A guest Post by Kate Orson author of Tears Heal Special time; one of Hand in Hand’s Five Parenting tools, is a wonderful way to deepen your connection with your child, to build the safety
By Andrea McCracken My daughter was 7, nearly 8, and developing more concerns about the world. At bedtime, she would lay quietly and think about the mysteries of illnesses, aliens and other potentially scary things. They
Our founder, Patty Wipfler’s book Listen, Five Tools to Meet Your Everyday Parenting Challenges, is a treasure trove of anecdotes and wisdom drawn from her 40 years working with children and families. At the
My son is 7 years old. To him, it’s funny to make toilet jokes and show his intimate body parts to everyone. Not long ago, every evening, while putting on his pajamas, he would wave
My toddler has spent a lot of time in her first two years observing her older sister’s world of possessions. Though my older one, who is eight, is generally quite flexible these days about sharing
When our child gets upset about us leaving, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they don’t like their caregiver or that the need to be with us 24-7. It’s quite natural for children to have multiple attachments to other adults and benefit from being raised by a ‘village.’ It is often more likely that separating from us triggers deeper fears, and emotions in our child, that they need us to listen to.
Bullying is a highly contagious behavior that transmits immediately from child to child, like the flu. The behavior can start with an adult bullying, threatening, demeaning, or harshly excluding a child.
Adolescent life in our society is far from easy. We wonder why our children act so distant, seem so moody, and have trouble concentrating on the tasks before them. We wonder why they now stay
When children want something, their feelings are often passionate. They can be gripped by a desire so strong that no other option will do. Every cell in their bodies is organized to communicate that having the blue shovel or the green balloon is the key to their happiness—a yellow shovel or a red balloon simply won’t do. But as any parent who has tried to enforce sharing knows, taking turns at those moments is far easier said than done.
My 13-year-old son was off track in a way that doesn’t happen often. I asked him to turn off the TV in order to shift to bedtime mode at 9pm on a Sunday, and he