Parenting Your Child through Big Emotions Can be Challenging. “You’re disappointed with my decision,” you say empathetically. “Yeah! It’s not fair! Everyone else gets to go…except me!” your child yells back. You extend your arms as a peace offering, attempting to connect through this difficult situation. Glaring at you, yelling, “This is the worst day ever!”… Continue Reading
How To Stop Back Talk From Toddlers to Tweens using positive parenting tools “May I please have two extra minutes to try and get across? I am just so close. If I can’t do it in two minutes, I will jump off, no matter what. Deal?” My son was referring to the monkey bars and… Continue Reading
Your son is on the floor, arms and legs flailing. Crying and screaming at the top of his lungs. He’s been like this for 10 minutes already. If you could read his mind in this moment, he might be thinking, “Mom! Please help me! I’m feeling so disappointed. I want to stop crying, but I… Continue Reading
Sometimes, our kids come to us with big problems. Big worries. Big confessions or difficult questions. In a perfect world, we would have all of the answers. We’d know exactly how to respond and we’d say it with the ideal inflection and corresponding body language. But, in reality, big topics often turn into disastrous conversations… Continue Reading
If your child isn’t very chatty, I encourage you to ask just a few questions at a time. We have also sometimes taken these questions and placed them into a jar for family meal conversations starters too. Continue Reading
How often do you use the word ‘don’t’ to stop unwanted behaviour in your children? Does it actually work? Most parents say it does not. When I first became aware of the little impact this word has, it threw me. I had no idea how often I was using it, and how often it left… Continue Reading
When done well, brainstorming can create an atmosphere of cooperation in your home. It teaches kids to think critically about problems, consider the thoughts and feelings of others, and to explore a variety of solutions. Even at a young age, kids can create fantastic solutions to everyday problems and challenges if we give them the… Continue Reading
How to discipline children in a way that is positive and effective without using bribes, threats or rewards. Getting children to cooperate can be tricky at times. Especially when you have more than one child and busy schedules. It’s not unusual to turn to quick fixes like threats and bribes to get children to listen… Continue Reading
Moving house, starting a new school, the birth of a sibling or any other changes and transitions can be very challenging for some children. Change can bring on tears, fears, anxiety, worry and even “misbehaviors” or “acting out.” While parents often see the importance of helping their children through big transitions, such as the birth of a… Continue Reading
I’ve tried it all! I’ve done gold star rewards. I have tried fun prizes as bribes. We’ve done fun fuzzy pom-pom jars. And lots of yelling. Begging. Taking away screens, sweets and toys. Everything works for about two days. if I’m lucky a week. And then we are back to square one. I’m tired. And my kids… Continue Reading