Parenting is in the AIR! As we create a warm, loving atmosphere for our children and focus on modeling appropriately, we create an atmosphere in which we don’t have to think about correcting behaviors on a constant basis. By Dr. Ely Weinschneider Quite a few years ago, on a rainy Sunday afternoon, my family and I were looking for a family-friendly activity.  We ended up going to a really nice pet store, one we have never been to. Once we got there, much to my children’s delight we saw something I’ve never witnessed before: Behind a floor-to-ceiling glass wall was a trainer with more than a dozen dogs.    I don’t know what they called it, but in my mind I named it Doggy Boot Camp, and it was a really interesting idea, and fun to watch: Basically, if your dog is chewing your furniture or not behaving, needs to be toilet trained, sit, roll over, you could send your doggy to Doggy Boot Camp, and they teach them.  They train your dog and then they send your precious dog back, all house broken and ready to be obedient. That is not parenting, that is behavior management. How to get your kids to listen, how do you get them to follow rules, is important, but if the majority of parenting is about managing behaviors, we’ve really missed the boat.  All we would end up with is children who are managed/controlled. That’s not what it’s all about.  Problem solving and behavior management

Raising Resilient Children We have to accept that we cannot protect them from everything and accept that letting them fall and fail at times is truly what is best for them. By Dr. Ely Weinschneider One of the most important strengths that we want to develop in our children is the ability to be resilient, to handle the inevitable ‘speed-bumps’ that come our way in the journey that we call life.  Resilience basically means being able to bounce along with life.  The best analogy I heard that helps us understand it is that years ago when they first invented the automobile, they got the engine to run, the belts, radiator- everything was working great.  The problem that the makers of automobiles ran into was the tires – the tires kept breaking.  They did not have paved highways back in those days.  It was all horse and buggy.  They were just switching over to cars.  The wheels kept cracking and breaking.  What they did for a while is they kept making the tires out of harder and harder materials and making them out of steel and concrete and every time they hit a rock or a pothole they kept breaking.  Until they started making rubber tires.  Rubber tires bounce, and they hit another bump, and they bounce, and adjust, and keep on rolling. We love to protect our children from everything and anything we can.  Reality is that we cannot.  Our parental instinct to protect our children-and that is beautiful, and