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 …
3 Myths About Raising Successful Children
Many parents worry whether their children will be successful. One reason this is such a common concern is because we each have our own unique definition of success. Some adults recognize it as a prestigious job, family, status or possessions such as homes, cars and jewelry. Others use less tangible …
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 …
Messages To Our Children
We give our children verbal and non verbal messages about themselves; their value, their abilities and the world in which they live. Are you aware of the messages you are giving to your children? Are they the messages you want to give? If you would like some support on …
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 …
Love and Accept Them
Whenever I meet someone who is creative, artistic, or moving through life to the beat of a somewhat different drum, I wonder what it was like to be that person’s mother. Just in case you are, indeed, the parent of a child who might experience the world a bit differently …
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 …
Yes, Noah, Yes!
Tomorrow is the last day of school in my lovely, southern California town. I took my dog for his morning walk and as we turned the corner there was a pleasant cacophony of sounds coming from the dozens of children who had permission to spread out from their elementary school …
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 …
The Gift of Understanding
Have you ever savored a moment when you were understood and appreciated as a unique and precious human being? Do you remember how pleasant it felt not to have to please anyone or complete a task and just rejoice in the freedom of being yourself? With all the pressures of …
Lit With Joy
I can’t get this question out of my mind: “When your children walk into the room do your eyes light up with joy?” I work with so many parents and grandparents who search for ways to enrich their children’s self esteem. I usually suggest they stop noticing what the kids …
Ten Successful People Who Struggled In School
As the new school year quickly approaches many parents feel a knot in their stomach as they begin to worry about the challenges their kids will face. While many successful people were top students, there are famous intelligent, creative folks who struggled with the demands of school. They became some …
Love or Fear
As parents we know how it feels to love our children and to also worry about them. I have learned, however, that while we can experience sensing the feelings of love and fear we cannot live in both at the same time. What does this actually mean? It translates in …
- Page 1 of 2
- 1
- 2