Author: Cheryl Butler
Cheryl Butler
Cheryl L. Butler is the mother of eight children. Her experiences with infertility, adoption, seven pregnancies, and raising children with developmental delays have helped her become a resource on the joys and challenges of parenting. Call the Mighty Mommy listener line at 401-284-7575 to ask a parenting question. Your call could be featured on the show!
Grocery shopping for eight kids is not for the faint of heart! I strategize my mission to swiftly get in and out in less than, say, a week (Ha!) only to drive home and spend hours putting it all away. I purposely shop in another town so I won’t get distracted chatting with neighbors and friends. (No, I’m not kidding!) It takes a lot to veer me off course, but last week’s encounter with an adorable child, probably six years old, did just that. She was having an animated cell phone conversation with her grandmother while shopping with her dad.…
When a child acts out and demonstrates defiant behavior, there’s usually an underlying reason. Maybe your child is seeking attention, testing boundaries, or frustrated about school or her social life. Taking the time to understand why your child is acting out is often a big part of finding the solution. Could you be dealing with oppositional defiant disorder? First, make sure your child’s behavior isn’t an ongoing pattern. Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) isn’t just a buzzword, it’s something very real that 1 to 16 percent of children and their parents struggle with. Here’s how the American Academy of Child and…