bluesyemre

• Ask my kids, Conrad, 9, and Dashiell, 6, the days of the week, and they’ll say: Sunday, Funday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. “Funday” is Monday, specifically evening, when we have our weekly family meeting. After dinner the four of us sit in the living room and hash out whatever is happening at home. It might sound hokey, like an emergency measure Mike Brady would take if Cindy lost her Kitty Karry-All doll, but bear with me. It all started two years ago, when I was doing some research for a parenting workshop at Dashiell’s school and interviewed Jane Nelsen, Ed.D., author of Positive Discipline. I mentioned that when it comes to discipline, things in our house tended to escalate from gentle reminders to nagging to threats to yelling — a cycle that was ineffective and wearing everyone out. “Do you have family meetings?” she asked.

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