We are hearing the terms “emotional regulation”, and “co-regulation” more often in child development, parenting circles, and from pediatricians — but do you really know what they mean and why they’re important?  

According to Psychology Today, emotional regulation is the ability to exert control over one’s own emotional state. This can include rethinking a challenging...

When you’re getting ready for a trip, do you take the time to plan out what to bring with you and what you’re going to do?  

When my kids were little, we often took them to the beach.  We would get all packed up, and invariably once we were there I would have forgotten something — a garbage bag, the sunblock stick for the nose, the baby powder to get the sand off the kids before a fresh...

As a parent, how do you handle your child’s big feelings that lead to unwanted behavior?  When your child is not behaving as you would like, do you get frustrated and start focusing on getting them to STOP?

It seems like the logical answer.  That’s what I did when my children were little and what many parents do today.  Because let’s face it, unwanted behavior from our kids can...

Before you had kids, did you imagine what kind of parent you would be?  

Years ago (before I had children), I read a story about a boy that tried to pour himself a glass of milk from a pitcher.  The pitcher was too heavy, so he ended up spilling the milk all over the kitchen floor.  Instead of being upset, his mother took the time to work with him, filling the pitcher to different levels and then...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...