Unlock you - tips for when you cannot handle your child’s overwhelm

What happens when your child has an emotion that is really big and you start to feel overwhelmed by it?

First of all, there is nothing wrong with you or your child. So let’s get that clear:) Your child is having an emotion that he needs help with. As you have heard me say many times before - the need that is behind the behavior is the force that is fueling the upset and your child has no way of managing that force.

So why would a parent who knows that, continue to get overwhelmed? Quite simply, maybe you grew up in a home where it was not ok to have these unregulated emotions and your parents could not or would not tolerate them. Perhaps they made you wrong (unconsciously ) because of it. Read more

Game plan for a responsible child

As parents we all want to raise our children to be responsible. The bottom line is that this does not happen without some sort of “game plan”. Please consider this, when we try to force and exert power, we are not guiding a child to WANT to be responsible. This is key. Forcing causes resistence and resentment. Eventually, a child will comply so he does not get into trouble with you but he will not learn why it is important to care about being responsible and he may not grow to WANT to become responsible. How many adults have you come across in your lifetime that resent or reject responsibility?

Children will not get out of control without punishment, they get out of control when they don’t have appropriate guidance. There is a difference. With guidance you show and you embody what you are teaching. Can you bring attention to the ways and the reasons that you are responsible and communicate this to your child in a way that does not sound like lecturing? There are golden opportunities everywhere. How do you feel about responsibilty? What energy do you carry around that? Read more

A few tips on how to ease into going back to school

The back to school blues are not uncommon.  As the summer draws to an end, instead of dwelling on the end of the beautiful days of summer fun, start a tradition of focusing energies on the excitement of new and fresh possibilities.

Get your child in a fresh state of mind that can ease  the anxiety of going back to school. Here are a few tips that you might like that can turn feeling sad into feelings  of anticipation and positive energy.

1) Connect with school buddies Read more

Racing to keep up: Stand united as a family in the face of the digital media age

As we move forward in an attempt to keep up with the pace of a world that has entered hyper speed, parents must face the challenges and dangers brought on by the superficially attractive media age.

Technology, as wonderful as it can be when used properly, can rob our children of one of the most powerful tools they have; their imagination. As with all ingenious devices designed to generate profit, the media frenzy infiltrates society, including the minds of the young, one methodical step after another. After all, a little bit of TV never hurt anyone, right?

The problem is that, like any addiction, a little bit can increase over time as our senses demand more and more. Unlike other addictions, what starts off as TV watching crosses over to video games, computer games, cell phones and a complete media culture where interaction between humans is dependent upon devices. Parents, as busy as they are, are racing to keep up with the technology that their children are immersed in OR they are so far behind they just give up and have no hands on understanding of what it means to be media literate. Read more