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You’re welcome to this interview with one of the world best psycologists who has agreed to give an interesting interview.

Dr.Pickhardt is a psychologist in private counseling and lecturing practice in Austin, Texas. He received his B.A. and M.Ed. from Harvard, and his Ph.D, from the University of Texas at Austin. He is a member of the American and Texas Psychological Associations.

He has written columns for the Austin American Statesman (“Parenting the Teenager”), for the Austin Business Journal, Single Parent Magzine, Marriage and Family Living Magazine, Austin 360.com, and for Only Child Magazine (for which he is a contributing Editor.)

He is a well published author of parenting books, books of illustrated psychology, adult and children’s fiction, as well as being a graphic artist.He has published 25 books to date.

In 1988 he did weekly TV interviews about family life for Channel 24 (ABC, Austin). He has also been a guest on a Phil Donahue Show, Parentz 101 (FOX), Family Digest (Cable), and has done interviews for radio including Parents Journal and the Armin Brott Show.
Carl Pickhardt is married with 4 children and 1 grandchild.You can visit his website at:www.carlpickhardt.com

Could you tell us your name, location and age?

My name is Carl Pickhardt Ph.D. I am an author of parenting books and a psychologist in private
counseling and lecturing practice in Austin, Texas, USA. I am 71 years old with 4 grown children
and a grandson who is a sophomore in high school.

Sikaz:What is your opinion about parenting; is it worth it?

Dr.Carl:On its most basic level, parenting is how we propagate and prepare the next generation of our kind. If no one had children, no one would be a parent, and human kind would become extinct. But parenting is a choice, and it is not for everyone.Those adults who become parents and then do not find parenting “worth it” are usually those who do not want to invest the free time, shoulder the burden of responsibility, and accept the necessity for self sacrifice, that parenting entails. Parenting creates a host of rewards that begin with bonding and building a loving relationship with children who bond and love their relationship with you.

Sikaz:What is your opinion about breastfeeding?

Dr.Carl:Children are born connected to their mother and disconnected with their father who does not bear, birth, or breastfeed the child as the mother does. It is only by tending, talking, and touching that fathers start building a connection after the infant is born.In addition to the nutritional benefits, breastfeeding is a powerful way for mother and infant to connect, an act of deep and abiding physical and emotional intimacy.

Sikaz:What are the challenges of working and breastfeeding your baby?

Dr.Carl:The challenge of working and breast – feeding is the degree to which the job interrupts this nutritional/ relational connection and hence diminishes the contribution to maternal attachment that breast- feeding can create.Being held by another caring adult, however, and nursing from a bottle still has nutritional and attachment value. Jobs vary in the amount of flexibility they allow for mothers to breastfeed their child.

Sikaz:What are the things one should look out for while choosing a nanny?

Dr.Carl:A nanny is a surrogate parent for many young children, someone to whom the child socially and emotionally attaches. So parents need to be ready to accept the additional attachment they have created. It needs to be complimentary, not competitive, or parental jealousy can be aroused. Because all family systems are value systems, best to . pick a nanny whose approach to care taking and discipline are consistent with parental values.

Sikaz:Would you describe your older child’s experience when the younger child was born?

Dr.Carl:Oldest child is only child for a while, used to receiving all the love, attention, and resources parents have to give. A second child means the first child becomes dethroned by this new siblingcompetition.Now parents can feel regretful that they can never again give child number one the total attention they once did, and they can never give child number two the preoccupation they lavished on child number one.The challenge is for parents to help child number one (and themselves) understand that divided parental attention does not mean diminished love, and that there is still enough love to go around for everyone.

Sikaz:How would you describe your typical day as a parent?

Dr.Carl:The typical parental day is a divided one — focusing on one’s own personal and worldly demands, and maintaining sufficient focus on the welfare of one’s children. When you are single life is simple: you think about yourself. When you marry, life gets more complex: now you also think about your partner and your relationship. When you have children, life gets still more complex: you have to manage self as person, self as partner, and now self as parent, and the social unit that is a family. With this complexity, pressure of responsibility and care taking is drastically increased.

Sikaz:What is your personal opinion about teenage parenting?

Dr.Carl:To become a teenage parent creates a role change, from child to parent of a child, that alters one’s life in an older direction at an early age. This change matures a young person compared to peers who continue to enjoy social freedoms that teen parenthood to some degree now limits or denies. To become a teenage parent grows you up with maturity and weighs you down with responsibility.

Sikaz:What do you think could be done to stop teenagers’ involvements in violence and hard drugs?

Dr.Carl:Drug use and violence can provide adolescents with an outlet for illicit freedom at a rebellious age when independence from traditional childhood restraints has become all important. Under the influence of substances or intense emotional arousal (or peer influence), the young person feels free to do the forbidden.The antidote to rebellion is challenge. Young people who have healthy interests and opportunities through which they can challenge themselves to grow stronger and more responsible in self-affirming ways are less susceptible to the temptations of drug use and group violence.

Sikaz:What are the causes of teenage disrespect and how could it be stopped?

Dr.Carl:Parents who are willing to take clear, calm, and committed stands for their teenager’s best interests, and are willing to talk about those stands, listen to the young person’s opinions, and credit his or her self-interest, are most likely to be respected by their adolescent. Coercive parents who shut all communication down for the sake of control, may gain compliance, but not respect because respect cannot be commanded. It must be earned by treating the adolescent with respect.

Sikaz:What is your advice for those who are planning to be parents one day?

Dr.Carl:If you are planning to be a parent, make sure you want the responsibility and are ready for the self-sacrifice. And if you have a spouse, be prepared for more pressure on the marriage. Finally, understand that parenting is one of the most challenging and rewarding life experiences there is.

Sikaz:What is your opinion about books, seminar and workshop on parenting?

Dr.Carl:Informed, thoughtful parenting beats ignorant, impulsive parenting. The more understanding parents have of themselves, of parenting, of child development (particularly during the adolescent years) the more adequate their decisions are likely to be.We live in an age of self-help books, seminars, groups, and workshops all of which can be both informative and supportive. Use them. Don’t go it alone.

Sikaz:Are parenting coaches relevant and helpful to parents?

Dr.Carl:Coaching is supportive, motivational, and strategic. In addition, parenting coaches need to know about the psychology of parenting, of child development, and particularly about the hard half of parenting, adolescence, that begins between ages 9 – 13, and doesn’t wind down until the early to mid twenties. Good parent coaches also need to be psychologically knowledgeable. When they are, they can be of significant help.

Sikaz:Some parents seem to be neglecting their parenting activities for their career, what is your opinion on this and its effects on the society at large?

Dr.Carl:As I describe in my book about adolescence, “The Connected Father,” it is particularly easy for fathers to ambitiously pursue career advancement at the expense of parenting involvement in the family, particularly during the more abrasive adolescent years. This can be a sad loss for everyone at home.However, times are changing. More fathers now want to be more involved in child raising and are investing more time and energy in family.For mothers, the career/at home conflict can be be painful because they still tend to be the more connected and committed parent.

Sikaz:Thank you doc,it’s been interesting interviewing you.

You can visit Dr.Carl Pickhardt at www.carlpickhardt.com

Being a parent is one of the most exciting thing
anyone can ever think about becoming.

Do you wonder why this should be so?

Well, being a parent entails a lot most especially
being in charge of another human being makes you feel
a sense of responsibility indeed.

You will always have the indescribable feeling that
those who are not parent can never feel. You are
attached to that baby all of the time even when you
think you are right there at your work place.

Everything abut your life revolve round the children,
if you are the type that is really interested in
what your children grow up to be in life, you can never
have enough time for yourself or the children.

So, how do you cope with being a parent then?

The following are ways to cope as a new parent who is
truly interested in making a success of being a parent
at the end of the day:

1. Read Books on Parenting: This is a fact that most
parents have neglected because they don’t seem to realize
the need for them. What l want you to know here is that
most of the books on parenting are well-researched and
are probably written by parenting coaches, parenting
experts, parents who have had practical parenting
experiences for many years.You’ll be tapping into the
results of many years of experiences as researchers or
as real parents who had passed through the process you
are about to go through as a new parent.

2. Seek Help from Experienced Parents: If you want to
succeed in parenting will urge you to seek the help of
experienced parents who could be your neighbours, work-
mates, friends church members, or relations. The people
have garnered a lot of practical experiences that you
can just get for free without feeling bad consulting them.

3. Be Ready To Spend Money: Being a parent would require
that you will be spending a lot of money taking charge
of the growth and well-being of your baby right from the
very day of conception in pregnancy. You should be ready
to go through that without hesitation because it isyour
responsibility which can’t be passed to another person.

4. Establish a Close Relationship with Your Partner: You
may not have thought about this as something you should be
worrying yourself with. However, it is an important aspect
of parenting you must think about.Your relationship with
the mother or father of your baby is very important in the
development of the child and its well-being. It’s been
proved that a home where the two parents are at peace with
each other will guarantee a balanced growth for the baby.

5. Get Additional Source of Revenue: You need to get some
other sources of revenue to be able to successfully cope
with being a parent in today’s world because there so many
things you need to spend your money on to get your child
where you desire that they should be.

Basically, these are five of the ways by which you can cope
with being a parent. You can see that they are practicable
and easy to do for those who truly desire to get their
parenting on the way to success.

Enjoy your parenting efforts.

Sikaz

As a mother you may be expending a lot of energy on your
kids to the extent that you don’t seem to be having enough
time for your husband.

Have you taken your time to study the situation around you
in recent time?

Is your husband satisfied with you even as you don’t seem
to be having enough time for him unlike you were doing before
the arrival of the kids?

Check your marital life occasionally to seem that nothing you are
doing to the kids is affecting your relationship with your husband.

I have experienced a situation that a father began to be jealous of
his own kids simply because their mother concentrated more of her
time to the nursing of the kids than the time she had for him.

I must warn you that you need to balance your time between the your
husband and your kids. If you can’t do this simple time management
then you better prepare yourself for the inevitable consequences at
the end of the day.

Your marriage should not suffer because your time is devoted much
more to your kid.

You must remember that your man was always there with you before
the coming of your kids and he would always be there with you when
the kids have grown and are ready to leave home to establish their
own families elsewhere.

Your future with your husband is only guaranteed now if you maintain
a loving relationship with him as you do with your kids.

The truth is that you can maintain that balance, if you really want to.
But not everybody can do so.

Give this a deep thought and see if you could work it out pretty good.

Enjoy your parenting efforts.
Sikaz.

Sikaz: Could you tell us your name, location and age?

Naomi: Naomi Aldort is the author of the highly acclaimed book, Raising Our Children, Raising Ourselves. advice by phone, in person Parents from around the globe seek Aldort’s and by listening to her CDs and attending her workshops. Her advice columns appear in progressive parenting worldwide and translated to German, French, Hebrew, Dutch, Japanese, Chinese,
Indonesian, Spanish, Japanese and more.

Naomi Aldort is married and a mother of three. Her youngest son is sixteen-year-old cellist Oliver Aldort www.OliverAldort.com Her middle son is nineteen year old composer and self made pianist Lennon Aldort www.LennonAldort.com and the oldest, Jonathan Aldort, is a fourth year student and a writer.

For free newsletter, information on teleclasses, phone sessions and
products: www.NaomiAldort.com or, www.AuthenticParent.com

Sikaz: What is your opinion about parenting; is it worth it?

Naomi: Every experience in life is a worthy one for the person who is passionate about it and chooses it freely. Parenting is a very deeply engaging path and possibly the most satisfying. It helps us mature by moving us from the go-getter to the go-giver. If one were not ready to let go and discover the joy of giving and of surrender, it would be too difficult. The joy of caring for the life of another is the greatest fulfillment.

Sikaz: What is your opinion about breastfeeding?

Naomi: Breastfeeding needs no opinion. It is nature’s design for optimal growth, emotional wellbeing and intelligence. Every baby deserves to be breastfed on cue around the clock for as long as she wants, which is usually a few years. It boosts immunity, intelligence and optimal growth and development as well as secures emotional connection. For the mother is ensures that she bonds and stays physically close at all times.

Sikaz: What are the challenges of working and breastfeeding your baby?

Naomi: I do not recommend working and mothering unless the baby can be
with mother at all times and she is free to connect, care, relate and breastfeed. Babies need constant body contact with mother. Working mothers call me often for advice because their toddler or young child is being difficult. As soon as they stop working the difficulties vanish. The child
does not need money or things money can buy. The child simply needs her mother. I would live in a tent and sell my clothes to be with my child. Create a community, share housing, resources, and activities, and you won’t need to work away from your baby or young child.

Sikaz: What are the things one should look out for while choosing a nanny?

Naomi: Look for a loving person who is willing to learn and follow the mother and father’s ideas of parenting. Her own ideas might clash with what parents prefer for the child. She should read the same parenting books the parents choose.

Many of my clients give my book, Raising Our Children, Raising Ourselves, and some of  my CDs, to a new nanny and even bring her to their phone advice with me.A nanny should be with a child while the mother is close by, accomplishing something, but available if needed. Nanny should help the mother and, most of the time, not replace her.

Sikaz: Would you describe your older child’s experience when the younger child was born?

Naomi: My oldest son was present at his brothers’ births. He was very excited and loving when our middle child was born. Then, at the birth of our third child (also at home) my second child declared at the moment of birth: “The baby came out!” He was three and spent the birthing time jumping up and down near me, very happy and caring. My oldest, then seven, was the one who cut the umbilical chord. He was very involved and helpful. Both boys were enchanted by the baby. Now, as young adults and one teenager, they are best of friends.

Sikaz: How would you describe your typical day as a parent?

Naomi: In parenting that honors the children’s inner guide, there is no “typical.” Each day is different. Many hours of breastfeeding, feeding, caring, hugging and snuggling; taking walks to the playground and watching the children play or listening to them and drying their tears. The children led the way by their interests, passions, joys and struggles. I followed by leading the way to where they chose to go, play or study. Often they played all day, needing me for food, breastfeeding and physical care only. Other days I was engaged all day with reading, hiking, singing, solving disputes, dancing or watching their “shows.”

My book, Raising Our Children, Raising Ourselves, has many examples of the lives of parents and children, demonstrating how to bring peace, joy and contentment to every challenge: http://naomialdort.com/book.html. In addition, many of my personal parenting stories and those of parents participating in my workshops and phone sessions are available to listen to on CDs, which you can purchase here: http://naomialdort.com/audio-video.html

Sikaz: What is your personal opinion about teenage parenting?

Naomi: By the time the child is a teenager, it is time to let go and trust. It
is crucial to respect teens, allow them space to find who they are and to connect with society, while keeping close bond of care, interest and support. They become best of friends and seek our guidance, if we stay open, honest and respectful. A couple of the stories in the book are about teenagers and answer this question fully. http://naomialdort.com/book.html

Sikaz: What do you think could be done to stop teenagers’ involvements in violence and hard drugs?

Naomi: When children are cared for the way they need through their early years, they are content as teenagers and are busy making friends and becoming adults. Such happy teenagers do not engage in violence or drugs. Violence and drugs are the result of dissatisfaction and emotional pain. Therefore the answer is to heal their pain with love, understanding and meeting their true needs to belong, to connect and to feel valued and unconditionally loved.

You are welcome to another interview.

Lorraine Esposito is the author of a fast selling parenting book:
“The Morning Peacemaker,How to Get Your Kids Out the
Door on Time without Saying (nagging) A Word”.The book is the result of 10 years research and hands-on experience and has received endorsements and praise from the medical community.

Lorraine was raised in the rural mid-west of the U.S.A. Her belief in unlimited possibilities transformed poverty and obesity into wealth in all areas of her life.

Lorraine is open and genuine with an intuitive ability to see the solutions to problems. Her energy and wit are magnetic making her a dynamic and captivating speaker.

Happy reading…

Sikaz: What are the causes of teenage disrespect and how could it be stopped?

Lorraine: Disrespectfulness does not suddenly appear when a child hits the teenage years; it just seems that way. If you think about a disrespectful comment from a teen, for example telling you that he or she thinks your limits regarding the Internet are stupid,  it only seems like a big disrespect because the issues and language around this topic are serious and mature.

A whole lot of trouble awaits an unsuspecting teen on the Internet and so the issue is serious. Your teen’s courage to stand up to your authority, set boundaries of her own, and demand to have a voice in her freedom are signs of budding maturity. However, if you think back to an earlier time, you’ll find the same “disrespect” but back then the issues weren’t serious and your child had less maturity.

For example, remember a time when your child was, say five years old, I’m sure there were times you set limits on activities that weren’t always agreeable to her. When she was five years old her response might have been to cry, whine, or to even throw a temper-tantrum. We don’t see those expressions as so much disrespect, but rather tend to chock them off to bratty behavior. I believe the two instances are really the same but only packaged differently.