Wednesday, January 19, 2005

From Time Magazine 1/24/05 about "twixters" who won't grow up, here are some ways to help your kids move to adulthood.

From Mel Levine's book _Ready or Not, Here Life Comes_

* Help your kids figure out who they are: what they are good at and like doing
* Talk about the future on a regular basis: where did happy people in your life get to where they are now?
* Build your kids work skills: assign household tasks, talk about customer service, etc.
* Place limits on leisure activities: the instant gratification of tv, computer games, constant musical barrage doesn't really help develop life skills
* Help kids develop coping strategies: what do you do when things aren't going your way? what do you do with failure?
* Make sure childhood is not a hard act to follow: perfect vacations, paid for with borrowed money, don't set up realistic expectations