Even if your kids aren’t much into winter sports, or any sports for that matter, to watch the Olympics with your kids is an opportunity for them to see others who are giving it everything they’ve got to live their dream.

These events are also an opportunity for me as a parent to recognize the role these Olympic athlete’s parents play in supporting their children by doing whatever it takes to help their children realize their dreams.

This is not to say that our kids should strive to become Olympic athletes, but to simply let our kids know we are there to support them in whatever they choose to pursue with passion.  It is our job to help them recognize the activivities they put them in a state of “flow” or “in the zone” when they are engaged in that activity, and encourage them to enjoy it as often as possible, and as often as they wish.

If we can help our kids set expectations for themselves rather than thinking they need to live up to our expectations of them they will be more likely to find what it is that ignites their flame of passion and purpose.

Setting goals and visualizing living life to its fullest is not only an enjoyable activity but it sets into motion the creative process.

An Exercise in Happiness is a tool to help kids put these techniques into action

Learning how to apologize is a vital skill for healthy emotional development and for successful relationships.  There will inevitably be hurts, wrongdoings, and misunderstandings in any relationship involving two people.  The hurts are to be expected because humans by nature are imperfect. The hurts in and of themselves don’t necessarily determine whether or not a relationship is harmed in a significant way, but how those hurts are dealt with (or not) and repaired (or not) influences the success of the relationship.

Most of us want our children to learn how to apologize effectively.  But when and how we should expect our children to apologize isn’t always clear.  For a better understanding of this, I first turn to what constitutes a proper apology.  Last year my book club read The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch.  My favorite part of that book was where Pausch described the three parts of a good apology.  In fact, I liked this part so much that I made sure everyone in my family read those two pages of the book!

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In this enlightening article Dr. Kathleen Cuneo, PhD. talks about the importance of learning to apologize and how modeling the ability to apologize with meaning to our child will enable them to do the same giving them social and emotional tools that will provide many benefits that will last a lifetime.

As a father of two young boys it is important to me that when I mess up, I recognize it, I apologize with heartfelt feeling and make up for my mistake in some way.  By showing my children that I take responsibility for my behavior, they learn to do the same.

The same holds true for the ability to forgive and be grateful.  When one of my boys apologizes for their behavior, I am always willing to forgive them.  I also let them know that if I seem upset or disappointed, it is their behavior, not themselves that got me upset. Having the ability to forgive allows us to maintain meaningful relationships and releases emotional stress, which we all know has huge physical benefits.

I am truly grateful when my kids bring there dishes to the kitchen after meals or when they straighten up their room when I ask them, and I always let them know how grateful I am.

An Exercise in Happiness is a tool I have used at home with my kids for a long time and it has helped both myself and my kids devlop the ability to apologize with meaning, forgive with empathy and to be grateful for everything and everyone we have in our life.

I just wanted to point out that Monday, February 15th is Family Day in Canada.  This is a National Holiday in Canada and frankly I am suprised America has not followed Canada’s lead in making a special day to celebrate the FAMILY!

But do we really need the Federal Government to tell us to take a day to devote to acknowledging our family and making a day of it?  Of course we can pick a day out of the year and call it Family Day and even make it an annual family tradition.  Though it would be nice if everyone had the day off work and schools were closed for the day.  I believe that honoring the family is equally, if not even more important that devoting only one day to focus on Gratitude.  Every day should be a day to be grateful, and every day should be a day to honor our family.

In our family we celebrate Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and Brother’s Day (we have two sons) and of course all the other National Holiday’s, but Canada has given me the inspiration to create Family day too.

Character Education begins at home so to focus on family for a day is a character building tool every family can take advantage of.

5 Tips to get your kids to do what you want them to without manipulation, bribery or threats.  It’s a lot easier and more fun than you might think.

By: Patrick McMillan continue to read »

I can’t wait till January 28^th, 2010 because that is the date Rhonda Ryder, founder of KidsAwakening.com airs her radio show Inspired Parenting where she interviews me about An Exercise in Happiness.  Follow this link to the radio show.

Rhonda’s questions delve deep into what motivated me to create an Exercise in Happiness and of course how and why the program actually works. continue to read »

We hear a lot these days about giving children social skills, cultivating critical thinking, resilience, emotional intelligence and the like, but it all boils down to character — a concept neglected for much of the 20th century.

So Family Edge reader Blanca Reilly was excited to stumble upon a great academic article on this subject recently in the US journal Reclaiming Children and Youth (interesting title). In “Building Strengths of Character” Nansook Park, associate professor of psychology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, reviews the literature in this field and describes a project he is involved in called Values In Action (VIA). continue to read »

Think humans are born selfish? Think again. Dacher Keltner reveals the compassionate side to human nature.

Humans are selfish. It’s so easy to say. The same goes for so many assertions that follow. Greed is good. Altruism is an illusion. Cooperation is for suckers. Competition is natural, war inevitable. The bad in human nature is stronger than the good. continue to read »

There is no such thing as a “perfect” parent though most of us try to be the best mom or dad we can be.  Just as we tend to model the parenting habits of our parents, our children too will model themselves based on who they see in us.  If we want our children to BE HAPPY we need to be Super-Models of Happiness and our kids will follow our lead. continue to read »

“First of all, what is emotional intelligence? I bet you’ve read some fancy definitions, and maybe even some of the academic articles trying to distinguish between emotions, feelings and moods. Part of emotional intelligence is what we could call “common sense.” So, some common sense definitions of emotional intelligence (EQ) would be understanding your emotions and those of others, being able to sense what’s going on, being able to manage your own emotional state (taking the information but not getting drowned in it), good reality-testing, and good communication skills. continue to read »

“Every kid has at least one dominant learning style, says Kristin Redington Bennett, Ph.D., assistant professor of education at Wake Forest University, in Winston-Salem, NC, and a mom of two. In addition to body smart (known as bodily/kinesthetic), common learning styles include word smart (linguistic/auditory), image smart (visual/spatial), and numbers smart (logical/mathematical). This “theory of multiple intelligences” was first proposed by Harvard professor Howard Gardner, Ph.D., in the 1980s and has become so accepted that today teachers often adapt classroom activities to the different learning styles. For example, a lesson on the Pilgrims might include building a model of the Mayflower, writing a play about the first Thanksgiving, drawing pictures, and making a historical timeline.” continue to read »