Special Time Gets our Son to School
My husband and I took our sons to Tokyo. We stayed with my mother and had the boys go to a Japanese preschool for three-and-a-half weeks. It was a great language and cultural immersion and
Staylistening and the Twinkle Bug
My husband was putting my daughter to sleep at bedtime when she realized she had left her lovey, “Twinkle Bug,” at her girlfriend’s house after a sleepover. She started to freak out, screaming, “I cannot
Listening in the Absence of Daddy
Last fall my husband had to go out of town for a few days for work. The day after he left, my two year-old son and I were sitting in the living room on the
Weaning from Night Nursing: How We Made it Through the Night
The time had come to wean my healthy toddler from night nursing. He was down to just a couple of times of nursing at night, but it was still disruptive for all of us. No
Solving My Daughter’s Stuttering With Listening
Stella, my two-year-old daughter, was an early talker, unusually verbal, and a very happy, silly, open little girl. About four or five months ago, she came down with an extreme case of hives. She was
Special Time Helps Heal a Separation
My 3-year-old daughter had never been away from me for more than half a day, until I went to the Hand in Hand Parent Retreat this year. She stayed with her father in a hotel
Holidays and Meltdowns Go Together Like Peanut Butter And Jelly
Your child will have big feelings when special holidays or birthdays come up. It’s one of the phenomena you can set your clock by. We parents wish the universe were governed by forces a little
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
Special Time is Special
I have a short anecdote that really showed me how important Special Time is, no matter how humdrum it may seem from the outside from time to time. This summer we had planned a visit
Staylistening at Bedtime: Letting a Child Have Feelings About Separation
Eventually I said, “OK, you go to sleep now. Do you remember that I love you?” He said, “OK! Yes. Do you remember I love you?” I said yes, and he yawned. I sat for
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
Offering Support to A Challenged Infant
My grandson kept having life-threatening emergencies–it took a good while to get him stabilized. I stayed right beside him, talking him through it all. Drugged up on morphine, he kept one eye open finding my
Try A Weekend of Special Time To Help Problem Behavior
Often times my son will walk by his siblings and push them down or punch them on their backs or yell in their faces. If they are doing something that irritates him, he will get
Playlistening to Get Through the Morning Rush
It was one of those mornings that are really hard to start. My youngest (6 at the time), was sleeping in more than usual, and I was also dragging myself around the morning routine. By the
The “Wrong” Sippy Cup
Last night, my son (27 months) was having a typical evening, in a pretty good mood generally but, as usual, resisted having his teeth brushed. I brushed them just a little bit, let him brush
I Love You No Matter What Feelings You Are Having
It felt like an MFA in parenting! I think he really got the message that I love him and accepted his feelings and would not punish him for sharing them. Which now I realize I
Sleep Issues: Helping My 5-year-old Sleep on Her Own
My habit had been to lay down with my five-year-old daughter at bedtime until she was asleep, which often took half an hour or more. She would fall asleep fairly easily when others put her
Helping an Adopted Child with Night Waking
We adopted our daughter at birth but due to the state’s adoption laws and her case of jaundice, she was confined to the hospital nursery for 5 days. We had limited access to her during