As you get closer to the end of the year, have you started to reflect back on 2022 and think about what you want for 2023?  Personally, I love this time of year.  The holidays are over, and the world slows down for a few days before we officially ring in the new year.  I find it a great time to reflect and center ourselves again, and get intentional about planning for what we want in the upcoming year.  

I invite you to ...

Does your list get longer as the big holiday gets closer?  Almost everyone I talk to these days has a glazed-over look on their face as the list of everything they have to get done seems so long and daunting.  I won’t lie, the holidays snuck up on me this year, and my own list seems daunting.  I needed to generate my own support and encouragement to get myself through this next week, so I decided to share what I’m doing w...

With all of the marketing going on for the Holiday season, do you get concerned about keeping your kids grateful and grounded?  This is a question that I commonly hear from parents this time of year, and my response is to teach children about gifts from the heart, and how to increase gratitude.

Most of us associate “gifts” with something that we buy for someone else.  We think of a present as a physical gift wrapped up w...

As a parent, when your child is being unkind or exhibiting other unwanted behaviors is your first instinct to correct their behavior?  Big feelings can bring about a host of unwanted behaviors in our kids and trigger a number of responses from us.  As parents we want our kids to be kind and happy — and when they’re not, we can think that something has gone wrong or that we’ve done something wrong.  This leads us to try to...

Does your child struggle with BIG feelings and are their emotions all-consuming?   Are your child's emotions unpredictable, keeping you on edge because you're not sure how to parent through it or what to do? You are not alone.  Parenting kids through big feelings can be hard and scary.  Many parents find it either maddening or anxiety-provoking — and some parents find it a mixture of both and more.

I have parents telling...

Given that we’re in the season of gratitude, we tend to talk and think more about what we are grateful for — and given that gratitude is associated with increased levels of happiness it’s no wonder that this can be more of a “feel-good” time of year.  This time of year also has many parents asking how they can raise more grateful kids, especially as the holiday marketing season ramps up.

So how do we weave gratitude into...

When your kids challenge you, do you find that you tend to think of them as difficult, defiant, or strong-willed?  Our kids seem to challenge us at all the most inconvenient times, when we have the most going on and the least bandwidth.  When this happens our thoughts tend to go down the path of I don’t have time for this right now, and why can’t they just do what I need them to do for once?

We think that if our kids lis...

When you look at all the things on your list that you’re juggling, and the list of things you want to get done, do you ever stop to think about what you’re doing it all for?   Sometimes we get so caught up in the list of things we think we should be doing, that we forget WHY we're doing it to begin with.  Keeping the end goal in mind can help.

When my kids were little, I always really struggled with overwhelm during the ...

Is overwhelm as much a problem for you as it is for the parents I work with?  My clients tell me they’re tapped out, at the end of their rope, and it feels like one more straw will break the camel’s back.  They are struggling to keep up with everything — homework, activities, the emotional ups and downs — and it’s all so overwhelming.

Please know that I have walked in your shoes and I totally understand.  I remember the ...

When I ask my clients what top feelings they experience most often, “overwhelmed” is almost always on the list.  Given all the activities and school work for our kids added to our own responsibilities — as well as emotionally supporting our kids in navigating today’s social landscape — it’s no wonder that parents are overwhelmed!

I was having a discussion with a client recently.  She mentioned that she had recommended me...

Do you often find yourself in a battle of wills with your kids and wish they would cooperate more easily?  When this happens I hear parents describing their kids as stubborn, difficult, obstinate, or even defiant.  They tell me that their kids know better and that they don’t understand why their kids don’t simply do what they’re supposed to.  These parents are usually frustrated, and at the end of their rope.

I understan...

Does the thought of holding a boundary make you feel mean or insensitive?  Do you find yourself holding boundaries from a place of anger or punishment?  If either of these is true for you, then you’re not using boundaries effectively and not getting the results you want with your kids.

In my last article, I reviewed three reasons why boundaries are important for kids: They help kids feel safe and secure, they help kids d...