Brain Food for the Good Life Blog

How and Why to Spoil (or Not Spoil) Your Kids or What Spoiled Kids Need

By Dr. Paul Schmidt on April 1, 2014

If you’ve ever wondered why so many people spoil their children, it’s simple. They get two big pay-offs. First, the obvious: it’s easier just to get through the moment by indulging children’s demands, rather than stopping to teach them a lesson. And the more subtle reason is that by living for and through the child, […]

Raising Responsible Kids

By Dr. Paul Schmidt on April 1, 2014

A high percentage of animals raise up responsible offspring. Their young leave the nest and learn to successfully fend for themselves. What percentage of American parents do you think get those two jobs done? My definition of successful children is growing up to solve their own problems emotionally and financially. They live contentedly on what […]

Stephanie & Paul, April 2007

By Dr. Paul Schmidt on March 27, 2014

Family Mission Statements

By Dr. Paul Schmidt on March 27, 2014

From Steven Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Successful People/Families: [blockquote_left] Habit #2: Begin with the end in mind. Avoid emotional cancers from toxic society: complaining, criticizing, comparing, competing. Mission statements should be timeless, addressing both ends and means. Covey’s personal mission statement: Live, love, learn, and leave a legacy. Families need to create their mission statement together, not […]

Family Missions and Rules

By Dr. Paul Schmidt on March 27, 2014

Steven Covey’s best-selling book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People made a great case for individuals and families to draw up mission statements. He suggested the mission be timeless (ongoing), and that the statement include both the means and ends (the hows and whys) for the mission. Different families have different top priorities. I’ve seen families that […]

Family Meetings

By Dr. Paul Schmidt on March 27, 2014

Now and then in the life of every family, parents need to call a family meeting. Some common purposes include solving a problem, making a decision, planning family outings or activities, or understanding and getting along with a rebelling family member. Some families hold meetings once a week, but regular meetings work better once a […]

Side-Stepping Second-Hand Stress

By Dr. Paul Schmidt on March 26, 2014

We learned last week twelve ways that emotional bullies and master manipulators dump their pressures and problems onto us. Assuming now that you can identify these stress-inducing behaviors that will trigger your bogus pressure alarm, how can you keep people from throwing you under the busload of stress that they carry around? How do you […]

Second-Hand Stress

By Dr. Paul Schmidt on March 26, 2014

As a follow-up for my recent columns on Coping with Difficult People, here is some assertiveness training for dealing with emotional bullies or master manipulators. The key is to see the invisible force they hit you with--stress. When somebody "stresses" you, according to the dictionary, they are subjecting you to pressure or strain. The verb […]

Coping with Difficult People (Part 2)

By Dr. Paul Schmidt on March 26, 2014

This column and the previous one are for people who are deeply frustrated with someone at home or at work. If most other people have the same problems getting along with this difficult person, your first step to making your peace is to understand your enemy. Last week I explained how during hard times growing up, […]

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Questions?

Dr. Paul F. Schmidt

Psychologist in Louisville , KY

(502) 633-2860
[email protected]

Founder and currently Director of
WELL, Inc., a 501(c)3, to–the-well.org.