When he was four years old, mom Laura Minnigerode and her son set aside time to play each morning one on one, as a way to encourage connection. This devoted “Special Time” happened most days once his two older two siblings had left for school. After the rush of getting them out the door,
A guest post by Irina Nichifiriuc Read this post in Romanian In our house, I faced a series of “battles” and obstacles every night as the day wore on towards bedtime. With three children, I found that the task of getting them to sleep was getting longer and more difficult as I faced more and
My son is diagnosed with sensory issues so getting dressed is a daily challenge for all the family. One morning, I wanted to take the kids out for a walk, so we could have some quality time. My daughter was dressed and ready, but my son was not. He was bare naked, and he was
You’ve had a hard day and you walk through the door, ready to see your child and find out what you missed. Except that when you walk into your home, they give you a sour look. You take a deep breath. Instead of the happy homecoming you dreamt of and crave, it looks like you
Going grocery shopping with my kids always ends up being a nightmare. Historically, I’ll have two kids running up and down the isles playing tag and screaming while the third one is walking next to me nagging about all the different things she wants. Due to me struggling to keep them close and avoiding them
Many children are afraid of visits to the doctor, but my daughter was TERRIFIED. She’d had a difficult birth and was in the NICU for four days; perhaps those early experiences had stayed with her. She would become terrified in the examining room, trembling, screaming and clinging tightly to me even in a routine examination
We’ve all read research and articles promoting play, but play is more than independent play or playing with siblings or friends. For sure, kids benefit from those ways to play, but playing with parents and caregivers gives additional benefits. Kids feel special and seen when parents play with them. They can use these times to
As they move from play dough to playground and from dress up to dodgeball, it may seem like our children spend their whole day playing. And that’s great. But some of the best ways to play will be the play they do with you. We know that play has many benefits for children. Play is
They say “choose your battles wisely,” and getting teeth brushed in most houses is one many of us struggle with. But with up to 530 million children with poor dental health worldwide, according to the World Health Organization, this is one fight that we can’t ignore. Getting teeth clean doesn’t have to mean daily yelling,
One day, we were traveling by car six about hours away from our home town. I got food for the kids so they wouldn’t feel hungry during the ride, and they were soon tucking in. But after about five hours, my youngest daughter asked for a sandwich. By this time they were gone, so I
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
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
“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
Do you know that expression “I used to be a perfect parent, then I had kids?” I think that perfectly describes how sure I was that my children would not play with weapons. After all, what better way to keep children safe than to simply ban all toy weapons and weapon play? Until I had
My 6 year old leg was injured while he was practicing sports. Unfortunately, the injury happened just before a school sport’s event and he was not able to fully take part in it, although it was clear that he certainly tried his best. However, after this, he became increasingly preoccupied with not having won a
We know that play is a child’s work.The best play provides opportunities for fun, and also chances to build intelligence. Because good play has the power to help children laugh through fears and address their issues, and get connected to the people around them, g rough-housing games and physical play, imaginary play and roleplaying are
Your child will have big feelings when a special holiday or birthday comes up. It’s one of the phenomena you can set your clock by. We parents wish the universe were governed by forces a little easier on us than this one. But it may help to know that every other family deals with
A Guest Post from Megha Mawandia In part one of this series on Parenting As a Team we talk about how to become more confident in making parenting decisions. Today we focus on an unexpected tool for diffusing tension: Play Often when we make decisions about parenting, others are not in agreement. They might find