parenting Understanding Children's FeelingsHelping Your Child Thru PlayBiting, Hitting, AggressionHealthy Discipline and Setting Limits with ChildrenSeparation and TraumaSleep, Eating, Toilet LearningYour Child and TransitionsSiblings and SharingWhen Your Child is Ill or InjuredYour Child and SchoolManners, Chores, Behavior in PublicOther challenges
New BabyNuevos PadresBuilding ConnectionHandling Parent StressParenting ApproachParenting in a challenging world
parenting 
Work with 
Blog & Communicate with parents like you Email discussion group Facebook discussion group Archives of previous discussions Parent Club Certified Instructors
No More Struggles In Getting Ready For School Setting Limits with Love and Connection Listening Time Clears Up My Clouded Thinking Three Minutes of Listening Helps How to See When Your Child is Disconnected Removing a Splinter and an Old Hurt Listening Makes All The Difference In The World How Children Turn Out when Parents Listen to Their Feelings My Children’s Limbic Radar Picking Up My Extra Attention Helping My Son With Lying How Does Connection Play Help with Homework? How 10 minutes Play Turned Thanksgiving Around Support for Teenagers: How to Reconnect View all Blog posts
Scholarships
CalendarI had been having trouble getting my 7-year-old to get ready for school in the morning. It often ended with yelling or rushing chaotically out the door. It seemed like no matter how early we woke up he still dragged … Continue reading
Occasionally he would slow down enough to look over his shoulder to make sure I was with him. I’d say, “Yes, I’m still here. I love you. You can be as mad as you need to be and I’m going to stay with you.” The he’d keep on ‘running’. I have to admit it was hard not to chuckle at how sweet he was, with his little arms pumping away trying to get as far away from me as he could. Continue reading
I was having a very busy week and was already somewhat overwhelmed with all that had to get done. I had just watched a disturbing segment of a video about language experiments done on children in an orphanage and was … Continue reading
“Could you just listen to me uninterrupted for about three minutes? I’m having some big feelings.” Continue reading
I was teaching a Playful Parenting class one night and the topic was how we notice when our children disconnected. One mom volunteered to come up and demonstrate what her son acts like when he is disconnected. She got to move … Continue reading
My seven-year-old had a splinter in his hand that needed to be removed. I told him we’d have to take it out and that we’d probably have to use a needle. Throughout the day he kept asking questions about the … Continue reading
I heard a very touching story in one of my classes recently. We were talking about the value of listening to our children’s strong emotions, and I asked if anyone had been listened to in that way as a young … Continue reading
…the listening that my son has experienced has helped him be so compassionate and sweet with his brother. Continue reading
I recently attended the Hand in Hand Weekend Retreat and wanted to report on what happened upon my return home. The retreat was wonderful. I was surrounded by beautiful redwoods, had fabulous meals prepared for me, and got a much … Continue reading
I had given my son $20 to go with friend to a water park for the day. When he came home he gave me $10 saying he’d used the rest for food. A few days later the friend’s mother called … Continue reading
Halfway through the first grade, my 7-year-old did not want to write or spell at home or school anymore. This was new for him. It seemed to me like the expectations for the first graders were significantly higher than those … Continue reading
My four-year-old asked me to play with him repeatedly and had already heard enough “just a minutes” to last a week and it was only 11:30 in the morning. Continue reading
I was asked recently about how to support a teen boy who is “possibly depressed, pretty shut down, and often won’t get out of bed for school or other essential activities”. My son hasn’t had trouble with getting out of bed so I can’t speak to that, but I do know that the idea of meeting a child where they are, is SO key to building that bridge that allows them to feel safe enough to walk across it (or to move some of the emotional junk that has kept them from being able to walk across it). Continue reading
follow us online