Yesterday my 8-year-old daughter had a friend playing at our house all day. There were lots of arguments and power struggles over their play. It wasn’t going well. The other girl said that she wanted to go home a few times and both of them didn’t look like they were enjoying themselves. I was trying
It’s the beginning of the school year, and as surely as leaves will drop, so will the homework. Pages and pages of it. Sometimes whole binders worth. Homework can be the source of many arguments, and I wanted to take a look at why and what we can do about it. In order to really
Early one morning, my seven-year-old daughter began to be aggressive with her younger brother. She insisted that he play with her—and on her terms. He did his best to tell her no, but he wasn’t getting through. The situation was escalating quickly. I decided to invite my daughter for five minutes of Special Time, as
Setting Limits and Staylistening Those of you with picky eaters are familiar with requests—or demands—for “something else” to eat. Rigidity around food is like rigidity around anything else: it signals a need for help. We often need to set a limit for a child who ventures off to replace our food selections with his own.
When my son was five years old, he asked to buy a set of army figures at the toy store. It was a set of about 40 small plastic figures, in different poses with different weapons and flags. There was also a plastic sheet with pictures of terrain on it. Although I didn’t want him
Learn Hand in Hand Parenting tools to help handle the tears and fears that come with the new school year, and get your kids off to a great start. Join Certified Hand in Hand Instructors Marilupe de la Calle and Heidi Russell in this free parenting call replay. more from the hand
Playlistening is an invaluable tool that helps a child through situations when they feel powerless and have scared feelings and blocked fears. It usually works when there is some roleplay involved, like this story about a child who was scared of hairwashing, or this story, where playlistening helped with whining. In Playlistening, an element of
We’ve all had those mornings. The one that begins like nothing will ever be right again: “I do not want to get dressed. I want breakfast.” “I don’t want cereal. I want oatmeal.” “I wanted toast cut in triangles, not squares.” “No. I am not brushing my teeth.” Behavior like this can be the
“Mom! He’s being mean to me.” “She’s weird. I don’t want to play with her.” “They never give me a turn.” “He won’t let us climb the tree.” “She always gets to go first! Just because she’s the oldest…” You might hear words like these when your child talks about brothers, sisters or friends. All
Parents today face many challenges that can leave us feeling exhausted, confused, guilty and isolated. For many of us, parenting hasn’t been the joy we thought it would be and sometimes it seems like our children can’t recognize all the love and caring we have to offer. When did it get so hard? Join Hand