Do you cringe watching your kids struggle and fail?  It can be heartbreaking to witness our kids' disappointment or embarrassment when they try something and it doesn't turn out as they had hoped. 

Theoretically, we know that our kids have to struggle and fail at times.  We know that’s how they develop resilience and inner strength — but it doesn’t make it any easier to witness and our...

Have you ever stopped to think about what you’re reflecting back to your kids?  In my past few articles I’ve been talking about self-esteem and how developing a healthy self-esteem helps kids become more confident and better equipped to handle the ups and downs in life.  I shared where to start when helping kids build self-esteem and three things to start and stop doing to help kids build...

As parents, we want our kids to have healthy self-esteem, but what can we do to help foster and build self-esteem in our kids?  

Self-esteem is a tricky subject for many parents.  Our first instincts are typically to praise their achievements, help them through challenging situations by sharing different ideas on how they can best handle them, and tell them how we want them to think and feel about...

Do you know where to start if you want to help your child build their self-esteem?

Most parents know that helping kids develop healthy self-esteem is important, but if you’re like I was — you are so busy just keeping up with life and raising kids that you never really put much thought into the impact of self-esteem and how you can help your child build healthy self-esteem.

I bring this up because...

Do you worry about what other people think of you as a parent?  Do you need other people to think of you as a good parent, for you to feel like you’re doing a good job?  I ask this because that was me.  I was not a confident parent, but I had a child who was born naturally confident — and I learned a lot from her.

 My daughter was born strong-willed, and she figured out a way to express...

When your child “misbehaves”, do you think they’re being disrespectful?  As parents, we all take pride when other people tell us that our children are great kids…  and that they are so well-behaved.  It makes us feel good, and we tend to make that mean that we’ve done a good job as a parent.  But what about when they “misbehave”?  

I was coaching...

Do you get triggered when your child misbehaves?  I know that I often did when my children were little.  In my mind, they always seemed to pick the worst times to not listen and not do what they were “supposed” to.  That’s when I would go into command and demand mode.

Unfortunately, at the time I didn’t know how my children’s brains were developing and what their...

As we kick off a new year, have you taken any time to review the prior year, what you’ve accomplished, and what you’re proud of?  Personally, I love this time of year.  I love to review where we were a year ago and how much has changed — and I love to ponder and get intentional about planning for what we want in the upcoming year.  

I invite you to join me and take a few minutes to...

Every year at the holidays, do you struggle to squeeze in as much as you can, wanting to create the best memories possible for your kids?  In the process, do you miss out on the Joy of the Season because you are running around trying to get everything done?

Trust me - I get it!  For so many years that was me!  I was so busy with holiday cards and gifts for everyone for both home and work, baking cookies...

It’s the time of the year when there are lots of family gatherings and lots of opportunities for your relatives to observe you parenting your children.  As parents, we always want to be proud of our kids, so we have lots of expectations that our children will behave a certain way at family gatherings.

Unfortunately, family gatherings also typically mean that our kids get overstimulated and jacked up on...

Do you have a child who is really good at pushing your buttons and getting a reaction from you?  They might be the type that gets easily frustrated, which has you walking on eggshells or bending over backward to support and make things okay for them — or maybe they’re strong willed and prefer to do things their way.

Power struggles happen with all different types of kids at all different ages.

I...

Do you have a child that really pushes your buttons?  Let’s face it, most of our kids know what bothers you, your spouse, and their siblings.  They know if a comment, rolling their eyes, or just looking at their sister is going to evoke a reaction — and yes, sometimes they do it on purpose, but it’s typically not for the reasons you would think.

Kids can push buttons to evoke a reaction from...