“I have come to believe that caring for myself is not self indulgent. Caring for myself is an act of survival. – Audre Lorde When parents learn about Hand in Hand’s five Listening Tools they are soon amazed by the transformations. Parents start spending Special Time with their children and they learn how to play. They
Our family recently traveled and we had decided to get some vaccinations for our 3 ½ year-old daughter. We needed three shots over three visits. My daughter had never had shots before, but the first time went beautifully, probably because she had no preconception about what to expect. The second time she was terrified. She screamed
Why do your children play well for hours some days and others can’t go five minutes without calling on you? Your own tension may play a big factor. Children have a way of picking up on stress, whether or not you bring it to them. If you are worried, upset or anxious, they might be
By Andrea McCracken As the school year has got started my daughter has gotten more and more social, and wants to play with her friends often after school. One day at a friend’s house they had played, had ice cream and done more activities than would typically happen at our house. She was enjoying her
Separating at bedtime has been a struggle for our 2-year-old for quite some time and I have done a lot of Staylistening with him on this emotional project of his. But lately, he hasn’t been having any Staylistening at all and, depending on who puts him to bed and how tired he is,
Halloween is a time for fun, thrills and excitement, but it’s also a time for costumes, candy and chaos. No wonder children can become a little, er, “ghoulish.”
Here’s how you can use Hand in Hand’s Playlistening and Staylistening tools to overcome 5 common Halloween hurdles.
Halloween might be scare season, but kids get scared even by everyday experiences. The teacher who gives a stern look could mean a child gets anxious about going to school. A trip to the doctors office for shots is never nice, but for some kids equals pure terror. Another child in the park calling
By Laura Minnigerode When I was a co-teacher in a 2-year-old class at a half-day preschool, one of the oldest children was Aaron. He was very sweet and sensitive. In free play at school Aaron did fine, but he had a lot of feelings about his dad that came up during circle time, which came
By Sarah Charlton We had just returned from a big family wedding in another part of the country and even though it had been a really good trip, we hadn’t had a lot of connection time to ourselves. We were feeling tired, so getting my son off to school the following morning had been fraught
Your older child just throttled your baby on the head. The baby is screaming. You hoist them up, and scream at your child. “Why did you do that?!” They start crying, so now there’s two of them bawling. You messed up. You overreacted. You already yelled when your toddler emptied the diaper bag. You forgot
Your child is good, even when they are full of feelings and entirely irrational. Marilupe De La Calle, Hand in Hand Certified Instructor will tell you what’s useful about moments like that, and how you can step in and turn things around for you and your child. Then listen to one of our favorite Special
Even when we bring our best selves, by not shouting, bribing or threatening children when we try and tell them no, setting limits, and having them listened to, still often feels like an uphill struggle. But there’s a simple way to reach children who are acting off-track. Use touch over words. When children are acting irrationally,
A sense of being seen by you and connected to you bestows real powers on your child. It grants them the ability to think, to cooperate, to feel good about th…
What can you do to build your child’s sense of connection for more cooperation, better learning, less sibling rivalry, and more laughter at your house? _____…
By Laura Minnigerode Emma was born so early that she identified as a “Micro-Preemie.” That is, she weighed less than 800 grams and was born before 26 weeks. When I first met her, she was about 9 months old and weighed 15lbs, and she had a lot of fears about being picked up. Her history had included
Social exclusion can be painful for the whole family. Here’s how you can help.
In many parenting programs, rewards and punishment reign large. So an approach focussed on connection and listening offers therapists a refreshing change. Hand in Hand’s five empathetic listening tools form an approach that “can be described as a relationship-based, emotion-focused, trauma-informed parenting program,” says Maya Coleman, a child clinical psychologist, who also now runs Professional Intensives courses
“Are your parents strict?” Remember when that was all anyone asked about parents? Now we have dozens of labels, from gentle and calm parenting to authoritative and authoritarian. We have tiger moms, and helicopter moms, we have free-range parenting, positive parenting, peaceful parenting, even unparenting. Hand in Hand’s approach is based on connection. But what