Read More: Stricter Rules Mean Teenagers Drink Less
The study recorded 150 13-year-olds and their mothers for eight minutes while they argued. Most of the arguments reportedly focused on ongoing topics such as curfews and allowances. The teens were then surveyed three years later to find out their experience with drugs and alcohol. The students who were able to back up their arguments and stand
Read More »from Fighting with Your Teens Might Actually Be Good for ThemWe are gifted with neuroplasticity for the duration of our lives. What does this mean, and why should you care? It means that you can change your brain - great news for anyone who has bad habits and wants to kick them. Don't give up, because it's never too late.
We are in the midst of kicking the eating-in-front-of-the-TV habit in our household. I haven't had this habit all my life, although it's crept up over the last 6 years since I moved away from New York. I've been interested in becoming more mindful with my eating. Lately, I've enjoyed making healthy soups using fresh produce, and it just doesn't seem right to plow through such beautiful food while paying attention to the idiot box.
Read More: 5 Habits I Wish I Never Let My Kids Develop
My dining room table had grown over recently with mail, paperwork, bills and the like. I'm not sure how it suddenly
Read More »from Tips for Kicking Bad Habits: Get ‘em While They're Young, but Don’t Give Up If You’re Old
Soundman Jim Goodwin with Michelle and the kids.Sometimes people ask us what it's like to be in the spotlight and to be filmed for TV, so I'd like to share some thoughts about it. First, our film crew is so sweet, and they're fun to be around. Second, if we have an extra-busy week -- we have a lot going on family-wise with dental appointments, doctor appointments, etc. -- they'll work with our schedule. It's more about our life than it is about filming.
Read More From Michelle Duggar: Why Michelle Duggar Has a 4 a.m. Open Door Policy
There are some weeks when we do less filming, and other weeks when they'll follow us around because we're doing fieldtrips or other things, and they'll hang out with us more. For instance, we recently went to a community event in Joplin, Missouri, called A Celebration of Hope, which marked the year anniversary of a devastating tornado that hit the area.
Read More From Michelle Duggar: Michelle Duggar on Learning Her Children's "Love Language"
Our children Jill, Jana and John are
Read More »from Why the Duggars Allow Themselves to Be Filmed for TV
Zoe will be 11 years old soon. On July 5th, to be exact. She's been in a wheelchair since she was 14 months old, when she was diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy. But don't cry for Zoe. Don't you dare.
Read More: 9-Year-Old's Birthday Wish Brings In $200,000 for Charity After Her Unexpected Death
Zoe's mom blogs that her daughter has always been her rock, winning over everyone she's met with her smile and big heart. But now that she's getting older, she's starting to see the differences between herself and other girls in a different light. And it's making her sad. So Zoe's mom wants the love her daughter has given out for years to come back to her. She blogged about the present she wants to give her daughter, and her friends are helping to spread the word.
Read More: Michelle Duggar On Learning Her Children's "Love Language"
One of those friends, a South Florida movie blogger, reached out to a contact he'd worked with at Unruly Media, Vysia Duffield. He was
Read More »from The Zoe Birthday Project Reminds Us About What is Important: Love
Yikes.It's been a banner couple of weeks. Our 3-year-old daughter is thriving, happy and learning world-class communication skills. But as soon as my husband and I think she's well on the road to becoming a functioning member of society, she twirls around on her swing like a dame in distress and leers at her friend, who is a boy. (I attribute this to the Pretty Pink Princess Menace that's taken over my daughter. And my anxiety about how it could be informing her ideas of what a girl is. But that's for another post.)
Read More: The Day My 5-Year-Old Dropped the F-bomb
And then there was the day that she thought a naked romp through the backyard also meant a free-for-all when it came to bodily functions. She had mentioned she wanted a penis so that she could pee outside, like one of her friends does. But she never mentioned that she wanted to get retro with scat and fertilize our magnolia tree. (I guess I can't attribute that one to the princess phase.) Still, it's just poop. No big
Read More »from When Words Become Weapons in the Hands of a Toddler
Read More: 12 Weird Playdate Stories, Pet Peeves, and Successful Playdate Tips
Yesterday, we went over to another friend's house in the neighborhood. The big attraction for me was catching up with my great friend Mary, whom I hadn't seen in a while. The big attraction for Alex was a combination of friendly playtime with another 2-year-old, and a baby pool out
Read More »from Can Parents Prepare Themselves for the Sting of Rejection -- of Their Children?
Sleeping like a babyWhen it comes to newborns and sleep there are a lot of different schools of thought. But when I have a newborn baby, number one, I'm nursing that baby, and that baby's been in my tummy for nine months, listening to my heartbeat and is used to hearing my voice. And so for me it would just be so unnatural for me to stick my baby way far away from me.
Read More From Michelle Duggar: Why Michelle Duggar Has a 4 a.m. Open Door Policy
I've kept my babies in my room because I want to hear my baby breathing. I want to feel my baby breathing. I may have my baby bundled in a bundling blanket, which is something I learned from the nurses in the NICU.
Read More From Michelle Duggar: Michelle Duggar on Learning Her Children's "Love Language"
I would nurse my baby, and then I would play with the baby a little while and burp the baby and talk to the baby. And then I would bundle the baby up. And at first, the baby might fuss just a little bit because they were like "Ugh, I
Read More »from Michelle Duggar’s Secret to Getting a Baby to Sleep Through the Night
Yes, for real.
Read More: 10 Healthy Eating Resolutions Your Family Should Make Right Now
According to a new study from the National Academies of Sciences, tainted Japanese tuna from last year's Fukushima meltdown has shown up 6,000 miles away on California's shores.
Read More: Radiation Risk Looms for Pregnant Women in JapanBut the FDA says the radiation is nothing to worry about in the United States, since you'd have to eat pounds of the stuff before being affected. According to a 2011 Government Accountability Study, the FDA only inspects .1 percent of the fish we import for consumption -- meaning the FDA might not know if the other 99.9% is radioactive or not.
Read More: Healthy Child Healthy World: Get Mad as Hell and Just Don't Take it Anymore!
After looking into the issue,
Read More »from Yikes! Tuna Tainted by Last Year's Nuclear Meltdown in Japan Could End Up on Your PlatePhoto: Quinn Dombrowski / Creative Commons
If you are already familiar with the phrase 'glass case of emotion' then you obviously don't need to watch this clip, although if you want a good laugh, then by all means, go right ahead. For the uninitiated and those who are too lazy to watch video clips -- oh my GOD, you HAVE to WATCH this CLIP. If you still refuse, then FINE. I'll tell you what I'm talking about.
Read More: Scientists Discover How to End a Toddler Tantrum as Quickly as Possible
In the movie Anchorman, Ron Burgundy is driving along a bridge with his beloved little dog, Baxter, in the car. Ron is eating a burrito, and when he's through with it, he carelessly throws his half-eaten burrito out of the car window and pelts a man on a motorcycle (played by Jack Black) right in the face. Jack loses control of the bike, and Ron pulls over to see if he's alright. Jack, incensed, grabs Baxter and punts him off the side of the bridge.
That's a lot of time outs.Usually the time before dinner, 4:00 to 5:00, is crazy hour in our house. The kids have finished their responsibilities -- their schoolwork is done. Their areas of the house they're responsible for (we call them jurisdictions) are clean. They may have finished all their music practice, and here we are: free time!
Read More From Michelle Duggar: Why Michelle Duggar Has a 4 a.m. Open Door Policy
I'll often encourage them to go build something. Go draw a picture. Go do something with all this energy you've got. Go outside and ride your bike or jump up and down and play. But if it's raining outside or if the slide in the playroom isn't something they're interested in playing on, then I can tell, oh, my, if I don't get this under control, there's going to be mutiny on the ship. So, sometimes I'll just have them sit down with a book.
Read More From Michelle Duggar: What the Duggars Can Teach You About Going with the Flow
I try to get them to practice self-control and sit and
