Is your child chewing on his sleeves? Does your little girl chew the fingers and toes off her baby dolls?  Do you catch your little one licking things inappropriately (doors, tables, etc.)? Does your older-than-toddler child walk around wearing extra food after the meal or snack? Do you have a stuffer -- someone who may [...]

Everyone is ready to go on a family outing but your child is writhing on the floor grumbling about the seams and tags in his clothing.  You have already been through everything in the closet.  This is the third time this week. Ugggg!  What to do? It is time for family haircuts. You are agonizing [...]

Summer Tips for Parents Raising Challenging Children Tom and Julie Meekins March Forth Family It is summertime and most likely schedules are changing. This often puts our children who have challenges in a rough spot and us parents in a truly tough spot.  So what can you do to help soften that blow and create [...]

Sleep and Children by Tom and Julie Meekins All children struggle with sleep at one time or another. Sometimes the problem stems from something seemingly unrelated. Since we at March Forth Family are all about getting to the bottom of a thing, let's take a look at some potential root causes that could be keeping [...]

5 Tips For Parents What Books, DVDs, CDs, Curriculum Should I Buy to Teach My Child with Challenges? Last night we had the privilege of chatting with many moms and dads who are like you. They, too, are striving to be the best parents they possibly can be. We were impressed to see that they [...]

Parents, What do we need to be thinking about in terms of our child's visual development? Here are a few things to consider: 1. How is his or her acuity? Does your child need glasses? 2. Does your child have good visual habits, such as: a) is the toy or paper at a proper length [...]

Lack of social cues, immaturity, concentration, ants-in-the-pants fidgetiness, impulsivity, sensory issues, processing, hyperactivity, distractibility, retaining information, reading and math, disorganization, inattention, or following directions? Anything there look familiar in your child? This is what we call SYMPTOMS. We would like to make a distinction between the term symptom and the term ROOT CAUSE. A symptom [...]

Sometimes our children are capable of more. Strike that. Most of the time our children are capable of more. Children with challenges often are either comfortable and content to be just where they are in their development and don't make the effort to move forward or are fearful of moving forward. And, let's face it, [...]

Does your child eat the same foods day in and day out? You work hard to present a variety of healthy foods to your child, but for some reason he is very limited in the foods he will allow to pass his lips. There can be many reasons for this problem and when we work [...]

CAN ADHD BE DUE TO A WEAK FOUNDATION? One Potential Root Cause for ADHD There is an order to child development and there are important components to each level. Sometimes our kids with an official diagnosis of ADHD or the kids who are showing symptoms of ADHD without a formal diagnosis miss something along the [...]

You Can Do This -- And YOU Do it Best! This week we have heard from several parents telling us that they feel battered, tired, exhausted, judged, and misunderstood in their journey parenting children who have challenges. You may be dealing with the with the big names: Autism, ADHD, Downs Syndrome, Dyslexia, Dysgraphia,  Sensory Integration [...]

Are You Compassionate or Judgmental to "Out of the Box" Children and Their Parents? by Julie Meekins Today we had the opportunity to attend an event for homeschoolers to swap and sell supplies, books, etc. no longer needed. Since we are down to one homeschooler and she is a high school senior, we decided to join [...]

What Do You Want Them to Know? This week we have had the wonderful privilege of hosting our daughter-in-love soon to be who will be marrying our one and only son in the fall. Our Kimberly has a heart for children who have challenges and their parents. Of course, we would love her anyway because [...]

You are tired. You have done much. You have cared much. You have loved much. You are not done yet. You still will do much. You still care. You still love. But -- you are tired. Your body is exhausted and may even be ill. Your mind is a bit foggy. Your spirit is a [...]

Silver Linings in Challenging Children Finding the sweet kid inside. Do you have a child who you love with all your heart but who drives you crazy? We all have our tolerance levels but even the most even keeled adults can be rattled by some of our more challenging youngsters. Let's face it -- some [...]

4 TIPS TO GUARD YOUR HEALTH AND YOUR JOY THIS HOLIDAY SEASON by Tom and Julie Meekins www.MarchForthFamily.com Are you feeling a little nervous about the upcoming holidays? Are you worried how your child will react to a change of routine or unfamiliar foods? Is there concern for what Gramma or Aunt Millie or Cousin [...]

Food Battles Question: My little 3 year old is a really bad eater. We have tried many many many things to get him to try new foods but he pretty much lives off of crackers and popcorn. Dinner time is always a fight. We are so frustrated. He refuses to even try one little tiny [...]

Okay So My Child Has [fill in the blank]. Or I Think My Child May Have... By Julie and Tom Meekins, www.MarchForthFamily.com Now -- What Do I Do About it? Is this you? Are you sitting with your head in your hands in total confusion or maybe even despair? Please look up for just a [...]

CHOCOLATE and TRANQUILITY By Julie Meekins As we thought about what today's article/blog should be about, it became apparent that it was going to be all about chocolate. Just kidding. Although, chocolate will play a very important part of this post -- we really want to focus on resting. There are many facets to the [...]

The Terror of Transitions Transitions. Are you in transition? New school year? New home? New job? Redecorating your home? Building a new home? New friendship? New baby? New stepchild? Newly married? Living without a loved one? The transitions mentioned above are pretty big deals and can be quite the thing to deal with for any [...]

IT IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH!!! What's to be Done About  Perfectionism in our Children? Tom and Julie Meekins Do you have a child in your family or your classroom who is a perfectionist? Perfectionism can be caused by many things. A perfectionist may believe (consciously or subconsciously) that their self worth or someone's love for [...]

Social Skills and Life Skills INPUT  INPUT  INPUT     You know your child is very smart. He or she may struggle in some areas but overall they are intelligent and sponges in terms of learning. Sometimes social skills and life skills need some enhancing. A lot of the time it is just a matter of [...]

Is your child stuck with: school? baby development? maturity? social skills? behavior? respecting authority? following directions? a syndrome? a label? a diagnosis? health? eating habits? phobias? Have you been told that if your child is over a certain age -- then you can pretty much give up the thought of any more development?  We really [...]

Have you recently returned from an out-of-town event or meeting? What is life like when you return? When you pull into the driveway, do you see that the grass needs cutting? Are there more weeds in the garden than you remember? As you look around, is your "to do" list growing? And what about the [...]

You watch your child with other children the same age. Red flags go up.  While everyone displays some immaturity at some time or another -- your child consistently operates at a younger level. Some parents would wring their hands and cop a "woe is me" type of attitude, thinking that this is just the way [...]

The excitement is in the air. Something new is about to happen. The fireworks are about to begin. The pitcher is ready to throw the first pitch. It's Kickoff time. Start your engines. Runners take you mark, get set, go! Three-Two-One Liftoff! Out with the old, in with the new. Put off the old, put [...]

BAND AIDS OR ROOT CAUSES? Tom and Julie Meekins When your child is screaming in pain but you don't know exactly what the source of that pain is -- what do you do? Do you reach for the band aid box and slap a bandage on it without any further investigation? Of course, you don't. [...]

Okay. I have done it. I have finally entered the world of bloggers! I have always been a writer. From the time I was very young, I would journal or write stories or create poems. Then came marriage. Then came parenting. It wasn't until our fourth child was born that I began writing again. These [...]

Entering our office one day last week, my nose was greeted with a less than pleasant aroma. Being the budding detective that I am, I became an investigative hound dog and started following my nose. The first place I checked was the trash … nothing there.  Next, I checked the bathrooms and the sinks … [...]

Sunrise is at 6:27 this morning. Can I make it? I grab my keys and backpack, get into the car and head downtown to the Dock. It's cloudy, but sometimes that makes for a beautiful sunrise. Traffic lights provide normal delays and the traffic is moderate. Will I make it in time? Almost there! Passing [...]

Today is the last day of the summer. Why do I say that? Today is only Monday, August 13th.  Labor Day (the unofficial last day) is a few weeks away and September 21st (the official last day) is another 5 weeks away. Well, tomorrow I pack up the car and take my son, Josh, back [...]

I have been thinking ... and that could be a dangerous thing to do.  I have a position in this universe, this world, this creation that is uniquely me. There is no one just like me.  People have told me that I look like someone they know, but he wasn't me.  And in college I [...]

I never knew that I would enjoy blogging until I started this journey just this week. In my very first post, I wanted everything to be perfect before I began ... got over that!  In this second post, I still wanted everything to be perfect ... getting over that, too!  This time, I want all [...]

I always thought that a perfectionist always did things perfectly. But over the years, I have discovered (through personal experience) that a perfectionist may never get anything done!  In my effort to be perfect, It took me literally HOURS to begin to write my very first blog.  I wanted my WordPress theme and design to be PERFECT!  I [...]