Liz Pearce's blog

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Guess what? Your kids and teens won’t stay in the same frame of mind forever! This can be either wonderful or distressing, depending on what stage of parenting you are in. Dr. Arnold Gesell demonstrated over 60 years ago that child development advances in a spiral pattern, going from one extreme to another. His theories still hold true today. For example, here are some typical teen-aged behaviors over a span of 3 years:

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When children are young, power struggles can be a real test of your parental authority to see what happens when the day to day routine is changed up a bit. When your children are teenagers, power struggles are more complicated, because your child is able to reason and negotiate with you. Yet in both situations, a child is practicing his skills for the real world, and parents should always remember this – getting our children to adulthood is the goal, and creating responsible, thoughtful adults is our job.

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When children are approaching kindergarten age, they are beginning to understand more complex situations, and are able to play more independently. Four- and five-year-olds are learning new skills every day, and are becoming more aware of the world around them. Their view on the world moves from being egocentric (“The world revolves around me, and me only!”) to ethnocentric (“The world revolves around me, my family, and my community.”)

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I just finished reading an article, "Forget one-size-fits-all solution to work-family balancing act" by Ana Veciana-Suarez in the online version of the Chicago Tribune. I think she makes very valid points, and because of my own personal history of bouncing between full-time employment, part-time employment and several variations in between, it spoke to me. Ms.

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** Our thoughts and prayers are with the families affected by the tragedy in Boston. Today is a good day to tell the ones you love, that you love 'em. ~ Liz Pearce

Reassurance is the key to helping children through a traumatic time.

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The following is a reprint of comments from Jami Elmore, a Henrico County Public School teacher, at our annual spring fundraising event, Twilight Carniball, on March 2, 2013. Many in the crowd were moved by her comments, which beautifully outlined how donations benefit children's visits to the Children's Museum. Thank you, Jami, for your comments, and for all you do for children! Liz Pearce

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Why is literacy so important and when is Read Across America Day? Read Across America Day is being celebrated on March 1st in most schools, and March 2nd at various community locations. (You can visit The Children’s Museum of Richmond to meet the Cat in The Hat this Saturday!) Reading is a critical skill we all need - to function as independently as we can. Reading is not only a method of taking in information, but also builds self-esteem and boosts creativity.

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Today's guest post was written by Torie Brandon, VSU Student Intern. Torie is majoring in psychology and is interested in pursuing a career involving families and children.

Our purses beep, pockets flash and our jackets sing a playful tune. We answer to these hints of communication promptly. But what about if we hear faint voices yell “mommy” or a cranky call for dad? Is the response time the same for both occasions?

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So many times, we see our children’s troublesome behaviors as a general picture of who they are.

Even though we don’t mean to, we label them in our minds. Oh, he’s always got his head in the clouds – he never pays attention. Or, She’s so chatty and always getting in trouble with her teachers. It’s all too easy to fall into that trap, because we want the best for them, and we want them to succeed. If there are stumbling blocks along the way, we want to remove them – and sometimes we see our children’s behavior as a stumbling block to success.

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If you think about it, adults have a lot of competition from video screens.

Consider this: How many times have you spoken to your child lately and had to remind him or her to look away from the screen and look at you? Come to think of it, have you counted the number of video screens in your house? TV screens, computer screens, smartphone screens, IPod screens, tablet screens and so forth consume our environment these days. They are even on the microwave and washing machine, too! We walk around with our eyes focused on these small rectangles giving us information 24/7.