I recently spoke with Sherwood Schwartz’ grandson, which in hindsight, must have been the impetus for my recent purchase of the full box set of 5 seasons of The Brady Bunch. For starters, my kids have found a new love! Poke fun if you will, but they are glued to the family drama where children are respected, listened to, their problems are identified and rectified in under 22 minutes (sans sass). Now I know why I loved it as well, as a child!

However, as a parent, 22 minutes barely allows us to get the full story from our lower school daughter and double that 22 minutes for our tween.  This is why, over the years, my love is Julie Ross. She is the Executive Director of Parenting Horizons, “an organization devoted to enriching children’s lives through parent and teacher education”. Greg and I have attended many of Julie’s workshops and lectures and have found the information incredibly helpful.

Julie’s latest book, How to Hug a Porcupine: Negotiating the Prickly Points of the Tween Years has become our Bible over the years. No really. Our kids refer to it as “The Book” when one of us is off our game & needs a little “help”.

We’re just stepping into a new age with our tween and Julie does an incredible job of explaining the hormonal shift of a child that has a yearning for independence and growth. Just as important, Julie discusses how parents can play unobtrusive, yet “there if you need me”, traffic control throughout this often bumpy ride.

Even George Glass can use a hand with this parenting stuff!

“So, did I tell you about the pot today?” asked our 5th grader at dinner.

Angela and I did the confirmative look at each other to assure that we correctly heard what we had unquestionably just heard from our child. I then carefully crafted, probably my most nonchalant & emotion-less, “No. What happened?”

What followed was an innocent story about a creative, pottery piece in art class.

We often complicate things as parents or assume the worst.

Sometimes a pot is just a pot and a 5th grader should just be a 5th grader.

So, why am I up far too late on this Saturday night before Easter Sunday?   Especially since I just might have beaten this cold bug which had me popping C’s like they were candy & sipping more tea than a small Indian village for over a week?  Well, all’s been going well these days.  Grades, friends, health, caping the toothpaste, etc.  That is, until my 8 year old hits us with her latest idea.

She’s loving the Easter bunny..she’s game for another year of hunting for that basket filled with treats and toys.  HOWEVER, Angela & I were told that we apparently need a little more proof!  “Proof” wasn’t verbatim, but there’s no question that that’s what she was getting at.

Here’s how it went down:

“So, when we put out the carrot and water for the Easter bunny, how about we setup a camera” said my daughter.

“Why would you want to do that?”

“I don’t know. It would just be nice to get a picture.”

So here I am, in need of my pillow, calling upon the Adobe gods to give me one last filter to make this believable.  Then off to my camera I’ll send it (& more importantly, off to my bed) for tomorrow’s early deliberation.  Why don’t I just send her off to college now while I’m at it?!  I’m not going down without a fight!!

In the quest to raise a responsible child, it’s often difficult to provide the motivation for them to tackle their day to day tasks without constant parental reminders…better known as nagging. While old fashioned sticker charts have helped this process for many, there’s not much depth to them, so their use naturally tapers off after a brief period of time.

The Silicon Valley company, “Got Clues” (no, no relation to Blue’s Clues) was excited to share their app iRewardChart with us. Their app takes this reward chart concept and converts it into a well oiled, customizeable and interactive app for your mobile device. It’s loaded with many great features, including your child’s option to choose their payout or reward at the end of the timeframe you choose. iRewardChart has won the Best Parenting App for past 2 yrs and has been on NBCs Today show, CNN, HuffPost & many others.

As much as we all need a little help as parents, kids need some more acknowledgement of their positive choices/actions…iRewardChart could benefit us all.

I’m giving away FREE copies of iRewardChart to the first 5 people that LIKE the Angela’s Clues fanpage. Already liked the Facebook page? Then simply comment on the iRewards post below or on the Fb page. Good luck!