When we were young there was little understanding of the importance of listening to children with warmth and patience, so our parents couldn’t give us a model of how to do this. Our unheard feelings from our own childhood get triggered in challenging moments with our children.
So your child won’t listen cooperate when asked to do something? Welcome to messy, loud, real-life parenting! Check out our newest video below to learn how you can playfully bring out the cooperator your child. Was this video helpful for you? If so, leave a comment below!
Teaching kids healthy ways to deal with anger is challenging. It means caring for myself, asking for help through the hardest parts, pushing hard against the door and letting myself growl, “how dare they act like this after all I have done for them today!?!”
He reminds me that no one expects me to be perfect except myself. And I lose it over how much pressure I put on myself… and how I’m failing my children…
When you want to complain to your child about their behavior or nag them about something they’re not doing, think twice. It’s often not that useful to them.
You get to decide what the limits are, but your child is allowed to feel however they need to about that limit.
His fear is real. His tears are real. This is my son, trusting me, showing me how he feels. And I honor the chance that he offers me, that of being there for him. We’re together in this.
We’ve all been through it. That moment where you catch yourself saying things that you regret later. We all say things that don’t exactly sound like the loving, peaceful parent that we intend to be. It can feel like we are channeling an adult from our distant past, and we wonder why we have lost
“Agh!!! Same stuff, different scenery!!” This is NOT the kind of holiday I was expecting or used to! Being of the persistent kind of character I am, I did not give up the notion of fun, relaxing, enjoyable FAMILY holidays and charged onwards. Booking and planning family holidays until we got it right (I know
instead of telling him what to feel, I simply tried to make myself available for him and really listen. I let him take his time, while reassuring him that I was right there, fully listening to him and accepting him and his feelings just the way they were.
Sometimes all it takes to lift your partner’s spirits is to really focus on them and just listen. A few minutes turned this dad’s day into a playful connection with his kids.
Our parenting will never be perfect. Our children will inherit some hurts and fears from us. But play is a wonderful way children can make sense of their world, and tell stories. When we can play with them we can pick up on what makes them laugh, and help them release fear and upset.
It is a work in progress, but I am sure that without having my safe place to offload, I would not be discovering I often already have the resources available to be the parent I want to be.
a guest post from Kate Orson, a Hand in Hand Parent Shyness is a label, often put on children, but actually it’s just a set of reactions to a certain situation. Who has a ‘shy’ child who can act totally confident and extrovert in some situations but not others? Have you noticed that sometimes it’s
We started setting limits with cartoons about two years ago. My son would ask for just one more cartoon, and I would stand my ground and simply tell him, “Not now,” or, “You can watch some more tomorrow—but not now.”
My Sunday started in the usual way with some gentle time snuggling with my two children as we woke up. It was all fine until breakfast when the warm connection started to unravel. My son wanted scrambled eggs, my daughter cereal. “That’s ok,” I thought, easy to do. Until my daughter had her breakfast in
I could smell something burning. I was in the bathroom helping my daughter who had just wet her pants, while my older son was screaming for my attention in the living room, “Come here now Mum!! You never play blocks with me! You said you would!” Crash! My son threw a block, and as it