Category: Listening Partnerships

Not Liking Her Father’s New Partner

I told my daughter that another parent from her school would be taking her into school that day because we carpool. She was upset and cranky about it for 45 minutes, and wanted me to take her instead. I held the limit and told her that the other parent would take her in that day

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Overnight with my Daughter and her Best Friend

My daughter asked to bring her girlfriend with us overnight to Sonoma where we planned to spend one night in a hotel with a pool.  Bringing an extra person would change the easy-going relaxation day I had planned, into something different.  There would be scheduling issues to deal with: drop off’s, pick ups, coordinating with

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School Success Through Staylistening

I kept listening to my children because I saw their positive transformation and because we felt closer even though it wasn’t easy to do. I kept listening because I gradually remembered and worked on my childhood and came to think I would have liked it if I had been listened to back then.

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The Good Tantrum

“Hi, Hand in Hand Parenting, My almost 3 1/2 year old is having an especially hard time right now with family coming to visit. He has always had an extremely high need for connection. He still needs to sleep right next to me- not even his super involved attachment parenting dad will suffice. But he

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How to See When Your Child is Disconnected

I was teaching a Playful Parenting class one night and the topic was how we notice when our children are disconnected. One mom volunteered to come up and demonstrate what her son acts like when he is disconnected. She got to move her body a lot and ‘feel’ what it might feel like for him. We

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How I Almost ‘Flunked’ Staylistening

I know that the best way for me to help her is by listening to her and staying as close as possible, but hearing all her stories brought back memories of my own experiences back in middle school. My memory of that time period was not very vivid and did not include many details, but the general feel of it all was a big YUK!

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“I Need the Rescue Squad!”

I was in a listening session with my phone group, and I just broke down with a feeling of being totally overwhelmed by all I have taken on in my life. Day job, launching a book/business, parenting, nurturing my self and my marriage, keeping on top of household tasks, etc. The list goes on.  And,

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Emotional Project – Help for Nail Biting

I talked about nail biting, how I feel about it, and how I feel about my sons doing it. It felt to me as if nail biting was one of those habits that was almost impossible to shake off. I felt that my sons were doomed to live with the habit for the rest of their lives.

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Emotional Project – Toilet Troubles

The next time I saw him on tippy toes, with a worried look on his face, I moved towards him and put my arms around him. I said “Hey mate, it looks like you need to do a poo. I’m going to help you”. That was all he needed to start crying – he fought hard against me as he cried, “No, No, NO! I don’t want to.”

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Love Pours Out

I have never been able to put into words how I feel. It seemed inconceivable how I could express so much love. Afterward, I felt like a great mother.

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Helping Parents Handle Feelings in Crisis

Feeling terrified and completely overtaken by an even bigger need to speak out, I raised my hand and suggested we partner up and each take five minutes to talk about and acknowledge how WE were feeling.

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One Dad Supports Another

“You know, my son is driving me absolutely crazy. He whines and whines and I just go up the wall. Sometimes I have to leave the room, ’cause I don’t want to hurt him and I’m going nuts. I just leave him alone when he does that.”

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