Author Archives: Kori Rodley Irons

About Kori Rodley Irons

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When Your Child is Exposed to Something Scary

Many parents work hard to keep their child from being exposed to television shows, movies and stories that are inappropriate for their age and this often means things that are just too scary. No matter how much we try to protect and monitor, however, our young children may be exposed to something scary—a friend or relative tells a scary story, they see something accidentally on television or are witness to an accident, injury or other traumatic event. As parents, what can we do after the fact when our child has been frightened? What you do will depend on the age … Continue reading →

Rights of Passage for a Single Parent Family

When you look back over your years as a single parent and when you map the history of your family, chances are it will be those rights of passage that you remember—the firsts, the graduations, the shifts and changes that mark the major and important elements of family life. Many of us have been trained by media and others to think of those rights of passage in terms of the mythological “traditional” family and may be so busy that we do not take the time to create and celebrate the rights of passage within our own single parent families. Those … Continue reading →

Arguing with Preschoolers

Back talk, power struggles, the refusal to listen—all of these behaviors can be incredibly common for the average preschooler. For the parent of an argumentative preschooler, however, it can be extremely tough not to get sucked into arguing back. Even if you know intellectually that it does not do any good to argue with them, before you know it you are in a tit for tat with a four-year-old. How can a parent avoid getting pulled in to an argument with someone under who is so young, so small, and so snarky? I know that you all know better than … Continue reading →

Transparency in Your Home Business

Transparency is one of those words that pop up now and again in professional and trade articles and you may be wondering just exactly what it is and how it applies to your small, home business operation. Transparency usually goes hand-in-hand with honesty and integrity and actually refers to how we do business in that it implies that you keep everything clear and obvious. By making sure that your policies are clear and obvious and being careful not to make anything seem hidden or shady, people will be more likely to trust you and think of you as an honest … Continue reading →

When Your Kids Exploit Your Weaknesses

It can come as a shock when those sweet, darling, angelic babies we bring into our families get to a place where they realize that not only do mom and/or dad have weaknesses, but that they can push, prod and exploit those weaknesses for their own gains. Whether they are playing one parent against the other to get what they want, or working the guilt or feelings of inadequacy that we parents can experience—it is quite common for children to learn how to dig into those parental weaknesses and exploit them. It is up to us to get tough and … Continue reading →

It is the Ones Who Don’t Have Kids Who Seem to Know the Most

I was talking with a couple other single parent friends of mine and we had a grand chuckle comparing some of our dates and attempts at relationships from our experience as single parents. One of the “universal truths” that became apparent was that we had all experienced those people who did not have children of their own but certainly seemed to think they had all the answers when it came to parenting. In fact, I think that those of us who are parents experience that humbling transformation of realizing that we really do not know half of what we thought … Continue reading →

Take Advice with a Grain of Salt

Advice, self-help, information, suggestions—every where you turn there are other people who want to offer up their advice. After all, as I write these blogs and articles here in the Parenting blog, I am participating in that very reality of American life. As a parent, however, you will get far more advice and suggestions that you could ever implement and in the end—it is up to you to make your own choices and decisions. Keep in mind that most of it is just opinion and it is coming from people with as many questions and confusions as you have! Whether … Continue reading →

Working when You Don’t Feel Like It

I know it may come as a shock to you—but I am not always motivated to work. There are so many days when I wish that I had the kind of job where I just showed up, brought my library book, and it didn’t matter if I produced anything, used my brain or talked to a single person—I could just get paid for showing up. The reality is, for most of us with home businesses, there are plenty of days when we HAVE to try to work, whether we feel like it or not. We cannot always be motivated and … Continue reading →

Failure is a State of Mind

For single parents, how many times do we hear of “failed relationships” or “failed marriages” or even “failed families?” Hearing that we have contributed to or are a part of something that the rest of the world views as a failure can be a tough pill to swallow. In fact, it can be hard to hear all this talk of failure and not feel like a failure ourselves. I would like to propose a different way of looking at things, however. I think that failure is a state of mind and we DO NOT have to give in to that … Continue reading →

Give Away a Prize

Prizes and rewards motivate people. How many times have you bought a lottery ticket, entered a drawing or opened that container of soda to see if you were “a winner” by reading the cap? When it comes to motivating our children and using some of the tricks and tools of parenting, giving away a prize might be a tactic you can use. Like anything, prizes can be overused and lose their motivational magic, but the occasional prize or reward can be powerful. I found with my kids that just calling it a “prize” was fun. Since it was so different … Continue reading →