Articles | PIFE - Pacific Institute of Family Education

Cut the complaining – and be happy

Kindness means thinking of others and acting in ways that contribute to their happiness. Complaining certainly doesn’t do that. If you’ve been trying …

What should you do when your child is not kind?

Kindness is the virtue of thinking of others—caring about their feelings, needs, and happiness. In a previous post…

Kids glued to screens? Teach them the art of conversation

Tired of asking your kids to put down their phones and look at you when you’re talking with them? Guilty of checking your own phone…

Raising Kind Kids: 5 simple things you can do

If you want your children to learn to be kind, start by using the language of kindness in your family. This will help to convey kindness…

How to raise kind kids – and make family life happier

Kindness is not moral confetti that good people sprinkle randomly and benignly. It is not a nice but casual quality of character…

Corona Summer: A mom’s script for averting second wave chaos

Everyone talks about a second wave. But us moms know there is another, equally worrisome second wave that is already threatening…

Thank You for Joining Us @ Let’s Talk

Sue Dvorak understood the busyness of today’s parents and craziness of today’s culture. Like a peer mentor, she generously shared her insights…

Thank You for Joining Us @ Life Lessons from Sports

“Victory accomplished without integrity, and respect is really no victory at all!” quipped Pat Macken, our guest speaker…

Thank You for Joining Us @ Nurturing Young Children in the Digital Age

An educational session on “Nurturing Young Children (0-5) in the Digital Age” was presented by Scholastica Au, PHN, and Dawn Cooper…

5 Homework Strategies in the Digital Age

One of the hardest things in parenting is helping kids stay focused while doing homework because of all the internal distractions, like dread of working on certain tasks…

Thank You for Joining Us @ Chinese Subtitled Version of Screenagers

A Chinese Subtitled Version of Screenagers 屏幕少年 was shown on January 14, 2018. Parents and teenagers had good reflections…

Thank You for Joining Us @ Screenagers: Growing Up in the Digital Age

Over 400 parents and teenagers attended the informative evening. Many attendees appreciated the parent panel discussion…

Confessions of a Millennial mum with a smartphone habit

We might not even be aware we are holding it, waiting for a call, a text, an email. Or perhaps we’ve fallen even deeper into the trap: we’re poised to make our minute-by-minute check…

Regret nothing, especially not motherhood

Apparently, when you are a mother, and finding the role incredibly challenging, you have two options. You can either regret motherhood, as an article published in the Sydney Morning…

Father Engagement from Three Months Strengthens Infants’ Cognitive Development

Our study on the fathers’ roles in early child development, conducted in the UK, has found…

What’s destroying the kids – smartphones or distracted parents?

We all know that kids use their phones too much. They are too much on Snapchat or texting their friends. They would take their phones to bed if no-one stopped them…

Should smart teens have smartphones?

Smart phones are here to stay. Actually, that is not entirely true, for they will gradually be replaced by more sophisticated tools. But it is true that smart phones are commonly used these days…

Whom should you love more: your spouse or your kids?

A while ago, my husband brought up an interesting question: should you love your spouse more than your kids, or vice versa? After a bit of discussion, we agreed…

5 keys for a happy marriage

Sometimes, in places which are known for the inane, you discover a gem. Memes on Facebook are a great example. Neither I nor my husband are prolific “Facebookers”, but we both know what memes are…

Once in a while, one of my kids fall into a funk, a period of negativity and difficult behavior which makes parenting a real challenge. When this happens, not only do I feel sorrow for my child, but I also feel…