by Susie Windle | Mar 18, 2015 | Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills, The Importance of Emotions, Your Child's Brain
Language is an important part of communicating, but words have limitations. Words seldom tell the whole story in an emotional situation. Nuances are inherent in subjective experiences. Because of the limitations of language, using only words can cut off important,...
by Susie Windle | Mar 4, 2015 | Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills, The Importance of Emotions
Infants are capable of wonderful conversations through touch and eye contact. When an infant begins to engage actively with the eyes as you hold him or her, the mutual gaze is a conversation with your child. In fact, the ability to light you up in this process is the...
by Susie Windle | Feb 11, 2015 | Discipline and Trying Times, Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills, The Importance of Emotions, Your Child's Brain
If we can instill good judgment in children, they will be more likely to make healthy choices when we are not around. Simply getting them to be obedient lasts only as long as we are in the room because it doesn’t help them understand what to do in new, novel...
by Susie Windle | Jan 14, 2015 | Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills, The Importance of Emotions, The Power of Play
When children and parents spend time apart during the day, adjustments are necessary when reconnection takes place. This reentry into each others’ lives can create some missteps because everyone is full of feelings remaining from their time apart. Everyone also has...
by Susie Windle | Dec 17, 2014 | Discipline and Trying Times, Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills, The Importance of Emotions, The Power of Play
Parents can easily begin to feel that they are either disciplining their kids or chauffeuring them from one activity to the next, and nothing much else. It’s important to make time for some family fun! As humans we are hardwired to play, explore, and connect with...
by Susie Windle | Nov 12, 2014 | Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills, Sensory Information, The Importance of Emotions, Your Child's Brain
You are probably aware that your infant is born with an unfinished brain, and particularly so in the higher, thinking brain. As a parent, this is important to remember. There will be times when your child’s emotional brain, the lower brain, will overwhelm your infant....
by Susie Windle | Oct 22, 2014 | Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills, Sensory Information, The Importance of Emotions, The Power of Play, Your Child's Brain
Neuroscience has confirmed what would seem sensible on a gut level: that environmental factors influence the prenatal and postnatal brain. Since this is so, the question becomes, how can we create conditions that foster healthy children and their developing brains in...
by Susie Windle | Aug 6, 2014 | Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills, Sensory Information, The Importance of Emotions, Your Child's Brain
For many reasons, parents want to believe they can control their child’s toilet training. Some parents feel pressure from friends and family to get started while others simply want a break from smelly laundry and the cost of disposable diapers. However, it is a good...
by Susie Windle | Jul 30, 2014 | Discipline and Trying Times, Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills, The Importance of Emotions
Last week Parenting Playbook looked at the distinction between sibling rivalry and bullying at home. This week, let’s look at some ideas to consider when siblings disagree. When siblings are in the throes of a disagreement, it can be easy for parents to feel like...
by Susie Windle | Jul 23, 2014 | Discipline and Trying Times, Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills, The Importance of Emotions, Your Child's Brain
Sibling rivalry can be seen in children’s ordinary skirmishes over the TV’s remote control or a video game’s joystick. However, what about chronic physical or verbal abuse? And what if chronic physical or verbal abuse is directed primarily at one sibling? That’s...