Why is the 10-minute warning so important?

by Linda Michie, Executive Director and Founder at Wishing Well Adoption & Family Services Imagine this: You are at the best concert of your life. The music is perfect. They are playing your favorite songs. Your best friends bought you the tickets for your birthday and it’s pretty much the best time you ever had. … [Read more…]

Does your child have steady positive input?

Positive Input Tips from Wishing Well Families, Virginia Beach

by Linda Michie, Executive Director and Founder at Wishing Well Adoption & Family Services So many parents tell me that they spend their days telling their children “don’t do this”, “stop that”, “cut it out or you’re going to your room”. This is a steady stream of negative attention that teaches our children if they … [Read more…]

Let’s talk about consequences…

Parenting Tips and Consequences by Wishing Well Families, Virginia Beach

by Linda Michie, Executive Director and Founder at Wishing Well Adoption & Family Services With great wisdom, we, as a culture, have begun to move away from punishment as the main staple of parenting. We’ve moved almost entirely away from corporal punishment, having learned that this was a least effective way to change behavior and … [Read more…]

Are we celebrating the good things?

Celebrating the Right Things - Positive Reinforcement in Parenting from Wishing Well Families Adoption and Family Services

by Linda Michie, Executive Director and Founder at Wishing Well Adoption & Family Services What I mean is, in our day to day parenting, are we making a big deal out of the really important things we want our children to learn? What ARE the most important things we want our children to learn? Kindness? … [Read more…]

Do our children have the right amount of autonomy?

Children Need Autonomy - Wishing Well Adoption and Family Services

by Linda Michie, Executive Director and Founder at Wishing Well Adoption & Family Services From birth to adulthood, we teach our children skills. We clap when our baby first holds a spoon. We cheer them on when they participate in sports. We warn them of the incredible responsibility of their driver’s license. If we’re really … [Read more…]