As this school year comes to a close, I speak with many parents who have struggled with school refusal and are worried about managing the next school year. This post describes the nature of school refusal and some strategies and considerations to address this challenging situation.  Your Child Won’t Go to School An all-too-common situation […]

Your Child Won’t Go to School An all-too-common situation (especially since Covid) is a child being reluctant or even refusing to attend school. This post will focus on anxiety-based refusal; the child is refusing to attend school due to genuine anxiety reactions. Consequently, the night before school your child is fretting about the next day, […]

There is a formula for child discipline. If you follow the recipe, the outcome is very predictable in a positive way. Children expect parents to behave in a particular manner; when they do, they tend to respond accordingly in terms of being more manageable, respectful, calmer, and grateful. When parents don’t follow the recipe, children […]

The Discipline Conundrum You can check out my eBook that explains why many traditional discipline or behavioral management practices fail. In that respect, it’s vital to fully understand what works, and what can sometimes not work so well. Yes, we all know, as parents, that being able to effectively discipline your child is vital to […]

Have you ever wondered why the discipline approaches you’ve been using, such as taking away the video games or putting your child in a timeout, don’t work so well? This eBook gives the answer and, even better, explains in a detailed fashion why and what to do about it. EBook Summary: Read my expanded content […]

What is the usual scenario? You know the drill, you want to remove electronics as a punishment but, when you make the attempt, an emotional reaction ensues and your child or teen refuses to give-up his phone or video-game controller. If you push the matter, you end-up literally in a wrestling match, which you know […]

Written by Dr. John Carosso How do you discipline your child? Most parents rely on raising their voice, pestering, threatening, loss of privilege, and time-out, in that order (with the last two being used interchangeably). We have to ask ourselves, as parents, is this effective (especially the first two options)? If you’re taking the time […]

Written by Dr. John Carosso The discipline trap How beneficial is time-out, taking away the TV, or ‘grounding’ a child from going outside? Of course, as most parents have come to find, all of these discipline strategies can be effective. However, what happens if you rely too heavily on these strategies? Well, first, your household […]

Written by Dr. John Carosso How it all began Many years ago, starting out as a Psychologist, I came across a Principal who established a ritual with his teachers. At the conclusion of every morning meeting, he would huddle the teachers together and lead a chant “softer and closer” repeated four to five times, before […]

Written by Dr. John Carosso I decided to re-post this post because, as of late, this issue has repeatedly been broached during my talks with parents. I hope you find this to be helpful. Taking away video-games (or TV, or a toy…) doesn’t work? Say it ain’t so! Sorry to be the bearer of bad […]