Making This Your Child's Best School Year Yet

True, your child can probably survive a bad school year. Indeed, genes, parenting, and peers matter more, at least in terms of long-term outcomes.

But think back to your own schooling. Weren’t there years in which you were much happier or less so. Helping your child have a whole year of more happiness—That’s worth your effort.

And much is in your control. My PsychologyToday.com article today offers potent things you can do. No, you needn't volunteer in your child’s class. That’s just not realistic for so many of today’s parents.

Raising a Challenging Child

The Case for Eclecticism

Many psychotherapists, counselors, and coaches feel comforted by having a theoretical framework from which to operate. It’s a scaffolding onto which they can then hang their own ideas as applicable to the client. 

That’s understandable but too limiting.  I make the case for eclecticism in my PsychologyToday.com article today.

The Ridiculousness of Unconditional Love

How wonderful to be loved for just who you are. Conversely, how comforting to feel so close to someone that you unconditionally love him or her.

But how realistic is that? Is it even desirable? My essay in PsychologyToday.com today argues no on both counts.

Career Issues I've Changed My Mind About

Somehow, we’ve come to prize people who stick to their guns. But as Longfellow wrote, “a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." Not wanting too little a mind, I have tried to remain opening to changing my views. In hopes of encouraging you to do that, my PsychologyToday. com article today describes 11 things on which I’ve changed my mind.

While I’ve changed my mind on many issues, in that article, I describe only items related to my profession: career counseling. Not only have I done the most thinking about that, offering my current thoughts on career may be helpful to yours.

An Ode to the Worker Bee on Labor Day

Labor Day honors workers. And for good reason, indeed for more reasons than we might realize. I describe them in my PsychologyToday.com article today.

Fighting Your Weaknesses

Conventional wisdom says, “Build on your strengths.” And I agree, but some common weaknesses usually must at least be mitigated or you may not get a chance to use your strengths.

Of course, most weaknesses don’t succumb to quick tips but my current thinking on behavior change is that quick tips end up yielding more net good than do protracted prescriptions. 

Quick tips  are particularly likely to yield more net good per-minute of reader time. There are plenty of long articles and books on each of the following but perhaps the quick tips I offer in my PsychologyToday.com article today add something to the corpus.