Topic: "peer-pressure"
The Dynamics of ‘Fitting In’
I’ll never forget the day I realized what it feels like when your child is liked by other kids. It was the beginning of fourth grade and I was dropping my son, Elijah, off at school. After kissing him goodbye, I watched him walk down the school hallway. Naturally shy and not always self-confident, Elijah sometimes struggled to make friends. But as he approached his classroom, the other students greeted him with big smiles, eager to share with him the most important fourth grade news. Even from the back of his head, I could see he was grinning and standing a little taller. I could actually see his self-confidence increase. Read More
Love in the Time of Play Dates
I promise you, I didn’t see it coming—the explosion of hormones, giggling fits and blushed cheeks that would come when I innocently invited a few of my daughter, Mari’s (female) classmates to play with her and her (male) cousins. Up until that very day, the girls and the boys were equal-opportunity masters of fun; toss a couple of soccer balls, some sidewalk chalk, hula hoops, walkie-talkies and scooters into the mix, and nothing could get in the way of a good time—not even the “ew” factor of playing with the opposite gender. Read More
The Case of the Flying Backpack
While driving my kids to school one day last week, I noticed a group of kids on the sidewalk playing keep-away with another child’s backpack. The kid whose backpack was being tossed back and forth just out of his reach was stressed almost to the point of tears. Read More
