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 must have churned around her head because she would come out of bed to talk to me about it, asking
By Andrea McCracken When my 5-year-old started kindergarten, she would come home from school day a tightly wound and prone to crying. She seemed to be letting all her frustrations and bad feelings out on me, and although I could recognise that she was feeling tension from being in a new class, in
Does one of your children tend to demand more attention than the other? Perhaps one is older and more dominant, and younger eager to please. Perhaps one is extrovert, always talking, and the other is an introvert, mostly happy to observe. Or maybe one is stubborn and resists your requests – and lets you know
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. My older daughter’s tendency to take things out of other people’s hands, especially her younger sister’s and mine, caused me to
By Andrea McCracken As parents, we often fight with the idea of saying “no” to our children, especially if it means a big upset in public. But sometimes the behaviour that is driving us batty is because children need a definite “no” to push back from. And sometimes the best thing they can do is to push
By Andrea McCracken Usually my 3-year old daughter is quite agreeable and adaptable but she had been showing off-track behavior at bedtime for a few nights. What does off-track behavior look like? Playing at bedtime, or getting frustrated easily. Getting in and out of bed. That sort of thing. Then, one night, we had an
Earlier that night my daughter had shown us some big feelings by screaming and crying when I set a limit for no more cookies. Now, even though it was late and much past her bedtime, I could still see we still had work to do. My daughter has a huge capacity for emotion. Just the