Play Fighting Teaches Empathy and Resilience
Play fighting teaches empathy and resilience. It’s the opposite of what many parents think will happen.
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A Habit That Damages Your Child’s Confidence
This parenting practice damages your child’s confidence, even though it seems helpful and supportive at first glance. In this video, I share one of the parenting practices that’s potentially most damaging, partly because it’s so subtle and seems like “good parenting”. I share a story from my own parenting experience–and just to put it in …
Have I Caused My Child’s Anxiety? Steps to Healing and Repair
“Have I caused my child’s anxiety?” Sometimes the more we learn as parents, the more daunting our parenting job feels. Practical steps to healing and repair.
A Little More Irritable Over the Holidays? Here’s Some Inspiration
A little more irritable over the holidays? Today I have a short note that I hope inspires you, especially if you find that the holiday season tries your patience. (You’ll need to read right to the end for the inspiration). It’s a busy time of year for many, and a time when parents sometimes have …
How to stop overreacting to your child
When the reaction happens so quickly that you can’t stop yourself–it’s an implicit memory that’s running the show in your nervous system.
Peaceful Parenting: Truths and Misconceptions
Like many parents, having a child was life changing for me, and I aspired to use a peaceful parenting approach. I felt deeply blessed and wanted to honor that by connecting with my child and preventing emotionally wounding him. I had my own childhood wounds, and I was determined to have a close relationship with …
A Key to Conscious Parenting
We know from the conscious parenting literature, including that of Dr. Shefali Tsabary, that our children arrive in this world as unique individuals with their unique life path. If we pay attention to the triggers they prompt in us and focus on healing our own past wounds, we’ll learn important transformative life lessons from them …
What to Say to Your Kids to Build Empathy and Confidence
Many of the words that were considered acceptable for describing kids’ behavior in the 1970s and ’80s are now recognized as judgmental or damaging to self-esteem. They teach our kids to be hard on themselves and cause anxiety rather than confidence. If we want to raise empathetic kids who remain open-hearted, we need to be …
Raise a Resilient Child: When your sensitive child is anxious, easily discouraged, or unmotivated
How do you raise a resilient child when your sensitive child is anxious, easily discouraged, or not very motivated? I hear the following from many parents I work with: “I’m worried that if I let my child “get away” with behavior–such as being unmotivated, trying to get out of things, getting easily discouraged, or whining …
Setting Limits With Your Highly Sensitive Child
Setting limits with your highly sensitive child can be hard. Often parents who are HSP and empathic, and grew up in authoritarian (or otherwise emotionally disconnected homes), have a hard time setting boundaries. This is especially true when they’re trying to learn connected parenting, and want to have a strong bond with their child. I …
