Roger Smith

Is your child maturing as fast as you would like? Welcome to Parenting Riders Now, a source of parenting advice a few minutes at a time.

Hi, this is Dr. Roger Smith of Parenting Matters Now.

Maturity in a child is something that we always hope for, but oftentimes we are not participating in their maturity as we should.

And I want to give you some ideas of ways that you can help move their maturity along.

Are you teaching your children to take risks or to play it safe? Welcome to Parenting Matters Now, a source of parenting advice a few minutes at a time.

Hi, this is Dr. Roger Smith with Parenting Matters Now.

There is a teaching that is common among parents, and it is to be careful, play it safe, to do what it protects self.

But I want to challenge your thinking in that regard that Making a difference in this world takes risk.

We praise them for things that really, they just showed up.

Praise them for things where they really gave it their all.

So this is Dr. Roger Smith encouraging you to train your children to take risks, to calculate risk, but in the end to be brave and to be important and to do something worthwhile.

Because those hard things are the things that are worthwhile in life.

Do you ever have conflict with your children? Welcome to Parenting Riders Now, a source of parenting advice a few minutes at a time.

Hi, this is Dr. Roger Smith with Parenting Riders Now.

Conflict is inevitable in any relationship, certainly with a parent and child.

As the child is learning to grow and manage choices, and you're trying to figure out how to offer choices and train their decision-making.

but all in effort to try to get to the truth and to resolve where you're crossed up.

Learn ways to help your children to resolve conflicts, whether it's with their siblings or with friends, because it is a lifelong skill that will serve them well.

It's Dr. Roger Smith with Parenting Matters Now.

Subscribe to Parenting Matters Now for more advice or go to rogersmithmd.com to search for more topics.

Are you having problems with grandparents? Welcome to Parenting Matters Now, a source of parenting advice a few minutes at a time.

Hi, this is Dr. Roger Smith at Parenting Matters Now.

Grandparents can be a problem.

They can be a royal pain in the neck, we'll say.

It's not about the rules.

It's about the relationship, even with the grandparents.

This is Dr. Roger Smith with Parenting Matters Now.

Subscribe to Parenting Matters Now for more advice or go to rogersmithmd.com to search for more topics.

Are you causing your children to be anxious? Welcome to Parenting Riders Now, a source of parenting advice a few minutes at a time.

Hi, this is Dr. Roger Smith of Parenting Matters Now.

Sometimes children are anxious, they're nervous, they're fearful.

There are all kinds of things that come into their mind and they can't get it out of their mind and they're always talking about it or they're hesitant.

And one of the gentlemen said, how much news do you allow into your home? Or how much is it good to have news in your home? That was something specific to their community, but it raised the whole question of, What things do we allow in our homes that actually fuel anxiety and fear and worry in children and even in ourselves? So be careful about how much, how often, what intensity of those types of things that our children experience and it fuels their anxiety.

Let's be more of a calming influence and a reassuring and helping to put all those things into context, but not constantly fueling the fire of anxiety and worry.

This is Dr. Roger Smith with Parenting Matters Now.

Subscribe to Parenting Matters Now for more advice or go to rogersmithmd.com to search for more topics.

Do you ever break any of your own rules? Welcome to Parenting Riders Now, a source of parenting advice a few minutes at a time.

Hi, this is Dr. Roger Smith of Parenting Matters.

Now, we break our own rules.

I want to have that as a background as we think about our children breaking the rules.

So whenever we break our own rules, we have grace toward ourselves and go, I didn't mean to do that.

Can we extend that same grace to our children when we realize that there was an unintended breaking of the rule? This is Dr.

Roger Smith of Parenting Matters Now.

Be gracious toward your children as you would be toward yourself.