A guest post by Laura Minnigerode Children’s brains are wired to connect with caregivers. And if they cry it means they feel especially safe and secure. Since a child’s limbic system works brilliantly to protect
Most of us are taught to hush children when they cry, but parents using Hand in Hand’s approach learn how valuable crying can be for a child’s emotional health. When crying is supported with a
My four-year-old son LOVES garbage trucks. He is obsessed with them, and not just the trucks. He loves everything to do with garbage disposal: garbage cans, recycling, compost, trips to the landfill, and the garbage
Crying out for Connection The man at my parenting talk is exasperated by his two-year-old son’s behavior. “First, he wants a glass of milk,” he tells me. “I pour the glass and hand it to
When young and old babies cry it can trigger or activate our own emotional learning experiences from childhood. We feel a deep desire to know what is causing them distress and how to help.
It was nearly bedtime and we were playing a family card game. My 3 year old was tired and his behavior was flaring. Everything was wrong for him. “I don’t want that card…I don’t want
When a child is crying we need to show that we are in this together with her and that she will cross over through pain, sadness, and anger and will arrive on the other side feeling much better.
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
When my daughter was just under two years old, we were playing one day with a friend and her one-year old son. While gently nuzzling the leg of the younger boy, my daughter suddenly took
It was mid-October and we had been in the new house a month or two. My daughter LOVED the new house. She had her own room with a bunk bed, a tree house, a hot
By the time she was three months old, my entire life was focused on helping my baby daughter get some good sleep. I hired two sleep consultants, read every book on sleep available, but found no answers or magic cures. What I knew I could not do was leave her alone to “cry it out”.
Leah had returned from her dad’s house chock full of feelings—she seemed sullen and sad and had lost all enthusiasm about the party. I decided to help my daughter get in better emotional shape so that she would be able to enjoy our party.
When our grandson was one, and just walking, we convinced his parents to let us babysit so they could have a night out. They were quite nervous because they did not like to hear their
Everything went well until we got to the checkout line and he asked for gum. I said no and he began to have a full blown tantrum, I was completely overwhelmed with the baby, the groceries and him. So I bought the gum. All the way home, I kept saying to myself, “You are being controlled by a child! This can only get worse.”
When my son was 4 he went through a period when he was very resistant to getting dressed. It didn’t matter if he was dressing himself or if I offered to help him, it was
