Joint Attention
Joint attention means BOTH of you know you’re talking about the same thing and are actively sharing the experience. Repeat the word a minimum of 5 times during the interaction.
How Comfortable Are You With Your Child Taking Risks?
Earlier today, I asked you to voice your opinion on whether or not you would allow certain behaviors. If you didn’t get a chance to share or see how other fellow parents weighed in please visit my stories after this post. Risky childhood behavior can be a tricky topic because there is a fine line between true danger and risk.
Boundaries With Kids
Boundaries help us differentiate between ourselves and others. It’s as if we have an invisible shield of energy surrounding us. This shield helps us conserve our energy and keep other’s energy from depleting ours.
3 Tips For Supporting a Child Through Anxiety
1. Check your own energy. If their anxiety is making you anxious, it will only compound the experience for them.
Having Child Development Knowledge
Don’t you wish you suddenly had all the child development knowledge you needed the second you became a parent? With over a decade of experience working with families, a child development degree, and a master’s in early childhood, I genuinely thought I had this thing in the bag.
Our Children's Abilities
We're always so hyper-concerned with making sure our children can memorize the alphabet, recognize letters and numbers, count to 100, name shapes, and identify colors. The funny thing is... by doing this, we're totally underestimating our children's abilities.
Power of the Basics
Don't underestimate the power of the basics! When I first discovered Human Design I thought that the fastest track to living my design was knowing ALL.THE.THINGS. I can't pinpoint exactly when, but I had a major wake up call when someone asked me if I could explain my design to them and I literally went blank.
Sleeping Training (Part 3)
Much of the harm is unmeasurable. If we are thinking about emotional outcomes, such as anxiety, depression, ability to cope with stress, trauma etc., these are outcomes that are not directly tangible or easily observable. These issues may also take years and years to surface, and would require long term studies to evaluate whether sleep training methods played a role.
Sleep Training (Part 2)
If you know anything about appraising research, you probably know you can find research to support any opinion or position. It’s important to take a look at the design: the methods, the outcomes being measured, any biases to determine whether there are flaws in the study. Yes, you will find some studies that support the use of CIO techniques for infants.
Sleep Training (Part 1)
A common response I get to speaking out against CIO or withdrawal type sleep training methods is, “Show me proof that sleep training is harmful.” While I’m happy to share research that I stumble across, I feel like we sometimes think too simplistically about this issue, and I want to start a several part series explaining some of the problems I have with the current research and parenting paradigms.
A Toddler's Feelings About the New Baby
It's completely 1000% natural for your toddler to have HUGE feelings about new baby. Your toddler has been the STAR of his or her whole life span!
Let's Make Girls Feel Valued For WHO They Are
When girls receive positive comments mostly for their looks, they learn to prioritize appearances over internal strength and personal growth. I want my daughters to feel confident in their strength, their unique quirks, their kind souls, and their outside-the-norm minds. These qualities make a difference in the end, not a cute dress.