All posts by Sara Dimerman (aka HelpMeSara)

  • Why Preschoolers Are In So Much Trouble

    On Facebook, someone posted a video of a mother feeding her infant child. You may wonder what’s so special about that. Well, in this video, the mother, with her toddler alongside her, was spoon feeding her infant...

    • Posted December 15, 2017
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  • Adjusting to a new school year

    Adjust or bust. Or so it feels for millions of students (and teachers) who have either returned or are beginning classes for the first time, maybe even in a new school. Our home (and the people in...

    • Posted October 18, 2017
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  • Five tips towards living happily ever after under the same roof

    After almost three decades of helping families negotiate ways of living happily ever after under the same roof, I’ve found myself offering the same five tips over and over again. I’d like to share them with you...

    • Posted July 27, 2017
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  • Beating boredom

    By this time of year, even parents are looking forward to a break from school –getting up early to make  lunches, driving to and from extra curricular activities and dealing with homework hassles. However, we also know...

    • Posted June 21, 2017
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  • You’re not the boss of me!

    A five-year-old stands, arms folded across her chest, in the centre of the living room. It’s 8:30pm and she’s been told that it’s time to turn the television off and get ready for bed. “You’re not the...

    • Posted June 12, 2017
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  • May is for Mothers

    It was only after my mom passed away almost three years ago that I realized that Mother’s Day was for me too. Up until then, my focus was on celebrating the day with her. Not that I...

    • Posted May 11, 2017
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  • Is your Work Spouse working for you?

    A couple of weeks ago I was invited to be a guest on a radio show about work spouses. At first glance I thought that the topic was related to spouses who work together, which can lead...

    • Posted April 12, 2017
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  • Setting limits with data and beyond

    Ever feel like you spend half your time managing other family members’ behaviour, especially when it has to do with technology? Up until recently, every month, as the days drew closer to the end of our cell...

    • Posted February 14, 2017
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  • How To Raise A financially Literate Family

    Download How to Raise a Financially Literate Family. In this podcast, Sara Dimerman chats with Laura Plant, Director of Student Banking at RBC. Over the course of this episode, you will learn more about: What financial literacy...

    • Posted February 13, 2017
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  • Is your child an Olympic hopeful?

    “HOW IS A PARENT TO KNOW THAT HER CHLD’S GOAL IS REALISTIC? I can’t imagine that any parent would discourage their young child from following his dreams, no matter how lofty. However, as any parent of an...

    • Posted October 3, 2016
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  • Saying goodbye to Summer

    There’s typically a feeling of impending change in the air this time of year. For students, autumn means saying goodbye to the long awaited summer months often devoted to de stressing, catching up on sleep and socializing....

    • Posted October 1, 2016
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  • 10 questions to help figure out whether you want to stay committed for life

    Brenda (not her real name of course) wasn’t the first client to ask me for advice about how to figure out whether she loved her spouse enough to spend the rest of her life with him. For...

    • Posted June 16, 2016
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  • Meaningful and Mindful 2016

    The end of a year and beginning of the next is often a time for reflection. Time to consider both good and bad from the year that’s been and to plan for changes and good intentions for...

    • Posted January 10, 2016
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  • Is Your Child A Pushover?

    A mom recently shared her concern with me about her child being a “pushover”. She said that even though she was just seven years old, that she was already seeing her daughter as more of a follower...

    • Posted November 21, 2015
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  • Setting loving limits for our children… and seeing them through

    As adults, we live with limits every day. When we drive, we are required to follow specific speed limits. If we don’t conform to this, there may be consequences such as being given a speeding ticket and...

    • Posted September 7, 2015
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  • Are you childless by choice or by chance?

    If you – or someone you know – are childless, by choice or by chance, you may want to check out www.thenotmom.com website which celebrates women living a child free lifestyle and provides information about a notmom...

    • Posted July 10, 2015
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  • Taking flight: Helping a teen find her wings

    When our 15 year old daughter mentioned that the French department at her high school was giving any student enrolled in French the opportunity to go on a week long trip to Paris, and that she would...

    • Posted June 8, 2015
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  • Self Esteem

    Many of us were raised by parents who felt that children should be seen but not heard. They may have believed that if we were encouraged to stand in the spotlight, the attention would go to our...

    • Posted May 11, 2015
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  • Sex. It’s a topic I’ve become increasingly comfortable bantering about – especially since the writing and release of my latest book on the topic of why married couples don’t have sex. As a result, I have spent...

    • Posted April 9, 2015
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  • ”Even healthy marriages are vulnerable to infidelity,”

    warns noted psychologist, parenting expert, author and relationship counselor Sara Dimerman at a seminar she gave last week entitled ‘Married Sex- How to fan the fizzling flame!’ She penned a new book dedicated to couples who want...

    • Posted March 9, 2015
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  • Do I have your consent?

    Consent. It’s a word we’re hearing more often these days. It started gathering momentum shortly after we got wind of a Toronto radio host being accused of involving unwilling participants in sexual acts. Acts that were apparently...

    • Posted January 22, 2015
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  • New Year’s Eve

    Ours was a different kind of New Year’s Eve. For the first time in 23 years (Talia was only a few months old at the time), we ushered in the New Year without our children. Chloe wasn’t...

    • Posted December 31, 2014
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  • Preparing for your child’s surgery

    Planning ahead made a huge difference in her readiness for surgery and ours too. So, I thought I’d share some of what we did with you, in case you ever need to know how to prepare your...

    • Posted December 17, 2014
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  • How to share shocking news

    Each month, Paul and Carol Mott of themotts.ca and hosts of a morning radio show invite me on as their resident Psychologist to dispense advice to their listeners. However, a couple of weeks ago, Carol wrote looking...

    • Posted November 10, 2014
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  • Are ‘no photo’ policies necessary to protect kids?

    I came across an article in a daily national newspaper about a day care that the writer, Leah McLaren, had recently visited and their ‘no photo’ policy. This means that neither staff nor parents are allowed to...

    • Posted October 9, 2014
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  • Gender Neutral Parenting

    Have you heard of GNP? No, not Gross National Product but Gender Neutral Parenting. For most, the decision to adopt a gender neutral approach to parenting comes out the belief that we treat and have a different...

    • Posted September 10, 2014
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  • Does Your Summer Spell Break?

    Now that all students have finished school, summer break can officially begin… For some, this signals the beginning of overnight camp with barely enough time to catch one’s breath between school ending and boarding the camp bound...

    • Posted August 9, 2014
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  • Awkward moments… and how to handle them

    emember the time you loaned a neighbour your ladder but had to bug him to return it? Or the time you were out at a restaurant with friends who ordered two bottles of wine and then just...

    • Posted April 7, 2014
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  • Is it ok to pull your child out of school to travel?

    don’t believe I am alone in saying that one of the things I like least about travel are airports – especially during peak periods when students and their families flock South to escape the cold of Winter....

    • Posted March 10, 2014
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  • Helping with homework: when does help become a hindrance?

    was an independent, motivated student and so my parents never felt the need to watch over me to make sure my school work was done. They trusted that I knew what I was doing and so long...

    • Posted February 12, 2014
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