by Susie Windle | Jun 10, 2009 | Discipline and Trying Times, Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills, The Importance of Emotions, The Power of Play, Your Child's Brain
Children can be passionately possessive of a toy, and a couple brain-based reasons are behind their feelings of ownership. First, emotional attachment releases opioids in the brain—even if the attachment is to a toy. A child gets a sense of well-being when playing...
by Susie Windle | Jan 28, 2009 | Discipline and Trying Times, Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills, Your Child's Brain
Disciplining is more than managing behavior. Disciplining your child involves teaching. Through discipline, you will develop your child’s social, emotional, and moral intelligence. The words you choose when you discipline can either activate the higher thinking brain...
by Susie Windle | Dec 31, 2008 | Discipline and Trying Times, Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills
As Lawrence J. Cohen says, there are a lot of great reasons to choose a “meeting on the couch” over a “time out.”* Whenever a problem of any kind arises, a meeting on the couch will allow parent and child to reconnect. Having “a problem” means that somewhere a...
by Susie Windle | Dec 17, 2008 | Discipline and Trying Times, Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills, The Importance of Emotions, Your Child's Brain
Distinguishing between a tantrum for control and a distress tantrum is important so that you can respond in a way that will be most helpful to the development of your child. The two tantrum types require two different reactions in order to nurture essential brain...
by Susie Windle | Dec 10, 2008 | Discipline and Trying Times, Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills, Your Child's Brain
Temper tantrums for control, referred to as “Little Nero tantrums” by educator and author Margot Sunderland, are very different from distress tantrums. During a distress tantrum, a child’s brain and body are flooded with stress chemicals, and the child experiences and...
by Susie Windle | Nov 26, 2008 | Discipline and Trying Times, Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills, The Importance of Emotions, Your Child's Brain
Temper tantrums are the expression of intense emotional storms. Because they are so intense, temper tantrums can be frightening to the child experiencing the storm and overwhelming for a parent. To avoid the whole situation turning into a matter of who “wins,” it is...
by Susie Windle | Sep 23, 2008 | Discipline and Trying Times, Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills
Last week, Parenting Playbook offered a few suggestions about how parents can help children resolve the feelings, thoughts, and behaviors that are commonly associated with the catchphrase “sibling rivalry.” This week, Parenting Playbook will describe some of the...
