We have been welcoming students back to school at St. Barnabas since our founding in 1971. For nearly 50 years we’ve ushered in each school year in a similar fashion, but this year is different than anything we’ve experienced before. 

We’re halfway through the calendar year, and so far 2020 has proven to be quite a doozy. The COVID-19 Pandemic has thrown us all for a loop and it was followed up with civil unrest and a lot of public conversation about racial inequality and police brutality. We are still wading through uncharted territory, and no parenting tips could have prepared us for what has unfolded. To begin, it should be said that you are doing an excellent job, and the fact that you’re interested in parenting tips to help you move through this season shows how much you care. None of us has all of the answers for how to navigate life’s complexities, but all of us can do our best. 

The year 2020 will go down in history as a year of transformation. People, families, and industry were forced to change the way we do life as well as the ways we do business. As teachers and school administrators, we’ve done our best to maintain as much normalcy in your children's education as we could over the last few months but we’re well aware that most of the heavy lifting was left up to you, their parents. 

In March, all of our lives changed in a big way. Schools closed for the rest of the year and parents like you were sent scrambling and forced to balance your parenting and professional lives 24 hours a day. No parenting tips could have prepared us to spend quite so much quality time cooped up with our families. We still don’t really know what to expect in the coming months. But one thing is for sure, after nearly two and a half months of playing school at home, you’re now staring down the barrel at two more months of playing summer camp counselor and you'll need even more parenting tips to get you through.

This spring semester has been one for the books. None of us will ever forget the year that our classrooms were empty, and your homes we’re overflowing! Hopefully, by this point, you’ve gotten into a groove with your children’s school, but by now they may be bouncing off the walls a bit as they’re missing their friends and their routine. There’s only so much video gaming that can substitute for actual activity. It may be time to implement P.E. 

How’s everyone doing out there? These are strange times we find ourselves in, and we are all learning to cope with a temporary new normal. Many parents in our community are feeling the brunt of this shift in our culture as they learn how to balance working from home, parenting, and teaching school all at once. We want you to know that we see you. We see how hard you’re working and we’re grateful for the way you’re stepping to help us teach your kids when we can’t be with them. 

When the world around you seems to be going absolutely bonkers it can be difficult to avoid that same chaos in our homes. So we do what we think is best and look for parenting tips that help us make the next best choice for our kids. But for any piece of parenting advice, you can find other experts giving the exact opposite advice. It’s enough to drive any parent mad, but what in the world is there to do about it?

We all want to have well-adjusted responsible children who are assets to their community. However, not all children are wired with the drive or motivation to help. This isn’t an assault on their character, rather an observation. All children are different, they all have their special strengths, and for some, being a helper falls low on the list.

The number of toys available to children these days is absolutely astonishing. And the more of those toys you accumulate the most cost you have to bear. But not every activity for your preschooler has to cost any money at all. Here are four ways you can entertain your children without having to spend a dime.

There are as many parenting methods in the world as there are parents. But there is one style of parenting in particular that resonates with the parents of many of our students. Positive parenting is a method that begins with the belief that all children are ultimately good. It teaches parents that children want to do the right thing and simply need guidance to help them make the best choices. The goal is to establish trust, build self-esteem, and correct children without breaking them down.