Author Archives: Susan McLeod
Only One Thing Matters – And You Can Take it With You!
When a New Year dawns, we’re irresistibly drawn to get moving on our dreams. Instead of hashing dashed dreams come December, learn the secret to making resolutions that stick. Only 12 percent of resolution-setters reach their goal. Their secret is … finish reading Only One Thing Matters – And You Can Take it With You!
6 Ways to C-R-E-A-T-E Strong Relationships
It’s faster, easier and more rewarding than you might think! Ask anyone what’s most important in their life, and chances are you’ll hear that it’s their family, their spouse, their children or their friends. People matter most. At least that’s … finish reading 6 Ways to C-R-E-A-T-E Strong Relationships
The Problem with Solving Problems
Despite galactic evidence to the contrary, many people believe that behavior problems can be solved by giving them focused attention and resources. Just throw enough bucks, brain power and benevolence and we will overcome! Wrong. If misbehavior was solved in … finish reading The Problem with Solving Problems
Greatness Igniter or Extinguisher? It’s Your Choice
Have you ever been the recipient of the “I’m disappointed in you” lecture? How about the “I love you but I don’t like what you did” version? Or the dreaded “You’ve got so much potential, I just hate to see … finish reading Greatness Igniter or Extinguisher? It’s Your Choice
Get Your Spiritual Warrior On!
Transforming a challenging child – or yourself – from a self-defeating, self-destructive penchant for negativity is no task for the faint-hearted, thin-skinned, pushovers or quitters. It takes a Warrior. A Spiritual Warrior, aka an EnergyParent. As some of us have … finish reading Get Your Spiritual Warrior On!
Here’s to Reset in Any Language
Did you hear that Hillary Clinton gave Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov a red reset button to symbolize getting US-Russia relations on a more positive track? The Russian word for ‘reset’ wasn’t correct, so, in our typical ‘what’s wrong with … finish reading Here’s to Reset in Any Language
ENERGYPARENTING – Not for the 3 Little Monkeys
People sometimes get the idea that a model ENERGYPARENT is a lovey-dovey, mushy-gushy mom or dad who skips through the day and mimics the three little monkeys: “See No Evil,” “Hear No Evil” and “Speak No Evil.” Hardly. We’re the … finish reading ENERGYPARENTING – Not for the 3 Little Monkeys
Trust and Trustworthiness
Life begins with trust and ENERGYPARENTS keep it that way. Let’s look at some basic parent-child trust dynamics. Observation: The Creator/Source trusts parents with babies, no matter what course the parent-child relationship takes. Deduction: People arrive on the planet with … finish reading Trust and Trustworthiness
Happy New Year 1 Minute? No Way – How About Every Moment!
With flawless symbolism, we usher in the New Year as the arrival of a brand new baby. We lay to rest Old Man Time, so aged and decrepit from storing up all the year’s events; and in an instant, from … finish reading Happy New Year 1 Minute? No Way – How About Every Moment!
Children Everywhere Breathe a Sigh of Relief
Santa Claus visited my home a week early. For me, it was a practical decision, but it brought a surprising revelation. My son’s school let out a full week before Christmas Day, and I simply wanted each one of those … finish reading Children Everywhere Breathe a Sigh of Relief
Here’s What Your Child Really Wants for Christmas
What parent hasn’t had a good laugh over a young child opening a present, tossing aside the costly contents with hardly a glance, and engaging mom or dad in a lively round of peek-a-boo with the box? Discussion ensues that … finish reading Here’s What Your Child Really Wants for Christmas
How’s Your (Holiday Hype) Immunity Holding Up?
What a conundrum! We race against the clock so we can enjoy our time off. We do more now, hoping to do less later. We look forward to loosing the schedule, but sometimes end up feeling like we’ve somehow lost … finish reading How’s Your (Holiday Hype) Immunity Holding Up?
How to Avoid Parental Melt-Down
About this time of year, I start to feel like a coin in one of those fundraising games – circling ever faster before plunging down some black hole. Are you feeling the gravitational pull too? Challenging children everywhere are surely … finish reading How to Avoid Parental Melt-Down
A Dickens of a Drama? Not this Year!
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. What better stage for a Dickens of a drama to unfold than the holidays? We look forward to connecting with the people we love; we often dread it … finish reading A Dickens of a Drama? Not this Year!
Intensity and Giftedness
It’s evident that many intense kids tip the scale on smarts, but until this week, I never realized that intensity and giftedness have so many shared characteristics. I’ve been researching the topic thanks to synchronistic resources shared by Robin, a … finish reading Intensity and Giftedness
Conventional Parenting vs ENERGYPARENTING as a Way of Life
A list of everything I love about ENERGYPARENTING would be far too long for a newsletter. But here’s a top 10 run down to contrast the 180-degree difference between conventional parenting and ENERGYPARENTING, and to answer those of you who … finish reading Conventional Parenting vs ENERGYPARENTING as a Way of Life
Time to Energize
Chances are if there’s a timer in a conspicuous spot in a home with young children, it’s working double time. It sounds the alarm when the cookies are baked to perfection and it also signals freedom for a misbehaving child … finish reading Time to Energize
Timing is Everything when it Comes to Parenting a Challenging Child
If everything you say to your child has the opposite effect of what you had in mind, your timing may be culprit. The best “Tuesdays with Morrie” life lessons will backfire between the eardrum and the brain if they’re offered … finish reading Timing is Everything when it Comes to Parenting a Challenging Child
Become a Student of Your Child
The other day a mom asked me if I have a program for “difficult parents.” Indeed, and I’m at the head of the class! In fact, that’s the gist of today’s 180-degree difference tip for parents raising challenging children: Instead … finish reading Become a Student of Your Child
The Secret to Success for Your Challenging Child
If you don’t know where to begin to turn things around with a challenging child, here’s a no-fail principle: Start with Success – wherever you can find it or create it. One of the most powerful analogies we use to … finish reading The Secret to Success for Your Challenging Child
3 Ways to Help Challenging Kids Learn Control
Anyone who has experienced the glory of focusing one’s energies and accomplishing a goal, completing a project or mastering a skill knows that energy is a gift. Problems occur when energy is uncontrolled. Although energy-challenged children manifest malfunctions of control … finish reading 3 Ways to Help Challenging Kids Learn Control
Transform Your Personal WMDs
Are you getting hit by any WMDs? You know, bombs of WORRY lobed by well meaning friends, missiles of MISERY from the media, and detonations of DOUBT from loved ones in the name of helping you navigate these tough times? … finish reading Transform Your Personal WMDs
Thanksgiving – Portal to a New Worldview
Giving thanks for what’s right AND for what’s not going wrong is key to transforming a challenging child. As ENERGYPARENTS soon find out, it’s transformational for us, too. Thanks to gratefulness researchers Drs. Emmons and McCollough, we have a list … finish reading Thanksgiving – Portal to a New Worldview
A Hot Tip for your Personal Portfolio
Are you bullish or bearish on yourself? Is it a simple question that you can answer across the board, or does it require qualification, depending upon who you’re with? Maybe you’re bullishly confident in relationship with your partner, but bearishly … finish reading A Hot Tip for your Personal Portfolio
Something Worth Studying!
The other day a mom asked me if I have a program for “difficult parents.” Indeed, and I’m at the head of the class! In fact, that’s the gist of today’s 180-degree difference tip for parents raising challenging children: Instead … finish reading Something Worth Studying!
Is Your Positivity Hurting or Helping Children
New research is coming down hard on generic positivity and demonstrating its limiting effects on children – and our nation too. You caught the operative adjective, right? ‘Generic.’ You won’t see that distinction in the headlines, so don’t be misled. … finish reading Is Your Positivity Hurting or Helping Children
Get Out of the Way of Your Child’s Greatness
To get to the goal, we’ve got to let go. It seems to be a lifelong exercise that begins at birth, the birth of our first child. As the story goes, a couple had three children. When the first was … finish reading Get Out of the Way of Your Child’s Greatness
Behavior or Relationship – What’s Important to You?
Focusing on managing a child’s behavior is like running your finances by monitoring monthly payments instead of total costs: it’s merely an illusion of getting somewhere. Consider the child coerced into a chair who says, “I’m still standing up in … finish reading Behavior or Relationship – What’s Important to You?
Recession-Proof Your Child
Now’s the time to give your children something more secure than riches, more satisfying than fame and more enduring than health or beauty: Inner Wealth. Inner wealth is the goal of ENERGYPARENTING and it’s all about building a child’s spirit. … finish reading Recession-Proof Your Child
Take Responsibility for Your Energetic Influence on Others
Parents rock! We were reminded today of the inspirational story of a brain scientist whose own stroke taught her how powerfully our ENERGY affects others, and how her mother’s energy helped her heal. You see where we’re going with this. … finish reading Take Responsibility for Your Energetic Influence on Others
Challenging Child Getting Your Goat?
Parents of challenging children often come to their wits end because the child adopts a behavior – or two or three or four- that gets their goat. Instantly. Every time. Maybe it’s lying or stealing or door-slamming and obscenity-shouting. Parents … finish reading Challenging Child Getting Your Goat?
No Need for ENERGYPARENTING Perfection
Are you feeling your energy shift? Is that 180-degree u-turn from conventional parenting happening so that you get totally turned on by positivity – giving your child or student intense reaction, connection and relationship for everything that’s going right AND … finish reading No Need for ENERGYPARENTING Perfection
Positives in the Negatives
Negative Side of the Strength Positive Side of the Strength Aggressive Protective of territory/belongings, not willing to be a doormat, willing to fight for beliefs Angry Sensitive, Passionate, Cares Deeply (one does not become angry when one does not care) … finish reading Positives in the Negatives
Susan Redford: Accuser of Greatness
In 2005, substance abuse therapist Susan Redford was ready to recycle her notepad, donate the couch and go get a job flipping burgers. A master’s level licensed therapist for 14 years, one day she concluded she really wasn’t helping anyone. … finish reading Susan Redford: Accuser of Greatness
Attention Parents: ‘Credit’ is not a four-letter word
The fall out from poor credit management principles and skills is bombarding us daily: the domino collapse of the subprime credit system, a steady growth in corporate and personal bankruptcies and the skyrocketing rates of home foreclosures. It’s all a … finish reading Attention Parents: ‘Credit’ is not a four-letter word
Five Ways Warnings Weaken Your Child
If you haven’t said it yourself, you’ve likely overheard a parent warning a child like this: “Stop it!” “Don’t do that again!” “If you do that again…” Conventional parenting and teaching techniques tell us that it’s only fair to give … finish reading Five Ways Warnings Weaken Your Child
Are you Feeding Your Child Emotional Junk Food?
We all know the dangers of feeding our children junk food on a daily basis, yet may of us unwittingly serve up heaping helpings of the emotional equivalent without a second thought. Junk foods are loaded with calories that don’t … finish reading Are you Feeding Your Child Emotional Junk Food?
3 Steps to Extinguish Unwanted Behaviors!
The key is to focus your energy, reaction and relationship on what your child is doing right, and like a fire starved of oxygen, unwanted behaviors will simply extinguish themselves. Sometimes the best intentions can lead to the worst outcomes. … finish reading 3 Steps to Extinguish Unwanted Behaviors!