Child Behavior Archives - Parents With Confidence

10 Best Restorative Mental Health Day Activities for Kids

Angela Pruess LMFT, Child Therapist + Parent Coach — Mon, 12 Dec 2022 13:27:49 +0000

Adults aren’t the only ones who need an occasional mental health day. The build-up of academic, social, and activity stressors can be overwhelming for kids if they aren’t balanced out by periods of recharging. Read on to discover 10 mental health activities for kids from a mental health professional that will help to restore and...

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60 Fun and Calming Activities to Make Bedtime Unbelievably Easy

Angela Pruess LMFT, Child Therapist + Parent Coach — Tue, 06 Dec 2022 17:27:00 +0000

Discover calming activities to make bedtime with kids a lot easier, plus the best ways to promote connection and calm your child at the end of the day. These fun and soothing bedtime ideas for kids work to gently relax your kids down for a good night sleep without the pushback. Cozy pj’s with adorable...

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10 Anxiety Symptoms in Children that Most Parents Miss

Angela Pruess LMFT, Child Therapist + Parent Coach — Wed, 30 Nov 2022 07:52:00 +0000

Anxiety symptoms in children can start showing at an early age. Sometimes they are more obvious, and other times they might be more subtle or show in surprising ways. Here are 10 examples of anxiety symptoms in kids that you may not easily spot. “My kid might have anxiety???” This is the response 90% of...

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What to do When You’re Overwhelmed with an ADHD Child

Angela Pruess LMFT, Child Therapist + Parent Coach — Sat, 19 Nov 2022 08:06:00 +0000

If you’re overwhelmed with an ADHD child you’re not alone. These foolproof steps from a child therapist (and mom of a kid with ADHD) will move you forward with clarity and confidence. ADHD in kids can be emotionally and mentally taxing for caregivers, but following these 5 tips will help you maintain a sense of...

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75 Awesome Calm Down Strategies for Kids (that they’ll want to try!)

Angela Pruess LMFT, Child Therapist + Parent Coach — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 19:34:00 +0000

75 Science-backed calm down strategies for kids that are easy, engaging, and will help your child develop strong emotional regulation skills. Read on and then grab your free printable of 75 calming techniques to have on hand when your child’s anger or anxiety takes over. ⭐️Free 9-page Expert Master guide⭐️>> 5 Secrets to MORE cooperation...

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Parenting an Angry Child? 10 Underlying Reasons you Shouldn’t Ignore

Angela Pruess LMFT, Child Therapist + Parent Coach — Sat, 12 Nov 2022 20:35:00 +0000

If you’re raising an angry child, learning the underlying causes of your child’s anger is the first step in anger management for kids. Although it’s not always possible to perfectly decode every angry outburst, there are several common reasons why a child may struggle to manage their irritability and frustrations. Anger and irritability in kids...

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10 Secrets of Effective Discipline with the Strong Willed Child

Angela Pruess LMFT, Child Therapist + Parent Coach — Mon, 07 Nov 2022 08:45:00 +0000

Discover how to handle discipline and deal with a strong-willed child in a way that capitalizes on their strengths and leads to better listening and cooperation. I’d say it was around my daughter’s third birthday when it became clear we were in over our heads. Between unmet expectations that a child will always listen to...

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Why Well-Meaning Dedicated Parents end up Having Kids that Talk Back and Don’t Listen

Angela Pruess LMFT, Child Therapist + Parent Coach — Thu, 10 Feb 2022 19:55:45 +0000

“There’s this big giant ‘elephant in the room’ of the parenting world…and I’m done going along with it being unacknowledged and unchallenged. Every day this misconception makes many good parents (and good kids) feel frustrated, defeated, and hopeless. The irony is never lost on me that it’s most often the parents trying the hardest, having...

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10 Strong Willed Child Characteristics and How They’ll Pay off in Adulthood

Angela Pruess LMFT, Child Therapist + Parent Coach — Tue, 14 Sep 2021 18:00:00 +0000

If you’re raising a strong-willed child, you may feel the urge to temper their ‘spirited’ or ‘stubborn’ personalities. Strong-willed kids are self-directed and focused on their own path, which is actually a great thing! These traits can be massively challenging in day-to-day parenting, I know. But strong-willed characteristics in kids will serve them well later...

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7 Surefire Signs Your Child Needs a Mental Health Day

Angela Pruess LMFT, Child Therapist + Parent Coach — Mon, 21 Jun 2021 20:26:10 +0000

Inside: Just like adults, kids need mental health days to keep their stress levels under control and maintain good emotional health, here are 7 signs your child may need one. “I’m not going to school, today mom!”. Every once and a while my fourth-grader drops this line on me in the midst of the eating...

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10 Simple Calming Outdoor Activities for your Irritable Toddler

Angela Pruess LMFT, Child Therapist + Parent Coach — Wed, 19 May 2021 18:19:21 +0000

Inside: Discover 10 easy fun and calming outdoor activities for toddlers when they’re tired, stressed, and overwhelmed. Over the past year and a half, children have been forced to spend more time indoors than ever before, and this has had tremendous effects on their ability to regulate their emotional responses to both their own stress...

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7 Eye-opening Reasons Your Child Isn’t Listening (and what to do about it)

Angela Pruess LMFT, Child Therapist + Parent Coach — Tue, 20 Oct 2020 02:08:57 +0000

Inside: Discover common reasons grounded in child development why your child isn’t listening or responding to your prompts or directives and how to get your child listening. If you find yourself musing “How do I get my child to listen?!” on a semi-regular basis, congratulations!! (Yes, I really mean that.) You have successfully helped create...

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The Single Most Helpful Trick for Dealing with a Child’s Emotional Outburst

Angela Pruess LMFT, Child Therapist + Parent Coach — Fri, 26 Jun 2020 22:10:49 +0000

Inside: Learn the first and most important step for responding to a child’s emotional outburst and a step by step guide to implement. Between my friends, clients in my therapy practice, and the Parents with Confidence Facebook community, I’ve seen a strong reoccurring theme these last few weeks with kids. There’s a good chance you’ve...

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Here’s the Magic Phrase to Use with Fighting Kids

Angela Pruess LMFT, Child Therapist + Parent Coach — Fri, 08 May 2020 19:51:55 +0000

Inside: Learn the best and most effective parenting phrase to use when intervening with kids fighting or any type of day to day family conflict. Emotions are running high right now for your family. I know this because they’re running high in mine too. “Stop it!” “Mom, she said she hated me!” “Well, I never...

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What to do When Your Angry Child Refuses Coping Strategies

Angela Pruess LMFT, Child Therapist + Parent Coach — Thu, 06 Feb 2020 03:37:15 +0000

Inside: Learn how to proceed when your angry child refuses coping strategies. “What do I do when my child refuses the coping strategies I offer?” It’s a question I get regularly when I talk to parents in my therapy practice about anger management for kids and how to best support their child in the midst of...

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The Real Reason Kids Whine, Pester and Complain (and how to stop it)

Angela Pruess LMFT, Child Therapist + Parent Coach — Fri, 20 Sep 2019 14:40:31 +0000

Inside: Learn why kids engage in frustrating behaviors such as whining, pestering, and complaining and how to handle it most effectively. Shear terror comes over me when I realize I have no other choice but to bring all 3 of my small kids along to the grocery store. ‘Let’s see…there’s got to be another time...

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Got power struggles? How to Get Kids to Listen to You

Angela Pruess LMFT, Child Therapist + Parent Coach — Wed, 11 Sep 2019 19:36:40 +0000

Inside: Discover the proven steps to encourage and inspire a child to listen and cooperate. If I had a quarter every time I mused the thought, ‘Gosh, If these kids would just listen to me, things would be so much easier!’, to myself (or to my husband), I’d be a rich lady. Doesn’t it feel like they...

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The Secret to Giving your Child the Best School Year Ever

Angela Pruess LMFT, Child Therapist + Parent Coach — Sat, 17 Aug 2019 15:04:59 +0000

Inside: Beyond school supplies and a new outfit for the first day, it’s easy to miss the one thing kids truly need to have a successful back-to-school transition. “I don’t want to go to school mom”. There was still a good 3 weeks of summer left so my 9-year-olds comment caught me a tad off guard....

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40 Astounding Benefits of Outdoor Nature Play for Kids

Angela Pruess LMFT, Child Therapist + Parent Coach — Mon, 29 Jul 2019 18:29:53 +0000

Inside: Time kids spend outdoors in nature play has been steadily declining for decades and it’s costing them enormously when it comes to their physical and mental health. I feel my shoulders relax. My lungs open up and I breathe. I just feel… lighter. And all I have done is to simply step out my...

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The 50 Most Epic Anger Management Tools for Kids

Angela Pruess LMFT, Child Therapist + Parent Coach — Thu, 06 Jun 2019 16:42:46 +0000

Inside: Learn how to help your child control their anger with the 50 Best Anger Management Tools for Kids from a Child Therapist. I’m unloading the dishwasher listening to my four and seven-year-olds playing in the next room. I smile as I hear my creative little beings choreographing another dance ‘recital’ in the living room....

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