Quality Time
Parenting Pearls Rabbi Dani Staum, LMSW QUALITY TIME I am a Rebbe in a local yeshiva. Although the pay is decent, in order to make ends meet I teach secular studies in another yeshiva in the afternoon and tutor boys at night. As you can imagine I am quite tired when I arrive home. I […]
Hakaras Hatov
Parenting Pearls Rabbi Dani Staum, LMSW HAKARAS HATOV I feel like no matter what I do it’s never enough for my kids. For example, on Shushan Purim morning after we had a wonderful Purim, my older daughter asked me to make her pancakes. I was so upset. The night before we had a seudah with […]
Screaming
Parenting Pearls Rabbi Dani Staum, LMSW SCREAMING As a mother, I never thought I’d be a screamer. Yet now, I realize that I have become a screamer. Every afternoon before I come home I tell myself that tonight I am not going to scream. Yet by the end of the night I end up screaming. […]
Choices & Control
Parenting Pearls Rabbi Dani Staum, LMSW CHOICES & CONTROL My four year old is so strong minded. I cannot believe the power struggles I get into with this little girl almost every night. Yet I can’t seem to figure out how to get her to comply without there being an explosive interaction. The strangest part […]
Chutzpa
CHUTZPA – PART I I’m at wits end with my fourteen year old daughter. Her chutzpa is driving me crazy. I feel like any time I ask her to do anything it ends up being a major blowup. She claims I ask of her more than any of her friend’s parents, even though I hardly […]
Emotional Bank Account
Parenting Pearls Rabbi Dani Staum, LMSW EMOTIONAL BANK ACCOUNT My oldest is twelve and I’m beginning to see not only physical changes but emotional and behavioral changes too. My friends only smile and say “welcome to adolescence”. One friend even told me I should say a beracha “borei pre-adolesence”. I am concerned about being a […]
Shabbos Table
Parenting Pearls Rabbi Dani Staum, LMSW SHABBOS TABLE Our Shabbos seudos are very nice but they are also very stressful. My husband does his utmost to read through all of the different Shabbos sheets. Each child has his/her own set of similar questions on the parsha. Some of the children are all too eager to […]
Seder Night
Parenting Pearls Rabbi Dani Staum, LMSW SEDER NIGHT I am always very excited about the Seder, and I always look forward to it for weeks before. But every year I feel somewhat disappointed. In all the derashos I hear before Pesach, the concept of chinch and the importance of speaking to every child, is a […]
Chores
Parenting Pearls Rabbi Dani Staum, LMSW CHORES My husband and I feel that it’s important for our children to have set responsibilities around the house. However, we have been having a hard time ensuring that the chores get done. It’s just easier for us to do it ourselves than to deal with the arguing and […]
ADHD II
DEALING WITH ADHD – PART II It’s been said that the worst thing an ADHD child can do for himself is to have a good day in school! When such a child has a really good day, his teachers will invariably tell him “See you can do it. You just need to try harder.” In […]