Bringing Back Family Night: A Few Out-of-the-Box Ideas to Spend More Time with Those You Love

on May 30, 2019 at 1:26 PM /

Last week, my wife and I spent our entire Saturday at my mother-in-law’s home for her birthday. We loved every minute of it, and I even got to see some of the family’s old photos! There were a ton of pictures of birthdays, Christmases, and Thanksgivings, but even more of just regular nights of them together as a family. My mother-in-law said they really enjoyed having “family nights” as often as possible doing fun and quirky activities. She says she misses them and hopes that Jackie and I do the same for our kids when they get a little older....

Parental Caution: What a History of Mental Illness in Your Family and Marijuana Could Mean for Your Kids

By Dr. Wendy Rice

on May 23, 2019 at 10:29 AM /

Consider the following story as it relates to this week’s topic. When I was a teen, smoking marijuana was a common pastime for my friends and I. It was fun, mostly harmless, and we all grew out of it fairly quickly. Our kids are still young and happily not old enough to be dabbling with illicit substances yet (seriously, they are five and eight!). I told my wife that I wouldn’t mind if our children dabbled in a little weed when they were a bit older as long as they kept their usage to a minimum, but she immediately opposed this...

The Whine Crime: Chronic Complaining and How to Stay More Positive

By Dr. Wendy Rice

on May 15, 2019 at 9:59 AM /

Consider the following story as it relates to this week’s topic. My best friend Emily came over last night to hang out for a bit. We usually have so much fun together and often laugh until it hurts, but it hasn’t been that way in weeks. It seems like every time we see each other, all I do is listen to her complain about every little thing in her life. The complaints range from her date not going as expected, to her commute to work being too long, and now she’s even griping about the type of shampoo she uses! I’m...

Doing it Now: Your Child, Procrastination, and How to Manage it

By Dr. Wendy Rice

on May 6, 2019 at 4:16 PM /

Over the past year, my husband and I have noticed that our kids are procrastinating more and more. They usually do their homework late in the evening, wait until the weekend to clean their rooms (even though they’re supposed to do it every Wednesday), and sometimes miss the bus because they’re taking too long picking out school clothes for the day. Neither of us know how to get our kids out of the procrastinating mindset. It seems like they’d much rather play video games or mess with their phones all evening. What can we do? Understanding Procrastination Almost everyone puts things off...

A Helping Hand: What You Can do to Help Your Kids with Their Upcoming Standardized Tests

By Dr. Wendy Rice

on April 25, 2019 at 5:30 PM /

Consider the following story as it relates to this week’s topic. Ashley’s standardized tests are coming up in a couple of weeks and I can already tell she’s starting to stress about it. She’s typically an A student and will probably do great but these tests are getting to her a bit. The teachers and school administration put so much pressure on students to practice, practice, practice, and sometimes tell them that if they don’t pass, they might not get promoted to the next grade! That is an incredible amount of pressure. We took standardized tests in school, but teachers never...

The Human-Animal Bond: How Owning a Pet Can Help Your Child’s Bond with Others

By Dr. Wendy Rice

on April 19, 2019 at 11:40 AM /

Our youngest son, Sean, has always been a bit of an introvert. He has a few friends at school but doesn’t really socialize anywhere else. My husband and I read online about how pets can help people come out of their shells and be more expressive. We took a chance and got Sean a dachshund for his ninth birthday. He instantly fell in love and now walks Hot Dog (his name choice, of course) almost every day. They both get so much attention at the dog park, and Sean loves to talk about Hot Dog whenever he can. He’s even...

The New Form of “Smoking”: Record Numbers of Teens Follow the Vape Trend

By Dr. Wendy Rice

on April 5, 2019 at 2:47 PM /

Sebastian will soon be in high school and my wife Roxie and I are both a bit nervous about many of the new, and not necessarily healthy, things he’ll be exposed to. One of these is smoking: cigarettes, joints, etc. Roxie is extremely concerned about this and I don’t blame her. However, some of the methods she’s considering to prevent Sebastian from smoking seem a bit odd to me. For example, she mentioned letting him “vape.” According to her, e-cigarettes (e as in electronic) are safer than traditional cigarettes and could help him avoid becoming hooked on Marlboro’s or even...

Kids and Suicide: Having a Serious and Frank Conversation About the Topic

By Dr. Wendy Rice

on March 28, 2019 at 9:56 AM /

Consider the following story as it relates to this week’s topic. It just broke my heart to hear in the news that two students who survived the Parkland shooting in 2018 died by suicide related to PTSD. I can’t even imagine the psychological trauma they endured from such a horrible tragedy. I have a son and it worries me sick thinking of something like that happening at his school. I also can’t help but think that there might be other unimaginable things he and kids his age go through that might trigger feelings of suicide. It scares me to death, and...

Child Tech Talk: When Limiting and Teaching Screen Time Meet

By Dr. Wendy Rice

on March 22, 2019 at 12:42 PM /

Parenting

Consider the following story as it relates to this week’s topic. I’ve been a gamer for as long as I can remember. Even after I got a full-time job, I still found time to get in front of the screen and play my favorite video games for at least an hour a day. Now, as Sandra and I await our first child, I’m wondering if I’ll have to completely eliminate gaming from my life. I wouldn’t want to open the gates for my child to a pastime that becomes an unhealthy obsession. I want to set a positive example, but...

Would You Cheat for Your Kids? How Far is Too Far When it Comes to Helping Them Get Ahead?

By Dr. Wendy Rice

on March 14, 2019 at 12:51 PM /

Parenting

Consider the following story as it relates to this week’s topic. My oldest son is in high school and has a big project due for history class. I’ve always loved history and really want to help him with it. The thing is, the last time he needed help with something this large in school, I practically did it all for him. And it wasn’t because he asked me to. I hate to admit that I did it because I felt his work wasn’t good enough to begin with. Rather than talk to him about it and offer pointers on improving...