Joy Berry's Blog, page 2

Parenting Advice From Joy Berry: The Trouble with Rap Music

I should have suspected that something was up when the doors opened on a subway train that I was boarding and everyone except eight rowdy teens disembarked and scrambled into the neighboring car. But by the time I figured it out, the train was ready to leave the station. So I hopped onboard and took the first seat that I came to.

When the train started, rap music began to blast from a boom box and the eight teens started rapping at the top of their lungs.

Before that moment I had always...

Parenting Advice From Joy Berry: The Ups and Downs of Grandparenting

I love grandparenting. I really do. But just like everything else, it has its drawbacks.

Ask most grandparents and they'll tell you that one of the best parts about grand-parenting is the fact that that you can spoil your grandchildren to death, then send them home where their parents have to do all of the hard stuff.

While that might be true, I always say, "Control is proportionate to responsibility," which means that the more responsibility one assumes, the more control he or she will have...

Parenting Advice From Joy Berry: The Hamster Trauma

We experienced quite a trauma involving Kaytee Button last week.

Kaytee is the Teddy Bear Hamster that I strongly encouraged my granddaughter not to get right before she left for a long summer vacation. I argued that it would be far more reasonable for her to wait until she returned home so that she would not be required to find someone to care for the animal while she was gone. I even went so far as to assert that I was unwilling to take on the responsibility of a hamster for three...

Parenting Advice From Joy Berry: Teaching Children About the Birds and the Bees

Okay. It's a fair question.

"How do you teach children about sex without causing them to "become sexual" too early?" someone asked after reading my last blog.

First of all, parents need to understand and accept the fact that human sexuality is a part of human life and human beings are born with sexual attributes and natures. So, "becoming sexual" begins in the womb.

Next, parents need to treat every part of their child's body equally. This means that from the beginning, they need to call every b...