Insights from an Early Childhood Teacher Be aware of your own anxiety. Your sensitive child will pick up on it. Keep your own schedule as relaxed as possible leading up to and first few weeks of school. Connect with your child’s teacher and ask if it is possible to arrange …
You don’t need to have “the talk”
My father-in-law gave my husband profound advice instead of ‘the talk.’ He told his son to go to the playground and the other kids would give him answers to any questions he had. And that’s how the father of my children learned about sex. I asked my adult kids if …
7 Traits of Highly Sensitive People
Recently I discovered that I am a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP), possessing an “innate sensitiveness” as Carl Jung originally coined it. In 1996, Dr. Elaine Aron’s groundbreaking work confirmed that 15-20% of the population has this trait of high sensory processing. The work of Dr. Ted Zeff explores how the …
Intentional Parenting
What is Intentional Parenting? It is acting with knowledge and purpose, ensuring that young children acquire the social, emotional and cognitive skills needed to succeed in school and in life. Intentional Parenting goes beyond love. You can love your children and still create an environment of chaos, disorder, mistrust, shame …
7 Ways to Enrich Your Children’s Self-Esteem
1. WORK ON YOUR OWN SELF-ESTEEM: It is hard to give our children what we do not have ourselves. Our words do not teach. It is what you model and children experience that become their truth. 2. TAKE YOUR ATTENTION AWAY FROM THE STUFF THAT ANNOYS OR WORRIES YOU: …
The Illusion of Power
Each of us experiences thoughts and emotions that trigger us to disconnect from our sense of balance and clarity. Most parents believe that it is their children’s behavior that is responsible for the way they think and feel. This illusion gives all the power for our happiness over to our …
Kindness Must Be Modeled
There is a Chinese proverb that suggests this thought: “Peace in the world begins with peace in our homes. Peace in our homes begins with peace in our hearts.” It is part of a parent’s duty to be a role model for their children. If we want our children to …
Words Do Not Teach
This weekend I had the privilege of meeting an amazing dad. Our chance interchange happened as I was walking through the booths of a local photography exhibit. I stopped to admire some photos and the man started to tell me about his work. He said he had always loved …
Giving Away Our Power
“If only the kids would act differently, I’d feel better.” We also think, “If only my partner, my friend, my sibling, my parent, my boss, my president would act differently I would feel better.” Whenever we turn our well being over to the actions of someone else we have given …
10 Best Practices for Encouraging Positive Behavior
1. Set up consistent, predictable routines. Be careful not to confuse this with being rigid. You are aiming for a safe and nurturing environment where children know what to expect. 2. Have clear, consistent, age appropriate expectations. Children will push, test and manipulate when boundaries are inconsistent or …
We Are The Role Models
In recent days there have been many reactions to a mom who blogged that her family was ‘canceling Christmas’ because her children’s recent behavior was disrespectful and entitled. During an interview with “Good Morning America” the children agreed that they were hitting, fighting and even having tantrums and when asked …
Perspective
Most disagreements and misunderstandings come from different perspectives. We each experience life through our own unique filtering system and what appears to be absolute truth to one person may take on a totally different view to someone else. It is only natural that we will have different points of view. …
5 Tips to Help Children Master Self-control
What do impulsivity, self-discipline and willpower have in common? They often require a conscious decision to delay gratification and for many people, that is a real challenge. Here are five strategies you can begin practicing immediately that can help your children experience success with delayed gratification: 1. Make Waiting …
The Remedy for “TGF” (Taken for Granted)
Ah; how many times has a parent felt taken for granted? Children seem to just expect that laundry will be done, food will be prepared, they will be chauffeured to activities and the ‘stuff’ of daily living will be taken care of…. The remedy for TFG is awareness, consciousness and …
Is Your Child An Empath?
Children who are labeled as ‘highly sensitive,’ ‘intense reactors,’ or ‘overly emotional,’ may actually be empaths. Parents who have never experienced what it feels like to take in the overload of energy that constantly surrounds us are likely to misunderstand their empathic child’s behavior. In the same way that we …
Who We Be
Powerful parenting is not about what we ‘do’~ but who we ‘be.’ Since humans are not machines, the answers to children’s behavior do not come from a manual with specific instructions. We are human be-ings and our parenting genius must come from learning how to be: be-coming our own authentic …
Our Inner Little Girl
We still carry our little girls around inside of us and our physical, emotional and spiritual history sometimes gets in the way of being the mother we dreamed of being. Moms are just little girls who grew into a bigger body. Becoming a mom is a rite of passage that …
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