Raising emotionally healthy children that will change the world.
“My kid might have anxiety???”
This is the response 90% of parents have when they find themselves sitting on the couch in my therapy office seeking to gain insight into their child’s confusing and challenging behaviors.
If you had only one wish for your child’s future what would it be?
Many of us would say “I want my child to be happy”, but what does that really mean?
While the term ‘fake news’ may be new, the idea of there being lots of misinformation out there surrounding mental health conditions and specifically Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is not new.
When it comes to teaching our child how to handle big emotions and challenging situations, the majority of parents fall victim to the same oversight- and it’s a biggie.
Just by the dejected look on my three-year-olds face, I can tell what’s to come before the sounds start to come out of his tiny mouth.
We’re at a playdate with friends, and I’m happily nested on the couch chatting with another mom about who’s gotten the least sleep in the past week when I hear the faint sounds of whimpering emerge.
Inside: Teaching mindfulness to kids in an appealing way can be tricky, here are 25 fun mindfulness practices they’ll jump right on board with.
The research-backed benefit’s of mindfulness read like a parent wishlist.
Positive effects on a child’s physical and mental health.
Power to promote kindness, patience, and compassion for others.
The ability to boost self-control, increase attention/focus and encourage better decision making.
If you’d like your child to calm down more easily, stop himself before he kicks his little brother and listen the first time, raise your hand!
*all hands go up*
Mindfulness isn’t a miracle worker for a child, but it may be as close as anything comes to one.
Cozy pj’s with adorable little toes popping out, reading books about fun and adventure…cuddling under warm blankets. Sounds like a pretty good scenario, right?
Why it is then, that many nights bedtime feels more like a horror story than a fairy tale?
Major life crisis’ have a way of shifting our priorities. Seeing your child in a hospital bed hooked up to dozens of wires and machines definitely felt like a crisis. Our daughter was so small weighing in at only 8 pounds but was a representation of something much bigger.
Moments that shift our perspective on life don’t come all too often.
But if we’re awake for them, they can offer a guidepost for how we’d aspire to live our lives.
As I was only 10 days into my parenting journey when my daughter had her first heart surgery, it makes sense that the way I wanted to raise my children was the aspect of my life that came into focus.
Yelling. Stomping. Slamming. Crashing.
Raising a child who experiences intense emotions and doesn’t yet have the coping mechanisms to deal with them appropriately means unpredictability, lots of ups and downs and overall family chaos. [Read more…]
I was driving my 7-year-old daughter to summer camp, like real camp. The kind where you don’t get to talk to them on the phone at all and they sleep over night for the whole week (gasp!).
This is the stuff a mother’s nightmares are made of, but truth be told my girl was eager and ready for the adventure so I was feeling surprisingly calm. [Read more…]
