All children experience disappointments, and how they react to them can vary from upsets to rage. Unleashing these feelings of disappointment can be enough to help release the tension, but sometimes kids get stuck. A Hand in Hand Instructor describes how her son reacted to a disappointment with a big tantrum, and how Setting a Limit for
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
By Andrea McCracken One afternoon my two daughters ‘E’ and “K’ had finished up eating and wanted to play. We settled on bingo, but as the game progressed, E determined that she wasn’t going to win the game and clearly did not like it. From that moment on, a dark cloud came over our fun
Hand in Hand’s Laura Minnigerode uses a special limit setting tool called a vigorous snuggle with a child that scratches and grabs. The warmth and smiles she uses while saying “no,” diffuses anger and fosters connection. Here’s how to set a limit with affection even when a child has aggression.
It can be hard to stay with your child through an intense crying session, especially if you child runs off or tells you to go away. Here’s how Hand in Hand’s Heidi Grainger Russell rode out her son’s big feelings about garbage recycling and his grandmother moving in right next door. Last summer my mother
a guest post by Sarah MacLaughlin, LSW I have been in the field of education, child care, or social work for the past 20 years. I have spent my entire life working with young children and their families. This work, paired with hundreds of books, and many trainings on trauma, crisis intervention, behavior management, developmentally
Hitting, it’s the worst! Especially to see your own children hit one another. My girls use to get physical the moment there was any sort of kafuffle. The Old Me would threaten, “You hit your sister again and you won’t be able to go to the park later!” It worked in the very short term, but they always seemed to resort to hitting again.
Is your toddler too angry to sleep? Read on to learn how to read the signs and get a solution. By Lyra L’Estrange Does it ever seem like your toddler is just unsettled? Can’t be happy? Can’t be playful? And definitely can’t sleep? Are there days where this carries on into the night, and your toddler
Q: My son is a very dynamic four-year-old. He is attached to me and has a younger two year-old brother. What I’ve noticed is that when we are doing Staylistening, he will sometimes rapidly control his emotions and improve his overall emotional state in such a way that he’s able to go back to normal
I have thought a lot about what words I say to my two children when they are pushing boundaries and I need to set a limit. I have found the phrase, “I can’t let you do that” to be so helpful. Of course, physically stepping in to be close, and my body language, is just
I was just reflecting on how much progress my family has made with the listening tools. Yesterday, I was working late, and my au pair (from Mexico) was eating dinner with my children and getting them ready for bed. The plan was for me to get home before 7 pm to take over the bedtime
I invited my kids to my room for a nap after lunch. I told them I would get their mattresses and place them by the side of our bed and we all would rest together. It sounds like a good idea, doesn’t it? But as you know by now, I don’t write fairy tales.
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.
Sometimes, in our house, it’s fine to eat candy. Sometimes — like when it’s 30 minutes before bedtime and we’ve already had sweets earlier in the evening — it’s not. My five year old daughter was really, really wanting to have candy at 8:30 p.m. one night, and I felt pretty clear that it was not the right time for such a thing.
Setting Limits With Kristen Volk My six year old daughter seemed fine when she came home from school. Her nine year old brother had been sick for three days and I was looking forward to her being with us. However, it wasn’t long before she started being uncooperative, demanding and grumpy. She said, “No, I’m
I’m the mom of a young son, who has been my greatest teacher in life and has guided me to my deepest passion, parenting! My work in Theater from the time I was a little girl up until now pairs beautifully with my work today. I’m passionate about helping parents connect with their children and
I took my boys, 6 and 7, to the Museum of Natural History to see a 3D movies about marine dinosaurs. The youngest is especially sensitive to traumatic events in movies and games, so I had checked that the movie’s rating was age-appropriate. However, instead of having an impersonal nature movie, the plot was a
As my son grows older the draw towards video games is getting stronger and stronger, and so is the family struggle over them. I started to notice the tension and frustration around video games increasing and began to Set Limits, but it did not seem to be quite enough. I would set a limit, and