Parents With Confidence

Raising emotionally healthy children that will change the world.

Toddler Discipline: 5 Insider Secrets that Change Your Outlook

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Inside: Approaching toddler discipline is much easier when you learn the social and emotional development underlying frustrating behaviors. 

“Mama, can we get some fwuut snacks? Pweeeeeeese?”

Last week, while at the grocery store, my 3-year-old and I ran into a close family friend we hadn’t seen in a long time. It was a dear friend so I ran over to greet her enthusiastically with a hug.

As soon as we finished exchanging hello’s, I knew exactly what would happen next as I’d been living in the land of toddler discipline all morning.

[Read more…]

How to Discipline a Child without Criticism And Shame

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When it comes to how to discipline a child, harsh approaches using criticism and shame don’t work and negatively impact a child’s emotional well-being.

Our eight-year-old daughter is a sensitive soul. Ever since I can remember we’ve been able to visibly see the impact our words and reactions have on her. She’s also spirited and independent so in the first few years of her life, her behaviors elicited quite a few words and reactions from her father and me, many of which I regret.

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6 Ways to be a Mindful Parent During the Holidays

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Inside:Learn 6 Ways to be mindful of your child’s needs through the chaotic holiday season to minimize meltdowns and maximize fun, joy, and love.

Putting up Christmas decorations and trimming the tree is a day I look forward to with eager anticipation every year.

Excitement runs high and expectations of laughter, Christmas music, and shiny ornaments float through my mind.

But you know what they say about expectations…

 

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A Quick and Easy Way to Grow Grateful Hearts for the Holidays (and for life)

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Inside: Learn why gratefulness increases your happiness and well-being and a simple 3 step practice to make reflecting on gratitude easy yet amazingly meaningful for your child.

Join the #YESvember challenge and find more joy, fun and connection in parenting! (details at the end of this post).

 

“Can Santa bring me this racetrack mama?”

The question was innocent enough but my irritation rose as I responded to the question for the 43rd time that day.

“You can ask Santa, but he chooses what to bring for kids”.

It was the quickest way I could think of addressing my three-year-olds newly realized ideology that speaking his wish list out into the atmosphere would make said items magically appear under the tree.

I really needed to nip that idea in the bud because he had in fact asked for at least twenty-eight different toys (98% of them race car related) before lunch, despite the fact that is wasn’t even December yet. All of this childlike greed delivered from a crisp red Toy catalog delivered to our mailbox, that I had left out on the counter.

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How To Raise An Emotionally Intelligent Child That Will Succeed In Life

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You’ll learn why emotional intelligence is the host for a variety of essential skills your child uses in daily life and as they move into adulthood.

 

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.

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This is the Best Way to Nurture Resilience in Your Child Today

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A growth mindset is a way of thinking that will change the way your child views new challenges, hard work, and mistakes and set them up for lifelong resilience. 
(This post includes referral links that bring in a very small commission to help keep the site running to get you the best research-based knowledge to help grow your awesome kid!)

 

It had happened dozens of times before but despite the initial reaction of excitement and anticipation, I knew how it would likely end.

An awesome new Lego set.

A newly assigned math project.

A self-initiated attempt to recreate the Island of Tafiti from ‘Moana’ using only paper and washi tape.

All of these things began as new adventures with the potential for fun and learning, only to end up in a completely different reality.

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Change How You See Your Child and Unlock Their Full Potential

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Parents will learn how changing their perspective toward challenging behaviors has the ability to unlock their child’s full potential and unique strengths. 
This post includes referral links that bring in a small commission to help keep the site running to get you the best research-based knowledge to help grow your awesome kid!

 

Many of us have had a child we didn’t expect.

The one that can’t just go with the flow and do things the way they’re ‘supposed’ to. The one that doesn’t listen. The one that can’t sit still. The one that has more emotions by 6 AM than a pregnancy ward at full capacity. [Read more…]

Here’s the Most Effective Way to Help an Angry Child

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Inside: Learn invaluable skills for helping an angry child learn emotional regulation that will create a more peaceful home.

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…]

5 Parenting Mindsets That Are Toxic to Your Child

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Inside: These mindsets allow parents to use positive parenting skills to grow emotionally healthy kids and fully enjoy the amazing experience of parenthood.
positive parenting skills

Sometimes it feels as though there are two different parenting mindsets.

One can be likened to looking at your sweet child fast asleep in bed at night, the moon reflecting off their cherub-like cheeks, your heart ready to explode with all the love, gratitude and endless possibility that lie within the honor of growing a human being. [Read more…]

A Child Therapist’s Best Tips for Parenting a Child with ADHD

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These vital tips for parenting a child with ADHD may surprise you, but will lead your child to better behaviors now AND a more successful future later.

parenting a child with ADHD

My 9-year-old client sits down on the couch in my therapy office and I can tell already by his slumped shoulders and downward gaze that he is having a rough week.

“How’s your week been bud? Should we start with the highs or the lows?”

“I hate school and I never want to go back again”. [Read more…]

  • The Huffington Post
  • Parent.co
  • Psych Central
  • Scary Mommy
  • The Mighty