Parents With Confidence

Raising emotionally healthy children who will live their BEST life..

  • Start here
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact
  • Shop
    • Cart
    • My account
    • Checkout
  • Positive Parenting
  • Emotions and Mindfulness
  • Childhood Mental Health
  • Start here
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact
  • Shop
    • Cart
    • My account
    • Checkout
  • Positive Parenting
  • Emotions and Mindfulness
  • Childhood Mental Health

The 50 Most Epic Anger Management Tools for Kids

June 6, 2019 by Angela Pruess 1 Comment

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.

I start thinking how much I loathe unloading the dishwasher and ponder what we’ll have for dinner when loud shrieks cut through the air.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Parenting, Uncategorized Tagged With: anger management for kids, coping skills for kids, kids and anger, social and emotional development

7 Simple but Powerful Anger Management Activities for Kids

May 30, 2019 by Angela Pruess Leave a Comment

Inside: Discover 7 quick and easy anger management activities for kids from a child therapist you can do with no preparation that help build healthy coping skills. 

Unmanaged anger holds the potential to derail a day, a week or a life. 

Giving our child a kick start to an emotionally healthy and grounded future means helping them to better understand and manage their emotions.

For most parents, helping their child deal with anger is at the top of this list.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Parenting Tagged With: anger management for kids, kids and anger

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

May 22, 2019 by Angela Pruess 1 Comment

Inside: 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. 

Anger loves to trick us.

In childhood, the anger of others made me feel like I wasn’t good enough. In adolescence, my own anger enabled me to feel powerful and strong and in parenthood anger allows me to feel a sense of control amidst the chaos.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Childhood Mental Health, Parenting Tagged With: anger management for kids, angry child, emotional regulation, helping a child with anger

How to Help a Child Deal with Anger Now and Throughout Life

May 15, 2019 by Angela Pruess 2 Comments

Inside: Learn essential strategies for helping a child deal with anger and why research shows them to be effective throughout life, from a child therapist.

A few times a month my 4-year-old plods down the stairs in his pull-up promptly inquiring “can I please have a piece of my candy for breakfast?”

Really? You don’t remember my response the last 23 times you’ve asked this question at 6:30 in the morning?

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Parenting Tagged With: helping kids manage anger, intense kids, kids and anger, kids and emotions

Positive Discipline Made Practical: 12 Child Behaviors and Solutions

April 29, 2019 by Angela Pruess Leave a Comment

Inside: Many parents strive for positive parenting but aren’t sure how to implement positive discipline strategies for the most challenging child behaviors. 

The path to positive discipline is not a straight one.

If you’re hustling hard after positive parenting but feel like you fall short in times of stress you’re not alone.

It’s much easier to be a mindful and conscious parent when things are going as planned and your kids are not launching things at each other’s heads during a road trip to Florida for Spring Break (this may or may not have happened to me yesterday).

It’s only natural you’d be triggered by your child’s challenging behaviors because you‘re human.

positive discipline

You also know from recent neuroscience that positive discipline is the most effective and emotionally healthy way to improve child behavior in a long-term and meaningful way.

So how do you tackle your child’s tough behaviors in a respectful and effective way when stress is high and patience is low?

The Key to Positive Discipline Success

When your oldest child is picking on their younger sibling or your toddler smacks you in a fit of anger, your brain automatically goes into ‘reactive parent-stress mode’ due to your (healthy and mostly handy if you need protection from danger) limbic system.

What your healthy limbic system does not do is make it easy to stay calm, logical and respond to your struggling child’s underlying needs with the positive parenting skills you strive for.

The key to successfully implementing positive discipline is to have a plan in place before you’re stuck in the heat of your fight or fight response. 

It’d be lovely if there was a one-size-fits-all formula for disciplining a child, but humans and their behavior is just more complicated than that.

In an effort to simplify where we can, here’s 12 of the most common child behaviors parents struggle to implement positive discipline with and a collection of solutions grounded in positive discipline principles.

Pin to SAVE:

positive discipline

Common challenging behaviors and how to respond with positive discipline strategies

|Whining 

Do phrases like “you never let me do anything!” and “it’s not fair!” leave you feeling frustrated and ready to snap? It’s way too easy to take these comments personally when in reality, they have little to do with us.

Check out how to handle these common complaints from kids with grace from A Military Wife and Mom, 10 Powerful Responses when Your Child Whines or Complains. 

|Tantrums/Emotional Outbursts

When it comes to how to discipline a toddler, handing the dreaded ‘temper tantrum’ during the toddler and pre-schooler years is a must-know skill.

improve child behavior

Positive Parenting Connection gives light to why kids have emotional outbursts as well as parent do’s and don’ts in What Really Works to Help Children with Tantrums. 

|Pestering/Begging 

Taking the kids with you to the store is already overwhelming enough…then cue the begging and pestering!

Here’s an amazing idea to address your child’s pestering in a respectful and sanity-saving way from Happy You Happy Family, A Simple Trick to Run Errands with No Whining From Your Kids

|Giving up Easily

For some kids, perseverance and resilience come easy, and for others, it is a much different story. Here are research-based strategies from A Fine Parent that help you teach what your child really needs in these frustrating moments, confidence.

What to do if your Child Gives up Easily at the First Sign of Trouble

 

|Not listening/Ignoring

Feel like your kid won’t listen until you start to yell? It might work in the moment but then we all know… it sets up a precedent of yelling which is detrimental to what you’re trying to accomplish with positive parenting techniques.

Here are 5 tips that inspire a child to listen: How to Get Your Child to Listen Without Yelling 

 

positive discipline

 

|Defiance/Oppositionality

Defiance is the number one trigger for many parents! This age by age guide on understanding and handling defiance with positive discipline from Aha Parenting will have you feeling cool as a cucumber the next time your child throws out “you’re not the boss of me!”.  Handling Defiance: You’re Not the Boss of Me!

 

|Back-talk/Disrespect

This article from Parenting From the Heart outlines a great strategy for approaching back-talk and arguing with your child that takes a few extra minutes up front but saves you many more minutes of wasted time with ineffective lectures and nagging, How to Stop Balk-talk and Restore Peace in Your Family

positive discipline

 

|Aggression

Handling aggression with positive discipline is not easy when parenting toddlers or older children. Aggressive behaviors are jarring for parents and kick us quickly into our bodies own stress response.

Here’s a 5-step plan (with examples) from Rebecca Eanes that leads you through how to discipline a child showing aggression with positive discipline strategies, How to Be A Positive Parent with an Aggressive Child. 

|Sibling fighting

Learn a step-by-step framework for helping your kids get the root of their conflict from Imperfect Families and the best part… you’ll also be helping them learn to work things out on their own in the long-term!

positive discipline

A Surprising Solution to Sibling Fighting

|Bedtime battles

At the end of the day we’re at the end of our rope. That doesn’t mean our child doesn’t need us to be present and supportive.

This is a super helpful insight on bedtime stress from Your Modern Family, highlighting how bedtime issues can often be traced back to separation anxiety. Here’s how to help, Nighttime Separation Anxiety- 8 Tips to Help them Sleep.

|Negative/Critical Self-Talk

Hearing your child say negative and defeatist comments like “I’m so stupid” or “nobody likes me” is heartbreaking and can be a tricky thing to address.

This article from Nurture and Thrive helps you support your child in these very moments and also turn it into something more positive and productive, How to Help Turn Your Child’s Negative Self-Talk into Kindness

|Lying

It’s way too easy to make a mountain out of a molehill when our kids are less than honest with us. Don’t fret- these 7 tips from Positive Parenting Solutions make it much less stressful to address when your child is dishonest.

7 Steps to Encourage Honesty and Put an end to Lying

 

If Positive Discipline is hard you’re doing it right

Helping guide your child with positive discipline is much more about fostering a strong bond with your child, growing your understanding of your child and establishing limits and boundaries in a culture of respect, and much less about a set formula or strict guidelines.

As parents and humans, we want answers and we want them now. If only there were a simple formula for growing a well-adjusted human!

When we trust the vast power of connection, modeling and child development while grasping the true meaning of discipline (teaching not punishing) when we approach our child’s challenging behaviors, we’ll be off to a darn good start.

Other articles you’d like: 

parenting a strong willed child

 

Filed Under: Parenting, Uncategorized

Before Disciplining a Child Please Know This Important Truth

April 17, 2019 by Angela Pruess 2 Comments

Inside: Learn the most common oversight when it comes to disciplining a child and how shifting your perspective on your child’s behaviors will help improve them. 

I think most of us would like to consider ourselves ‘the glass is half full’ kind of people.

I’ve always been more of an optimist, having this solidified while sitting in Fraser Hall twenty (gulp) years ago while taking my Philosophy 101 class.

Our teacher discussed two basic outlooks on humanity and how these perceptions held the potential to affect our thinking: humans were inherently good but sometimes do bad things OR humans were inherently evil and sometimes do good things.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Parenting Tagged With: child discipline, positive discipline

The Best Tools for Mindfulness with Children that Promote Focus and Calm

April 2, 2019 by Angela Pruess Leave a Comment

Inside: A child therapists top used tools for mindfulness with children that will help your child with focus, anxiety and emotional regulation.

The benefits of mindfulness with kids are many (increased focus, self-control, better mood, better sleep, lower anxiety, etc etc to the MOON) but parents often wonder, how the heck do you actually do mindfulness with children?

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Childhood Mental Health, Parenting

The Simple 3 Step Plan for How to Stay Calm with Your Kids

March 27, 2019 by Angela Pruess Leave a Comment

Inside: Learn how to stay calm with kids on even the most chaotic days, and why it’s important to set a positive emotional tone for your family.

I’m excited to share a guest post from Rebecca Eanes, who is the founder of Positive-Parents.org, the author of Positive Parenting: An Essential Guide and her book ‘The Gift of a Happy Mother’.
how to stay calm with kids
*this post contains affiliate links for your convenience, which allows the website to make a small commission at no charge to you. Thank you!

You’ve heard the phrase, “If Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.” It might be a bit exaggerated, but there is truth to it.

Mothers often set the emotional tone in the home.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Parenting Tagged With: conscious parenting, mindful parenting, positive parenting

Mindfulness with Kids: 8 Life-Changing Benefits for Brain and Behavior

March 21, 2019 by Angela Pruess 2 Comments

Inside: Learn 8 reasons why everyone should be practicing mindfulness with kids and what amazing benefits will occur from better behavior to improved emotional well-being.

I was already sold on the magic of mindfulness with kids.

I’ve been a mental health practitioner for 15 years now and have steadily seen and heard more and more about the ability for mindfulness to effectively address mental health concerns in childhood.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Childhood Mental Health, Parenting Tagged With: mindfulness, mindfulness with kids

10 Simple Everyday Ways to Improve a Child’s Behavior and Mood

March 14, 2019 by Angela Pruess 4 Comments

Inside: Discover how basic integrative health approaches can be applied daily to improve child behavior, mood, and mental health. 
(*This article contains affiliate links for your convenience which allow me to make a small commission off your purchase to support the site. Thank you!)

We call it the beast. 

It used to appear at least a couple of times a week, wreaking havoc on our household but was invisible to the naked eye.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Childhood Mental Health, Parenting Tagged With: child behavioral problems, emotional and behavioral challenges, improving child behavior

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • …
  • 9
  • Next Page »

Sign up for my FREE 5-Day Parenting Course

Give your Child the life-long SUPERPOWER of emotional health by joining the Parents with Confidence movement!

Sign Up Today!

Angela Pruess

I'm Angela, a licensed child therapist and mom of 3. I'm here to help you raise an emotionally healthy, resilient child who'll change the world through emotional intelligence, positive discipline, growth mindset, mindfulness, art/nature, childhood mental health and the therapeutic power of play. Let's help your child live their BEST life.

Welcome!

Learn More

Emotions Flashcard Bundle

Popular Posts

raising an emotionally intelligent child

100 Everyday Ways to Strengthen Your Child’s Mental Health

This is Why Positive Parenting Skills WILL Change Your Family Forever

Recent Posts

  • Healthy Daily Routines for Parents who are Confident & Calm
  • 7 Eye-opening Reasons Your Child Isn’t Listening (and what to do about it)
  • 125 Positive Affirmations for Kids to Skyrocket Strength, Confidence and Self-Love
  • 5 Simple but Effective Ways to Help Your Child with the Uncertain Year Ahead
  • The Single Most Helpful Trick for Dealing with a Child’s Emotional Outburst

Follow me on Pinterest for more!


  • The Huffington Post
  • motherly
  • Psych Central
  • Scary Mommy
  • The Mighty

Copyright © 2021 · Parents With Confidence · All Rights Are Reserved