Ron Huxley's Parenting Toolbox

Comforting kids
after a tragedy

Our hearts break every time we think about the families in Newtown, Connecticut, and how they’re struggling to cope with the horror of last Friday’s shooting at Sandy Hook School. In the midst of our sadness, we’re faced with needing to respond to our own kids’ queries about the attack, often clueless as to how much, or how little to say. My three elementary-aged kids want some details, for example: How many guns did the shooter have? How did he get in if the doors were locked? Did the kids see blood? Deep breath. Thankfully, Nancy Berns, associate professor of sociology at Drake University, an expert in grief, death and violence and author of Closure: The Rush to End Grief and What It Costs Us, stepped in to give us all guidance.

SheKnows: How can parents help their kids cope with the elementary school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut?

Nancy Berns

: Try to answer questions appropriate for their age and reassure them as often as they need it. Be willing to take the time to listen and ask questions over days, weeks and months.

• Hug your children. Hold them if they are seeking the closeness. Don’t rush them as they are processing their own feelings.
• Limit their exposure to media if possible, including news reports and images. Be careful about how much they overhear you talking to others or listening to news. Children pick up more than you realize.
• Keep your kids’ routines as normal as possible. This will help give them a sense of security.
• If your family has a religious faith, you can pray with your children. Encourage them to pray for others — focusing on helping someone can give them hope.
• Spend time playing, reading and doing other activities together.

Take it slow

SK: What are some specific things parents can say to help kids feel safe at school? And what shouldn’t you say or do?

NB: Even if children are not asking about the shooting, they may be hearing other people talk about it. So you want to check in with them at different times to see if they have questions or concerns. By asking, you give them permission to talk about it. They may not know if it’s OK to discuss it since they’ll likely pick up fear and anxiety as they hear other people talk. If you don’t talk about it with them, they may get even more scared. You can start with a general statement like, “Something sad happened last week. Have you heard anyone talking about it?” And then go slowly from there.

Some children don’t say a lot when they’re upset. You can ask some direct questions. “Are you sad? Are you angry?” Even if they don’t answer, you can reassure them that it is all right to be sad or angry or confused. Let them know it’s all right to ask questions. You can tell them you’re sad, too, so that they don’t feel alone. But don’t lean on your kids for your own emotional support.

Be their safe place

SK: When your kids want to know details about the shootings should parents give honest answers?

NB: Each child may respond differently to this kind of news. You want to be honest with children and also age-appropriate. If children are old enough to be getting news from the internet and social media, you want to provide information so you can help them think through the details.

“You can reassure them that it is all right to be sad.”

For younger children, answer their questions but keep the details limited and vague. If they continue to ask questions, try to answer because there is a need there for something. Depending on the age of the child, you have to discern how much detail is too much. If they are asking questions that you are uncomfortable answering, gently ask them why they are wondering. You can also ask what they’ve already heard to find out what images might be in their head. Keep the lines of communication open and let them see you as a safe place to express concerns.

Too young to understand?

SK: Should parents expect their kids to grieve and talk a lot about death?

NB: While researching my book, Closure: The Rush to End Grief and What It Costs Us, I found that some similarities that children have in grieving, differ from many adults. Kids can switch their attention and emotions quickly. Children may hear about a loss, cry and be upset one moment, and then they go play and laugh. It’s important not to assume that this quick change means that the shooting isn’t bothering them. They may come back to it later in ways we don’t always pick up on.

Adults may assume kids are fine after a death, thinking that “They’re too young to understand” and then the adults may be reluctant to bring up the tragedy. But when no one else is talking with a child about it, he or she may feel alone with the confusing feelings or start to think he shouldn’t talk about it.

Children are likely to be sad, scared and confused and wonder if the same thing can happen to them or their friends and family. Reassure them that you are watching out for them and that their school is safe. Hug them and tell them you love them.

How have you helped your child understand and feel safe during tragedies? Share your thoughts with us at http://www.facebook.com/parentingtoolbox

Is there an optimal spacing between siblings to minimize rivalry? Do children who are 4 or 5 years apart in age bicker less than those who are 1 or 2 years apart, for example?

Kids who are closer in age are somewhat more likely to spend time together and to share toys and friends and interests, so there is more opportunity for conflict and rivalry to occur. Brothers and sisters who are of similar ages also tend to be closer to one another than those who are farther apart in age. It is important to realize, however, that there are many other factors that influence levels of sibling rivalry and closeness such as parenting strategies and children’s personalities and gender; waiting a specific number of years between children will certainly not insure a particular type of sibling relationship.

What are some useful approaches to helping step-siblings get along well with each other?

The melding of two families can turn kids who barely know each other into step-brothers and sisters. Many get along very well, while others carry disparate loyalties and resentments into these new relationships. You cannot force step-siblings to form close family bonds and should give them time and space to get to know each other. However, there are some things you can do to help them get along. Explain to the kids that they are part of a new family and that they cannot expect things to be exactly as they were before; arguments such as “that’s the way we’ve always done things in our family” won’t fly. Tell them that new schedules, chores, rules, and traditions may have to be developed. Have family meetings in which everyone is able to express his or her concerns and ideas. Also be available for your kids if they want to talk, and be sure to be understanding and accepting of their feelings. Try not to take sides with your kids in arguments with their step-siblings because this may encourage “us” against “them” feelings. Organizing fun family events with all the kids is a good way for them to enjoy their time together as a new family.

Is it better for a parent to avoid getting involved with sibling conflicts—to expect the children to work out their own problems? That approach seems unfair to a smaller or less assertive child, yet I hate having to act as judge or to try to figure out who did what to whom.

Trying to figure out who did what to whom and provide a fair solution can be a thankless job for a parent. Not only are you stuck in the middle of your kids’ battle, your children aren’t learning how to work things out on their own. In general, it’s a good idea to stay out of your kids’ conflicts, but sometimes it’s unavoidable. When kids are too young to possess the skills they need to manage conflicts on their own, you can help them with a process called collaborative problem solving. In collaborative problem solving, parents encourage children to tell each other what they need in the situation or what they want to have happen. Then parents can help them brainstorm a set of solutions to the problem that they can both live with. Ideally, it’s a win-win solution because the parent does not have to take sides and the kids are learning problem-solving skills.

As children get better able to handle conflicts on their own, a positive intervention strategy is to acknowledge each child’s side of the story, tell them you are confident that they can come up with a solution, and then leave them to it. For example, if your kids are fighting over a toy, listen to each side and say: “I see two very angry boys who want to use the same block. Jack wants it for his car and Owen wants it for his house. I know that you two can stop fighting and work something out. What are some ideas?” Then leave. If the children are unable to come up with a solution, you should remove the toy or separate them. Always intervene if children’s fighting could lead to one or both of them getting hurt.

I have four children (both boys and girls, 6 years old to 14 years old). At times they get along, but SO often they are at each other and arguing and fighting. “She looked at me…, he touched me…” I think pretty typical stuff, but it really bothers me because I sometimes wonder if they really do love each other, would they stick up for each other, and help each other if they really needed to. I know siblings will fight, but how do you promote more positive feelings and peace between them?

In general, sibling relationships are characterized by many different and complex emotions such as love, conflict, protectiveness, envy, warmth, anger, rivalry, and fun—all at the same time! One boy I knew protected his sister by beating up a classmate who threatened her, saying, “I’m the only one who’s allowed to hit my sister!” Although some fighting is common in sibling relationships because siblings spend so much time together and share so many things (particularly parental attention), these relationships also provide children and adults with emotional and physical support, friendship, information, love, and enjoyment. So the bickering you describe certainly does not mean that your kids don’t love each other very much and will not support each other throughout life—even if they drive each other crazy in the back of the car now.

There are many things that parents can do to help their kids get along. One way to promote positive interactions between them is to be sure to notice and praise the times they act in ways you want them to. Often, as parents, we only respond to the kids’ interactions when they are negative or annoying. When the kids are quiet and get along, we tend to breathe a sigh of relief and leave them alone. In doing so, we are missing great opportunities for rewarding kids when they engage in sibling interactions that we value and want them to continue. Attending only to sibling conflict may actually increase the conflict because they may fight each other in order to get you to intervene and get your attention, even if it’s negative.

It seems that families are having fewer children today than when I was growing up. What is the impact on a child who has no siblings or only one sibling compared to a child who has three, four, or five siblings?

Every family is unique, so it is difficult to make generalizations about all small families or families with many children. However, it is probable that in families with a lot of kids the children are more likely to spend time with each other and care for each other, and they are less likely to spend time alone with their parents, than are kids in smaller families.

There are positive and negative aspects to these differences. When children have more sibling caretakers, they may have an easier time making the transition to caretakers outside of the home (e.g., child care workers, teachers), and the siblings who engage in caretaking may feel more prepared for parenthood (although we know that’s not a criterion for parenting). On the other hand, moms and dads are generally children’s best caretakers. In addition, only children and first-born children who spend more time alone with their parents tend to be more adult focused and achievement oriented, and they tend to do a bit better in school. Kids who spend more time with siblings tend to be more focused on their peers and to be more socially skilled.

It’s certainly not true that only children are selfish, more self-centered, and unable to share. In reality, only children are just as well adjusted as their peers with one or more siblings. I want to be sure to emphasize that characteristics such as birth order and family size do not pigeonhole children. Parenting, personality, and intelligence are a few among many factors that play much more powerful roles in making us who we are.

I work with a young child whose brother shows some troubling and maybe risky behaviors. What can I do for the child when he expresses feeling upset by something his brother has done?

One of the most important things you can do, which you are already doing, is listen to him. Brothers and sisters of children with behavior problems, as well as those with an illness or disability, often have intense feelings of guilt, anger, worry, and envy concerning their siblings. Clearly, the siblings of children with behavior problems may have the constant worry that their brother or sister will hurt himself or herself or get into serious trouble. These children may also be jealous of the attention and time their parents are giving to the child with behavior problems, and angry at their sibling for causing so much trouble and making the parents worry. Siblings of children with behavior problems may also experience the burden of feeling they must be the “golden child” or the good kid that their parents can count on. Because they love their siblings and parents, children who have a sibling with behavior problems may feel very guilty that they are experiencing these negative emotions. In these families, the parents may be not be emotionally available to the children without behavior problems because they are so busy with their other child, or the child without problems may simply not want to burden their parents further. In these cases, allowing a child to talk about all his feelings in a supportive and nonjudgmental way can help him a great deal. One of our children seems to excel at everything, from schoolwork to sports to popularity. The other struggles and constantly tests the rules. They’re so different: is there any way to promote a good relationship between them?

There’s no way to get around it—siblings in the same family are often very different, with different skills, interests, personalities, and temperaments. Some of these differences they were born with, some developed from their different life experiences, and some were carefully developed by brothers and sisters who chose to excel at different things. However, they do have one of the most important things in the world in common—their family.

Even if your kids aren’t inclined to be bosom buddies at this point in their lives, you can draw them into each others lives by making sure they do things with you as a family. Requiring that the television is off during dinner and that everyone talks about his or her day makes dinner an important time for families to check in with each other. Mandatory family game or movie nights during which you spend some relaxed time together without daily pressure can go a long way (and if your kids are grumpy about staying in, at least they can commiserate with each other and create a healthy “us” against “them” bond!). Make sure they support each other by asking for family attendance at, or enthusiasm for, some of the events or achievements of both the kids. It sounds like it would be easy for the family to attend your one child’s many sporting events or celebrate his or her grades. You may have to be more creative find ways for the family to show pride in the achievements of your other child without making him or her feel “second-best.” Family trips, special family traditions, and celebrations are also ways to enhance the bond between your children.

Although this is not necessarily part of your question, the issue of how different siblings are makes me think about how easy it is for parents to highlight these differences—something we need to try and avoid. Although it may seem natural to compare very different children, such comparisons can be hard for children and can harm the sibling relationship. For example, comments like, “Why can’t you be more like your brother?” can make children feel resentful or angry at a sibling. They can also make children feel that their parents love them less than their brothers or sisters and can cause jealousy. Comparisons that put one child in a better light than a sibling—for example, “You are so much more athletic than your sister”—can make a child feel guilty about, or sorry for, a sibling. You can avoid making comparisons by simply identifying and describing a child’s particular behavior or personality—without making reference to a sibling. For example, instead of saying, “Why are you so sloppy when your sister is so neat?”, you can say, “You look pretty sloppy; I think you should tuck your shirt in.”

When children are very different, it can seem natural to give them labels such as the “smart one” or the “artist” or the “wild child.” However, these labels can heighten differences and emotional distance between siblings and cause negative feelings such as resentment and jealousy. If Joe is the “talented one” who excels musically and Bob gets in trouble more and is labeled the “troublemaker,” Bob may resent what he perceives to be Joe’s favored status in the family, and his jealousy can harm the sibling relationship. Even positive labels can be problematic because children may feel pressure to meet their parents’ expectations, and they often feel guilty that their parents seem to like them more than a brother or sister. Labels may also serve to increase negative behaviors; the “wild child” may think that he or she might as well continue to do crazy things because parents expect it.

To avoid labels, remember that each child is unique and has the ability to do many things and act in many different ways. If a child engages in one type of behavior for a while (e.g., sports, getting into trouble, art) it doesn’t mean he or she will continue to do so forever. Encourage children when they do something positive unexpectedly. For example, if your child, who always seems to be running late, gets to the dinner table on time, be sure to praise him for being on time. Encourage children to try things they are interested in, even if a sibling is more talented. Realize that children may be born with certain personality traits, but as a parent, you can influence them to behave and act differently and not lock them into particular roles—or stop them from locking themselves into roles.

I have two daughters. The older one is 6 and the younger one is 18 months old. My 6-year-old has Attention Deficit, and I find that she has difficulty interacting with her younger sister. My older daughter often gets rough, takes her sister’s toys away, or tries to force an interaction when her sister isn’t interested. What are some suggestions that you could give me to help enhance their relationship and to reduce the sibling rivalry?

Many of us worry about how our older children interact with our younger children and are frustrated when they engage in the behaviors your 6-year-old displays. These undesirable behaviors can be caused in part by feelings of rivalry and anger at having to share parental attention and love. It is also true that children simply may not be developmentally able to adjust their play to a baby’s or toddler’s needs. It takes relatively advanced mental and emotional abilities to recognize (and care) when someone is tired of a game or to understand that you can be rougher with a 4-year-old than with an 18-month-old.

Although your 18-month-old is not a newborn, your older girl is still adjusting to sharing your time and attention, and it can be difficult for her to watch the hands-on care that her younger sister gets from you. One way to address feelings of jealousy toward a younger sibling is to emphasize how great it is to be the older one. Make sure that you are spending some special time alone with the 6-year-old, doing things that only “big” girls can do. Make your older child proud of her big sister role by finding ways to engage in her caretaking activities: Can she pick out clothes for her younger sister? Help in meal preparation? Put her socks on? Talk about how much you think your younger child looks forward to being able to do things like your 6-year-old, such as reading and riding a bike and running.

When you are with them and you can tell that your older daughter wants to start an interaction, suggest (strongly) that she entertain her without touching her: “I’ll bet your sister would love it if you’d sing her a song/read her a book/show her how to do a somersault.”

Be sure to point out and praise instances when your older daughter gets it right: “That’s great, you made her smile!” “Hey, she started looking grumpy and you stopped tickling her—good job.” Keep in mind that the social skills she is learning in her sibling relationship, about empathy and picking up on emotional cues, will serve her well outside the home too.

There is a family that compares the development of a 33-month-old child with her older sister who is 7 years old. They want the younger child to reach the same level of academic achievement that her older sister had at her age. The younger child is meeting the typical developmental milestones for her age. What are ways to approach parents to help them to understand and accept each child as an individual?

All children deserve to be loved and valued for who they are and for their own unique gifts. As discussed in answer to a previous question, comparing children can cause problems in the sibling relationship. In this case, the parents are potentially harming their own goal—that of strong academic achievement for both girls. The younger daughter, if she is not as academically inclined as her sister, may simply give up. Why should she work to do her best in school if she can never do as well as her sister and her parents won’t value her achievements? It’s also possible that the older daughter will feel ashamed of her academic prowess because it makes her sister look bad, and she will degrade or even sabotage her own success.

Commenting on people’s parenting can be tricky. Ultimately, how you talk to them will depend on your relationship with them—what they are like, how you know them, and what your interaction with them is like. One way to approach the topic may be to relate their daughters’ differences to how the parents differ from each other. Which one of them takes care of the checking account? The car? The laundry? Who makes medical appointments for their children? Why is it the case that one of them handles some of these tasks rather than the other? (Hopefully they will see that it’s not that one is smarter or better than the other, but that they are different people with different talents, needs, interests, etc.—just as their children are.) It may be helpful to point out that, from a genetic perspective, unless their children are identical twins, they share only 50% of genetic material, on average. So, there’s a biological/genetic reason that the children will be different from one another and develop at different paces and in different ways.

You could also go out of your way to lavish praise on the younger daughter: “Wow, Natalie has such a sunny disposition! You are lucky to have such a happy child.” Ideally, by emphasizing the wonderful characteristics of the younger child, the parents may begin to appreciate her uniqueness.

Is there a relationship between how siblings get along as young children and how they get along as adolescents or young adults?

This question speaks to how unique the sibling relationship is. The simple answer is—yes. Children who have better-quality sibling relationships in childhood generally have more positive sibling interactions in adolescence and young adulthood. Children who are not close and who experience very high levels of conflict in childhood generally do not have good-quality sibling relationships in adolescence or young adulthood, and many carry their resentments and anger to old age. (Of course, it is certainly possible for negative childhood sibling relationships to improve with interventions that help the children interact more positively.) So there is a relationship between how siblings get along across their lifetimes. However, what “good” sibling relationships look like generally differs quite a bit in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood.

In childhood, siblings are thrown together a lot without much say in the matter. They spend quite a bit of time together and are expected to share many things—toys, rooms, moms and dads (when parents are the most important things in the world), backseats, friends, etc. As a result, in childhood, good sibling relationships often have a lot of both fighting and playing. In adolescence, children spend more and more time outside of the home with peers, at school, and doing other activities. Siblings will still spend time together with the family and will probably still choose to “hang out” (often the older sibling serves as a teacher to the younger about social issues). Squabbles will occur, but their interactions tend to be less frequent than in childhood. In adulthood, unlike when we were children, we have a lot of choice about how much time we want to spend with our siblings. Because of this, conflict tends to decrease dramatically, and we are generally able to create relationships with our brothers and sisters that work for us. Some siblings may choose to room together at college, others may simply chat on the phone once a week, still others may simply enjoy seeing each other during the holidays. All of these young adults may consider themselves to have good sibling relationships. Later in adulthood, many siblings are active in each others’ lives. However, for many others, their relationships with their siblings are valuable simply because it is important to have family they can always count on and someone with whom they share a past—even if they rarely have contact with their siblings.

One of our children has chronic health problems that demand a great deal of our time and attention. How can we avoid letting this cause resentment among our other children?

Children can have a lot of mixed, intense, and confusing emotions surrounding a sibling with a chronic illness, as I mentioned in answer to a previous question. It’s important to let your children know that it’s okay to have these feelings and to let them talk about them. You may even give them cues to show that you understand that it can be hard for them: “I’m sorry we had to miss your soccer game because we had to take Suzy to the doctor again. I’ll bet it’s frustrating for you when we can’t always do the things we’ve planned.” It may be a tall order if you’re already feeling stretched to the limit, but try to find a way to spend time alone with each of your children each week so they can count on your full attention for a period of time.

Here’s the good news—it’s very possible that your children won’t experience much resentment at all. What the literature suggests is that when children believe their parents pay more attention to a sibling because that sibling needs the attention, they generally have positive feelings about their sibling and parents. It’s when children don’t see a sibling’s need (but rather their gender or personality, etc.) as the reason behind parental differential treatment that they are more likely to experience negative emotions such as resentment. Because children who are chronically ill or disabled are so clearly in need of parental attention, siblings of children with disabilities or illnesses tend to be more accepting of parental differential treatment. To reinforce this idea to your children, when the topic comes up, explain to them that you love them all and work to give them each what they need—and that they each need different things from you.

I have two daughters, ages 10 and 14, who fight constantly. They tend to hurt each other with unacceptable words, and when I try to redirect them, they both say I’m taking the other one’s side. As a single parent, it’s exhausting to struggle with this issue on a daily basis.

You certainly shouldn’t have to be in the middle of their fights, particularly if they are using your intervention as fuel for their arguments. Your children are old enough to be working things out on their own, and they should be. If they need you to help them solve their problems for a while, I suggest the strategy outlined in a previous question: describe what you see, tell them you trust that they can figure it out, and then leave. I also suggest a more comprehensive approach. Sit down with the girls and talk to them about how you’re feeling about the situation in general. Try to avoid being angry and blaming, but tell them something like (and I’m guessing how you may be feeling): “I love you both so much, and it is painful to me to see you hurting each other every day. I work very hard for this family, and it would mean a lot to me if I could come home and have us all get along. How can we make this happen?” Try getting them to brainstorm solutions for their conflict in general and for specific arguments they may be having. Your job should be to facilitate their discussion, not to judge or evaluate what they say. You want them to solve their problems together, not to drag you into their conflicts.

I also strongly suggest you get the book Siblings without Rivalry by Faber and Mazlish, which I think you may find useful. Finally, your girls are at an age when they should have the skills necessary to resolve conflicts on their own. However, if you have reason to believe that they don’t have these skills, that they really can’t solve their problems by themselves, then you should make sure they learn—either by explicitly teaching them conflict strategies yourself or by making sure they receive training outside of the home.

Are there any special things that parents or grandparents should keep in mind about sibling relationships when the family is going through a divorce? The children I’m referring to are all under the age of 5.

Sibling conflict often increases during the divorce process for many reasons. Kids can be anxious, confused, and upset by the changes and emotions they perceive in their home—a result can be short tempers and increased fighting. Parents are often emotionally caught up in the divorce and physically less available because one parent may have moved out, so they may be less able to engage in sensitive parenting and less likely to intervene successfully in sibling conflict. In addition, during a divorce, children are often particularly in need of parental attention and support. With parents less accessible, increased sibling conflict may be the result of children fighting to get the decreased parental attention that is available to them. Further, children may feel anger at their parents for changing their family circumstances but be unwilling to reveal all this anger to the parents (because the parents are already so sad or because they may worry that revealing their anger will cause parents to be even less accessible) so they may take their anger out on a sibling.

But wait, there’s good news. Kids are very resilient, and good parenting (and grandparenting) is the most important thing that can be done to help them weather the divorce process. Understanding that increased sibling conflict during a divorce is generally caused by children’s confusion about the divorce (and not, say, to a desire to drive parents crazy when they already feel emotionally tapped) may help you decide how to respond to them. Being sensitive to, and available for, the children as much as possible may be key to lessening some of the conflict. Grandparents can play a key role by being accessible and loving and consistent; things are changing rapidly for the children in their homes, so knowing that their relationship with their grandparents remains the same is important.

Even though sibling conflict may increase during a divorce, it is not the case that relationships between brothers and sisters necessarily become more negative overall. Experiencing their parents’ divorce can strengthen the sibling bond and provide children with a sense of support and security at a time when other family relationships are confusing. Children often look to each other to understand the divorce, and older siblings can explain what’s happening to younger siblings. Even increased conflict is a sign of the strength of the sibling relationship. Children may be worried about expressing anger to parents but not to a sibling. Why? Because they know that a sibling is going to be there no matter what. That knowledge is particularly meaningful to children when other relationships in their family are changing and may seem uncertain.

Following is the master plan to helping your child resist negative thinking that Dr. Tamar Chansky presents in her book “Freeing Your Child from Negative Thinking.” However, her strategies are just as effective for adults.

Used by permission of Da Capo Lifelong, a member of the Perseus Books Group.

Step One: Empathize with Your Children’s (or your own) Experience

As much as the end result of the master plan is to help your child embrace a different point of view on his situation, your first goal is not to lose your audience by coming on too strong with the agenda of change. Instead, start from where he is: Wheat emotion is he expression? Reflect that with your words or a hug, a gesture. Squatting may be all it takes. Thoroughly accepting how he feels doesn’t mean that you agree with him or see the situation the same way, but it does release him from having to show you how bad he feels. So when your child says, “I feel like I’m in jail,” resist the urge to say in so many words, “Are you crazy?” Don’t try to steer him off his course. Go in the direction of his swerve, and you will be able to direct him back to himself. The key is to normalize his experience without minimizing it. If you’re too cheerful, he has no choice but to be grumpy to get his point across. As the popular bumper sticker says, “If you are not outraged, you are not paying attention.” Introduce the idea of choice: “Your thoughts are making you feel really bad. I wonder if there is something different we could do.” You don’t want to oppressively correct your child or go in with the right answer. Your child will feel bad for feeling the wrong answer so deeply.

Step Two: Relabel

If only our automatic negative thoughts came with a disclaimer–”The message you are about to hear is notoriously unreliable, distorted, and out of proportion”–what anguish we could prevent. Instead of being led down a thorny patch lined with terrible impossibilities, accusations, and more, we might steel ourselves, get some distance, or get ready to take our thoughts with a grain of salt. Relabeling is about noticing the familiar “ring” to children’s thoughts and distress: the everything, always ring tone, or the ding-dong of doom and gloom. Children can learn to recognize it immediately, and just as we prepare ourselves when we look at our phone’s caller ID, when children know that it is Mr. Negative calling, or you suggest it to them, they know where that conversation is going, and they can come into the conversation prepared rather than being taken off guard. Interestingly, even thought hearing a litany of negative thoughts could make anyone feel bad, over time, when we hear that same old story, like a broken recover, and can predict, “Yep, I knew my negative thinking was going to jump to that conclusion,” we can decide not to listen, and that decision leaves us free to choose other interpretations.

Step Three: Specify What Went Wrong

Don’t be tempted to try to solve the huge problem that your child initially presents you with: “I hate my life, everything is terrible, I can’t do anything right.” The target is actually much smaller, so teach your child to shrink it by narrowing it down from its global form to the specific offending thought or situation that needs to be addressed. With young children you can frame this approach as doing “detective work” to locate the source of the problem; with older children, you can explain that it’s usually a triggering event that makes us feel really bad–a straw that broke the camel’s back. It holds the key to helping us know that to do to feel better.

Step Four: Optimize and Rewire

Optimizing a system means making modifications or trying different settings to make it run more efficiently, use resources more wisely, and conserve energy. When a child is in negative-thinking mode, her thinking is stalled, her strengths and resources are locked up, and her energy , motivation, and hopefulness are being drained. The optimizing step is about trying different settings or perspectives on the specific problem that your child has identified–”I’m not going to have any friends at camp”–and choosing the version or interpretation that works best for your child, the one that is the least damaging, is the most accurate, and gets her system moving in a new direction. Like a teacher who needs to “call on other kids” when one persnickety child is dominating the class, children can be encouraged to step into their rightful place of authority and tell Permanent-Marker Man or Disaster Guy to give it a rest and let other voices be heard.

Step Five: Mobilize or Be the Change You Want to See

There is a certain point where you can’t think your way out of your mood anymore, but you can move yourself out of it. What we know about brain rewiring is that actions can speak louder than words. If you sit still dwelling on a situation, it is harder to shake it off than if you get up and do something active. Like picking up the needle on a skipping record and putting it down elsewhere, doing something active helps your brain get engaged in something enjoyable and pass the time until your nervous system recovers from what felt like a near miss. It’s not that you necessarily need to forget about what you were thinking before, but you may be like a windup toy that spins its wheels when it gets wedged against a wall: No matter how much it spins, it can’t get moving. It needs to be picked up and headed in a new direction.

It is important to note that picking up is entirely different distracting oneself from negative thoughts. Distracting yourself is like playing a game of hide-and-seek with your negativity. Even if you pretend it’s not there for a while by doing something else, eventually it will find you. The master plan is about dismantling the power of the bully first, correctly and devaluing the ideas, and then getting busy with the things that matter to you more. You’re not distracting; you’re either accepting or dismissing the thoughts, but either way, you’ve established who’s the boss, you’ve made it clear in your mind that these thoughts have only the power you give them, and you are ready to either let them float on by or to amend, correct, or replace them.

As the movement against excessive homework continues to grow, some parents say they’re drawing a line in the sand between home and school. Schools, in turn, are starting to rethink the role of homework and how it should be assigned.

If homework serves simply as busy work — proof that kids are “learning,” then that time is wasted, some say. Parents are sensitive to pressures on their children and want them to have down time when they get home from seven hours in school. If the work isn’t stimulating, then why do it?

“I just think that schools need to be a little more thoughtful about their policies for homework and work with the teachers to make sure that whatever homework that they do assign are rich, valuable experiences for the kids, and will actually be corrected,” said Jolene Ivey, mother of five boys in a discussion on NPR’s Tell Me More.

“We’re teaching to the test, so a lot of the instruction that should be going on in the school environment is not there,” said Stephen Jones, an educator and a father. “Giving homework gives them an additional opportunity to give them work.” He doesn’t necessarily think that’s the worst thing, but he said homework should allow different learning styles to flourish so that it’s both more motivating and more fun for kids when they are at home.

Proponents of homework say that the ability to buckle down and focus on homework after a long day is a key skill that young people will need in college and beyond. If high schools don’t assign enough homework, graduates will be unprepared when they confront heavy work loads in college.

But Kenneth Goldberg, psychologist and author of “The Homework Trap,” argues that success in college is due more to self-confidence. He argues that homework highlights “under the radar” learning disabilities in children that make it much harder for some to finish work at home. One of his children struggles with homework on a nightly basis, leading Goldberg to conclude that homework batters the struggling child with negativity, challenging his self-confidence instead of nurturing it.

Goldberg has a few simple solutions to offer parents and teachers about how to avoid the homework trap and increase productivity. He promotes the idea of designating specific amounts of time to homework, regardless of whether the project gets done and then discussing a different set of expectations with the school.

He points them out in a Wall Street Journal article:

1. Time-bound homework. Just like school starts and stops by the clock, define homework as a fixed period of time. See what the child can do in a reasonable amount of time and work with that child on using the time well.

2. Reduced penalties. Zeros factored in 25 percent of the grade is too harsh of a penalty to alter behavior. Lesser consequences will prove more effective in both mobilizing the child and allowing the parent to approach the issue calmly.

3. Respect lines of authority. Teachers are in charge of their classrooms. Parents should tread lightly when it comes to telling them what to do. Parents are the people in charge of their homes; teachers should not tell parents how to organize their homes. Ultimately, when decisions are to be made about behaviors in the home (i.e. homework), the parent needs to be the one with the final say.

“Teachers should recognize that parents are the head of the home, teachers are the head of the classroom, and that homework is given with the permission of the parents,” Goldberg said.

For parents like Ivey, who want their kids to succeed in school, the homework conundrum has become inescapable.

“Homework is such a miserable experience in my life,” Ivey said. “The teachers have my kids for seven hours a day and when my kids get home I like for them to be able to do something else.”

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What are your family’s sleep requirements?

Even the experts don’t know for sure.

The most surprising thing about sleep requirements is how little we know about them (Hunt 2003).

The official-looking charts we see published everywhere—-the ones telling us that adults need 7 hours of sleep, or that grade schoolers need 10 hours of sleep—-are based on how much time the average individual spends in bed.

The charts don’t tell us how much of this time is actually spent sleeping.

They don’t tell us how much variation there is between individuals.

And, because the averages are based on specific populations—-typically, middle-class European or American populations (e.g., Iglowstein et al 2003; Armstrong et al 1994; Roffwarg et al 1966)—-the sleep charts don’t tell us how sleep time varies across cultures.

Nor do sleep charts tell us how sleep has changed across historical periods.

Most importantly, the charts can’t tell us what your specific sleep requirements are.

Knowing how much time people spend in bed is somewhat helpful, but it doesn’t tell us if these people are getting the right amount of sleep.

As the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research has noted, we need new, large-scale, controlled studies that measure both sleep and biological outcomes (Hunt 2003). Unfortunately, such studies are uncommon.

Notable exceptions are recent studies focusing on behavior problems and obesity.

For example, a study of 297 Finnish families with children aged 5-6 years, researchers found that kids who slept less than 9 hours each day had 3-5 times the odds of developing attention problems, behavior problems, and other psychiatric symptoms (Paavonen et al 2009).

Another recent study tracked the development of obesity in young children.

In that study, researchers recorded the body weights and sleep habits of kids under five years of age. Then, five years later, they measured the kids again.

The study revealed a link between sleep loss and obesity. Kids who’d gotten less than 10 hours of nighttime sleep at the beginning of the study were twice as likely to become overweight or obese later on (Bell and Zimmerman 2010).

Moreover, researchers found that the timing of sleep mattered. When it came to reducing the risk of obesity, daytime naps didn’t help. For young children, the crucial factor was getting more than 10 hours of sleep at night.

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