Positively Dad

Your kids are home from school, most of their after school events are cancelled, they don't get to play with their friends as much, so what do you do? Many parents are worried about kids over-using technology and spending too much time on screens.

We talked with Dr. Jordan Shapiro, author of The New Childhood about screen use right now. Is it the big issue many parents think it is and how do our rules around tech change right now?

It's a follow up to a conversation we had with him last year on the idea of screen time and we believe it will help you right now.

Let’s talk about our kids, their behavior, their decision making and how we’re helping them and holding them back. The days of, “because I’m the dad” are over. The research shows that style of parenting just doesn’t work. Spanking, screaming – even the time out – are out. So what do we do? How do we as parents teach our kids to grow into great people, how do we set the expectations of what’s acceptable and what isn’t, how can we begin to remove the stress of helping our kids grow up? Those are the answers we intend to get from Katherine Reynolds Lewis. She’s an author and journalist – and a parent educator with the Parent Encouragement Program in Maryland. She wrote the book The Good News About Bad Behavior: Why Kids Are Less Disciplined Than Ever – And What to Do About It.

You already know, family life is very different right now. More people are working from home, nearly every American child is out of school, families are making massive adjustments to make it all work.

It turns out the adjustments we're being forced to make may actually be good for our families. Dr. Matthias Doepke from Northwestern University and a team of researchers is looking at how our response to stopping COVID-19 is impacting family life. While it will be several years before they know the true results, they believe there are some benefits for moms and dads and some challenges for some families.

We’re in challenging times People are losing jobs at a record rate, small businesses are closing, your kids are away from their friends. You may be nervous, uncertain or scared. You may be wondering when it will “go back to normal.” Your faith may be tested. Today we're talking with Pastor Willy Rice from Calvary Church in Clearwater, Florida, on how you keep faith in times of doubt.

90% of children across the world are out of school. No recess, no PE, no extracurricular activities. That means we get to work together as a family to stay fit and healthy.

We talked with Chris Wright of the Youth Sport Trust in the UK about why it's important that we keep moving. He shared some great resources that will help you and your family.

It was a message in our group chat, "How are you doing?" A friend wanted to know how we were coping through life today. It was a great question and one we figured we could answer together.

Today we talk with two great dads, Scott Stevens and Robert Eaton about how they're living during Coronavirus.

Our lives have been thrown upside down. It's been tough for many families and you may be a bit more stressed. How can we help our kids, teens and family cope? We talked with Dr. Kelly Tu from the University of Illinois about how we can get through this and how to manage the feelings and stress our entire family may be experiencing.

It's a different time. We're all being asked to make sacrifices as we look to battle COVID-19. School is out, you're working from home, events are cancelled. It' kinda stinks.

Our view of this situation has changed over the last couple weeks and we thought we'd share how we're looking at it as a family. We trust that you are making the best choices for you and your family and also thought you may be open to the conversation on how we got where we are.

Terri and Naomi join me for a special episode of Positively Dad.

Nearly every school system in the country is closed and now you're a home school parent. Some parents are worried about how to make it work or what the day should look like. Others are nervous about their child getting behind or not doing enough learning during the day. We asked a 12 year elementary teacher to help us set up our kids and families for success.

We're entering a new normal. Schools closed, sports suspended, concerts rescheduled. Life as we knew it is hitting the pause button and we're in new times. How can we help our kids and ourselves during the Coronavirus outbreak?

Dr. Rebecca Schrag Hersberg is an expert on parenting and she shares some things we can think about that will help our families move forward.