Do you ever stop to think that it might be a good thing when your child challenges you?  My daughter was particularly strong willed as a child and did not always cooperate easily.  To be completely honest, I did not think that it was a good thing at the time.  I wanted her to listen and cooperate more often, but she truly had a mind of her own.

The battles I remember most were over her clothes, 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...

As parents, we want to teach our kids appropriate behaviors to help them best navigate through life, but what’s the best way to go about correcting our kids for hitting, yelling, or throwing a fit when they don’t get their way?    These types of behaviors can trigger us as parents, and we may respond by putting our kids in a timeout, taking away privileges, or yelling and throwing a fit...

Is your child nervous about going back to school?  Even when kids are excited, each year brings some new unknowns which can cause some anxiety.  How we guide our kids through that anxiety is key, and is an area that I address with every parent that I coach.

I invite you to take a minute and think about your typical response when your child is hesitant of facing a new situation.  Is your first...

Do you find that your kids start to act irrationally in the weeks leading up to a major change or transition?  If your child starts to react or blow up over seemingly small things that aren’t typically a problem before an upcoming change — and you’re left wondering what in the world has gotten into them —  know that it’s completely normal and nothing has gone wrong.

...

As a parent, do you spend more time focused on your child’s negative behavior that concerns you — or do you focus on helping your child develop skills that will help them thrive?  If you’re like most parents I coach (myself included!), you tend to focus on what you want your kids to stop or what you think they need to improve.

Before you have any self-recriminating thoughts, know that there is...

Do you feel like parenting is harder than ever right now?  That’s what I’m hearing — Parents are telling me that it’s HARD with a capital H, and they are floundering.  Parents desperately want to be able to help their kids, but they don’t know how.

Here’s what I’m hearing:

I don’t know what to do
I don’t know where to start
I don’t know what questions...

As a parent, do you feel like your emotions can sometimes drive you to react in a way that you later regret?  When your kids are fighting and emotions are high, do you get sucked into their emotional vortex?  Alternatively, if they are super excited or happy, can they help lift your mood too?  This is no surprise — because as it turns out, emotions are more contagious than a cold or the flu....

I’ve been talking about Parenting From Neutral a lot lately, but do you really know what it means and why it matters?  I’ve mostly talked about how when you learn to Parent From Neutral, you take the heightened emotions of frustration, anxiety, and overwhelm out of your parenting process so you can calmly and effectively parent your best when your kids need you most.

But there is another factor to...

Have you ever wondered how to increase your child’s resilience?  Most parents would agree that they want to raise resilient kids, but they never really stop to think about what it is and how they might help their child develop this trait.  It’s typically not top-of-mind until they are in the midst of a challenge.  Given that we’ve been living through challenges on a global basis, the...

Are you concerned about the emotional health of your kids?  This week my daughter shared that over 100 students have been hospitalized at her high school for mental health this year.  That’s just one school.  I can’t even fathom what that means on a nationwide basis.

Hearing about this mental health crisis with our kids, have you ever wondered if there is anything that you can do to help...