I just discovered Kajeet.com and, despite not having any idea what the name is about, I am already a big giant fan. It is a cell phone company designed for parents to use with their children.  THIS IS VERY MUCH NEEDED!  On one hand we’ve all come to expect that we will be able to reach people we need to talk to most of the time, that there will be a phone on hand in case of emergency, etc. – and who needs to be reachable more than our kids? Knowing where they are and who they

This post is part parenting discussion and part personal plug. You may recall an older post of mine which linked to an article I wrote for the OU discussing how to influence one’s children towards better behaviors.  In it, I cite the obvious principle that lecturing children (especially young children) is a brilliantly ineffective way to do so.  Children do not respond to lectures. They respond to visual cues, rhymes and rhythms, modeling, and stories.  Thus, when we were fac

I found this poem/video very moving. It speaks volumes about the lasting effects that our relationships with others can have. http://tothisdayproject.com/ http://youtube.googleapis.com/v/ltun92DfnPY&source=uds cvzxv #parenting #relationships #therapy

Another article of mine published in the Jewish Press – available online here.  This one is about the highly important topic of how to teach our children to keep safe from sexual abuse.  Get some of the basics in this article, and of course, contact me for further information or to schedule a training for groups of parents, camp counselors, educators, etc. #childsexualabuse #parenting #sexualabuse

This week, in collaboration with my colleagues at Project S.A.R.A.H., we completed the first portion of the pilot run the sexual abuse prevention program I created for Jewish middle schools, called Connecting Is Respecting.  It was quite successful by all accounts, and we learned a lot from this initial presentation which will help us make some important improvements in the program and in the evaluation process.  So far we have presented to the 5th grade boys; plans to contin

R’ Yakov Horowitz posted a poignant cartoon a few days ago expressing the theory of abuse that “hurt people hurt people.” (See the cartoon and accompanying article here.)  In response, I shared with him a related image that I feel is very powerful.  It sparked some responses, so I felt it was a good time to post it here.  There are actually three related images, all of which originated at http://www.savethechildren.mx/ (though I am not clear in what context). They do a phenom

Another article of mine posted on the OU Life section, this one about parenting: http://www.ou.org/life/parenting/absolute-best-way-get-your-kids-listen-raffi-bilek #parenting