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 »

If you take a moment to think about the successful people you know, they are generally self-aware, know how to manage themselves and how to understand and work well with others. Social skills are required to succeed in friendships, school life, community life and eventually working life, so it follows that to be successful in life personally and professionally requires social skills. 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 »

“Emotional literacy is one of the most important keys to mental health and well-being” says Christine Carter PhD. of The Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, and a critical window of opportunity exists for character development and instilling emotional literacy.   Dr. David Hamburg, psychiatrist and President of the Carnegie Corporation says from ages 6 to 11 “school is a crucible and a defining experience that will heavily influence children’s adolescence and beyond” Dr. Hamburg also notes that in children entering middle school “there is something different about those who have had emotional literacy classes” He has found they are less troubled than their peers by the new pressures they are facing like increased academic demands, peer politics and temptations to use drugs and alcohol.  They seem to have mastered abilities to read and understand their emotions and those of others.  Emotional literacy represents a body of skills that can be defined with the word character, and character is all about self-discipline and self-control, delayed gratification and self motivation. continue to read »