Before Parents Can Parent with Empathy They Need Empathy
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
Separation Anxiety: Two Tools That Will Help
In the middle of preparing for a talk on Separation Anxiety with my fellow Hand in Hand Instructor, Anca Deaconu, my children decided to give me the perfect opportunity to practice what I preach. It
How Connection Helps Your Children Face Fear
The Role of Fear in our Lives Fear is in our lives to protect us. It is a natural part of our human condition and our bodies are exquisitely built to detect threats and to
One Mom’s Genius Solution Helps Daughter’s Social Exclusion
Social exclusion can be painful for the whole family. Here’s how you can help.
Two Ways To Stop Your Downward Parenting Spiral
Parents’ intense feelings for their children, the everyday grind of daily life, emotional ties and pressure from society are all big contributors in this topsy-turvy whirl of emotions, she says. “Parenting is emotional work because
Calm Parenting Big Families
Parenting challenges multiply in larger families. The grocery list is bigger for sure. The laundry takes longer. And there’s always some little person pulling at your hand demanding to be heard. In her recent book Listen:
5 Ways To Play Away Parenting Struggles
Giggles and laughter are stress dissolvers, making play a great way to tackle many everyday parenting challenges. In our book Listen: Five Tools To Meet Your Everyday Parenting Challenges, Hand in Hand Founder, Patty Wipfler
Learn Five Tools That Will Transform The Way You Parent In One Week
Discover Hand in Hand’s approach and an introduction to the Five Tools for calmer, connected parenting in Days 1-6 and then see how the Tools work for real-life families on Days 7 and 8. Day
5 Reasons to Start a Listen Bookclub
If you ever felt you craved a real parenting community, a place where you and like-minded parents could gather and discuss your experiences? Then start a Listen Bookclub. A Listen Bookclub is a chance to
What is Hand in Hand Parenting’s Playlistening tool?
What is Hand in Hand Parenting?: Day 5 Play is the safe cradle in which our children experiment, express themselves, and explore their world. Whatever the activity, your child is playing when their actions are
What is a Listening Partnership and Why Do I Need One?
What is Hand in Hand Parenting?: Day 6 You’ve seen your children release their feelings of hurt and tension. They’re naturals! The minute something challenging happens, they dive right in to expel the tension. With a
Five Connection Tools That Will Transform Your Parenting
What is Hand in Hand Parenting? Like no other work we know, parenting is all-demanding, all consuming. So often the work we do as parents goes unnoticed, despite it being the most important role we
Muftiah Martin, LMFT
When Muftiah found Hand in Hand Parenting, she felt an immediate resonance with the approach. The blend of support for the parent, tools for connecting with children, and tools for handling emotional moments are the
Why Should Parents Take A Class?
It’s the most important job we’ll ever take on, but forget about winning awards or recognition when you apply. Parenting is without manuals or certification and there are no real guidelines, except, maybe, to survive.
Hidden Triggers Reveal Why I Get So Angry
I had been parenting my daughter for 5 years and stay listening with her for 3 years before I realized the importance of being listened to myself. During this time, I noticed a common trigger.
Crying – Causes, Concerns and Coping Calmly
We were in this toy store and my son, who was three at the time, knew the rule: he was allowed to choose one toy at a time. He looked  around carefully, taking his time and
Taming Parent Tantrums: 8 Keys to Quieting the Storm
Get 8 ways to find calm after you lose it and tame your parent tantrums “The more helpful response to being triggered is to recognize your emotional charge as a signal that something is amiss
Why Tantrums Happen and How You Can Help…Part 2
Tantrums Can Lead to Revealing Core Issues Some explosions that look like tantrums are directly connected to big, scary feelings that the child has internalized but not yet offloaded. They remain stored inside them, with