Betsy Brown Braun

Technology is here to stay. No question there. Children born today must become technologically literate in order to thrive in their world as they grow. No question there. Advanced technologies make parts of raising children easier. No question there either.

Wait! It's spinning out of control. The horse is driving...

"If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands." Every kid knows that insipid song. It scrolls through a palette of feelings, "If you're sad... If you're angry..." always pointing to the refrain "but if you're happy and you know it, shout hooray!" as if that's the right way...

There's nothing like a toddler's tantrum or an older child's meltdown to bring a parent to her knees. It's one of those behaviors that makes you feel inadequate and helpless, to say nothing of incompetent.

Put that tantrum in a public place -- a restaurant, the grocery store, the school...

The horror at Miramonte Elementary School in Los Angeles has my blood boiling, to say nothing of my stomach turning in disgust. The story is still unfolding, layers added every day. (A 30-year veteran third grade teacher, uncovered by a photo lab technician who alerted police to photos...

I might hold the record for having given the most single birthday parties. Each of my kids (triplets) had his/her own party from age two years old on up. It's not that I am a glutton for punishment; it's that there's not much that is all yours besides your name...

I don't like New Year's resolutions. They scream failure. It doesn't start that way. But inevitably the best laid plans... Two weeks into that new diet, that exercise routine, that tidy bedroom, and it's back to square one and self-flagellation. Oh well, maybe next year.

That doesn't mean there aren't...

At one of my parenting groups recently, I asked people to share a memory of their grandparents from when they were growing up. Among the responses were: baking cookies, working in the garage, sleeping at Grandma's house, and going to London. How telling that not one, not one person shared...

Let's face it, Christmas is everywhere. Even in cities heavily populated by Chanukah celebrants, Christmas rules, as the streets are dressed in sparkles and twinkle lights and red and green and fa la la. It's no wonder that cries of "I want to have a Christmas tree!" fill Jewish air...

There isn't a school around that doesn't step up the giving spirit as Thanksgiving and the winter holidays approach. Mini vans are jammed with cans of corn and candied yams to replenish the city's depleted food pantry shelves. Bags upon bags of gently used clothing are distributed throughout the city....

Yesterday I watched a neighbor's nanny drape the front shrubs with that spider webby stuff in anticipation of Halloween. Such fun, I thought. Then I noticed her charges, two little guys ages eight and five were right there... watching. As far as I could tell, their job was to stand...

I just may lose my cookies if I hear another comment about a child needing to "find his passion." The latest one came from the mother of a 9 year old. Disenchanted with the local public school, her daughter was applying to a competitive private school. She was convinced that...

Ten years ago this month I founded Parenting Pathways. (This is my business through which I offer parents of children, toddlers through teens, a variety of services including private consultations, monthly parenting groups, and individual topical seminars.) Who knew I would reinvent myself? Who knew how much I...