Comment Round-up: Should We Stay Together for the Kids?
Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 Posted in Comment Round-up, Conflict, Marriage | 10 Comments »Thank you for all of the thoughtful and heartfelt comments last week regarding the question of whether or not to stay in a marriage once children are involved. Nancy Prisby had a very important clarification about conflict and what ...
Are You Sadder Than Your Mother?
Thursday, October 1st, 2009 Posted in Fostering social connections, Main essay, Mothering, Uncategorized | 11 Comments »Thanks probably to my mother herself, I’m not. (Sadder than her, that is. I’m almost certainly happier.) But many women today are sadder than their peers were 40 years ago, according to a study by Penn researchers called ...
Emotion Coaching: One of the Most Important Parenting Practices in the History of the Universe
Thursday, March 19th, 2009 Posted in Changing bad habits into good ones, Conflict, Emotion coaching, Empathy, Main essay, Teaching Emotional Literacy | 30 Comments »According to John Gottman, one of my all-time favorite researchers, emotion-coaching is the key to raising happy, resilient, and well-adjusted kids. His research—30 years of it—shows that it is not enough to be a warm, engaged, and loving parent. ...
Love: More is More
Thursday, February 5th, 2009 Posted in Compassion, Dads & fathering, Family meals, Fostering social connections, Main essay, On Life & Being a Parent, Praise, Social intelligence, Teaching Emotional Literacy | 2 Comments »You may think Valentine’s Day is for lovers, but I say it is for kids! I didn’t really know how darn much love I had in me until I had kids – and I’ve always been a lover, not ...
Ten 2008 Tips for Raising Happy Kids
Tuesday, January 6th, 2009 Posted in Changing bad habits into good ones, Conflict, Family meals, Forgiveness, Friendship, Gratitude, Kindness, Main essay, Materialism, On Life & Being a Parent, Optimism, School & scheduling, Video | 2 Comments »Replace Your Kids’ Annoying Behaviors with Happiness Habits Some of the most irritating things our kids do (whining and tattling come to mind) are nothing more than bad habits, and as we all know, bad habits are tough to break! ...
Video — Transcending: Words on Women & Strength
Friday, December 19th, 2008 Posted in Fostering social connections, Optimism, Video | 1 Comment »Sorry to those who subscribe to the blog via email and couldn't see the embedded video in the last posting, Strong Women, Close Friends. Here is the link: Transcending: Words on Women & Strength by Kelly Corrigan
Strong Women, Close Friends
Wednesday, December 17th, 2008 Posted in Fostering social connections, Friendship, Main essay, On Life & Being a Parent, Video | Leave a Comment »"Throughout our lives, friends enclose us, like pairs of parentheses," writes National Book Award nominee Beth Kephart. "They shift our boundaries, crater our terrain. They fume through the cracks of our tentative houses, and parts of them always ...
Would You Guys Just Knock It Off? 10 Steps to Peace in Your Household
Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008 Posted in Conflict, Forgiveness, Friendship, Main essay | 1 Comment »The last posting was about the benefits of conflict and why we need to teach kids to resolve conflict constructively themselves. This posting will teach you how to do it. You might be thinking that this is a posting for parents ...
Conflict: It’s a Good Thing
Sunday, November 23rd, 2008 Posted in Conflict, Empathy, Forgiveness, Friendship, Main essay, Mindfulness & Meditation, Social intelligence | 2 Comments »“He’s totally conflict avoidant, so it isn’t like we ever fight about this stuff,” my friend recently told me about how she and her hubby address their differences. She seemed proud that the fighting in her household registers ...
Happiness is being socially connected
Friday, October 31st, 2008 Posted in Fostering social connections, Friendship, Main essay | 2 Comments »Network, network, network. Adults in the business world certainly know how important it is to stay connected to their colleagues and peers if they are to have successful careers, but did you know that the number and strength of ...
How to Fight
Monday, February 11th, 2008 Posted in Conflict, On Life & Being a Parent | 6 Comments »Christine Carter, Ph.D. This posting continues a four-part series on improving your relationship to improve your children's well-being. Go here for the first post, "Your love life, your child's happiness." Parents fight. A couple necessarily involves two completely different individuals ...
This blog is about science-based parenting advice. I'm a sociologist and the executive director of UC Berkeley's 
Appearances on ABC's "View From the Bay."
