Creating connection everyday is important to healthy development and for creating harmony at home. By working on connection we are sharing experiences, emotions, creating memories and deepening the bond that keeps us working well together.
The ability to have choices over our own life is at the core of our well-being.
When we give our children choices we are letting them know “I trust you and your ability to choose well”. Do we have to be smart about the choices we give our children? Absolutely! But go ahead, trust and give choices, it’s a great way to raise confident and competent children.
Fostering peaceful and lasting childhood memories. Written by Rachel When you think back to your childhood, what do you remember
It’s beyond unfortunate to see so many people cheering on the shame and the humiliation that so many parents are freely dishing out. It’s human nature to instinctively want to fit in with others and behavior is incredibly contagious…Shame and humiliation teach shame and humiliation. On the other hand, kindness begets kindness, respect brings about respect.
Science experiments can be a wonderful way for children to learn, not only about science but also about working as a team, developing patience and following directions. Science experiments are also wonderful for boosting cognitive flexibility, focus and curiosity.The following two experiments are fairly simple but full fun and learning:
From adventurous, to predictable to downright picky, children have many many styles of eating. While some parents are quick to
In an attempt to prevent a scene, parents use all the tricks to coerce their child in to following their instructions. They bribe and barter, they punish and threaten, or perhaps they simply whisper quietly and tell them “You’re okay,there’s no need to cry.” Sometimes these tricks work, though often what materialises is an even bigger outburst, either there and then, or saved up ready to be released in an explosion at a later time.
By choosing non-punitive or positive parenting ways I did give up control (or the illusion of control really) but I gained this incredible sense of family harmony, of connection, of so much joy. No we don’t always get it right, and it’s not always smooth sailing, but none of us are afraid to say sorry, take a huge breath, start over or try again. The best part is that much more than public questioning or tsk tsking that the other mom warned about, to my surprise I often hear awesome comments and see frowns turn into smiles.
Creating and using family rules can be a positive and family oriented activity. Family rules do not need to be a long exhausting list of “can’t dos” to be effective either. Here are some ideas to consider when writing up family rules:
It takes a lot more finesse and attention to help create safety in the exploration than it does to simply shut it down. Making mistakes with livable consequences are great ways to learn. The bummer about shutting down all crazy explorations is that kids will lose their own internal sense of how to create safety within the adventure