When you're the parent of an acting-out child, it's easy to feel as if you're to blame for their behavior. As a result, you can fall into the trap of trying to fix things for your child instead of letting them deal with the natural and logical consequences of their behavior. In this interview, James... Read more »
Have you sent your acting-out, verbally abusive or behaviorally-disordered child to counseling, only to find that it didn't improve his behavior at all? Or maybe counseling worked for awhile, but then your child fell back into the same old patterns of behavior. Counseling for kids can be effective and helpful, but not all counseling is... Read more »
Many parents write in to Empowering Parents and ask, “Is it too late to change the way I parent my child—and will it actually work if I do?” In this article, James Lehman explains how you can change the way you parent, and why your child’s behavior has a much better chance of improving when... Read more »
Do you feel like your family members, your kid’s teachers, and even counselors blame you for your child’s acting out behavior? You’re not alone. As James Lehman says, there are countless parents out there “living in little prisons”—feeling trapped, isolated, and ashamed of their child’s defiant or out of control behavior. If you’re in this... Read more »
Have you ever listened to parenting advice, all the while thinking, "That won't work with my child—nothing does. He's too difficult; no one can get through to him"? If you've ever felt this way, stop what you're doing and read this article. We sat down and talked to James Lehman, who explains how to get... Read more »
Empowering Parents editor Elisabeth Wilkins talks with James Lehman about his life, his book, and the hard-won lessons he discovered growing up as a defiant, acting-out child. From being abandoned in a basement as an infant to a life of crime and drug addiction in his teens and young adulthood, learn how James transformed his... Read more »
When you have a child who acts out and is disrespectful or disruptive, it's easy to compare him to the so-called "good kids" who never seem to get into trouble or give their parents grief. Many parents feel hopeless about the possibility of ever teaching their child to become the kind of well-behaved member of the... Read more »
I've counseled many parents through the years who were discouraged about their kids' behavior problems. They felt hopeless and wondered if things were ever going to change. They would ask me: "Will my kid be messed up forever?" Their feelings are understandable. When you have a child who acts out in very aggressive and destructive ways,... Read more »
If you find yourself doing everything for your child, you may be engaging in what I refer to as martyr parenting. Without even realizing it, well-meaning parents can turn into martyrs for their kids. If this is you, you must learn to step back. You must learn to stop being the martyr so that your... Read more »
Does your child seem to interrupt every conversation with the words, "But Mom..." or "But Dad..." ? Do they constantly cut you off mid-sentence to tell you that something's not fair? Interrupting comes from a variety of sources, including over-stimulation, competition with siblings and peers, impulsivity and general family patterns of communication. It’s helpful to... Read more »
