no intention of buying him one. How will I explain it to him?

Like the moon, your child may be lovely, but he is a reflector. You assert, she believes. You decide, he accepts. You give, she takes. Then comes the chaos of adolescence . . .

Chanie is playing ball in the living room; Mom is concerned that something might get broken. Who "owns" the problem? Chanie? Her mother? Or is it the relationship between parent and child that owns the problem?

A well-known rabbi once said to me, "Never write anything controversial. You'll only make enemies, and it won't help." So I hesitated to write this article...

Doing good without believing in reward is the flip side of doing good only for reward. In the one case, good is constrained to the metaphysical; in the other, it is limited to a crass physical expression . . .

She asks for what she needs, recognizes what she doesn’t, and appreciates what she has. She never stops moving. Nothing is boring to her; everything has potential . . .