Parenting Playbook

Anxiety . . .

Anxiety is fear that is stuck. Physically, it seems to uncomfortably occupy the throat, chest, or gut. All sorts of things can make children anxious: a change of schools, a change of grade in a school, a new teacher, a friend moving, a friend mad, divorce, and death...

The brain’s story about discipline words . . .

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...

The social-emotional connection . . .

Social experience plays a part in the development of emotional understanding. In fact, preschoolers whose parents explicitly teach them about diverse emotions and frequently acknowledge their children’s emotional reactions calmly and with care are better able to judge...

Change the scene . . .

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...

Is it a distress tantrum or a tantrum for control? . . .

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...

Tantrums for control . . .

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...

Temper tantrums . . .

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...

Gender differences . . .

Although generalizations of any sort must be carefully examined, it is important to try to understand factors that contribute to observable gender differences that may have real consequences. Let’s take hearing, for example. Research suggests that baby girls hear...

Feed your child’s brain with reading . . .

Reading is good for kids, and their stage of cognitive development will determine the types of books that will be most engaging for them. If you want to choose books that will nurture your child’s brain, having an awareness of the following early stages of reading...

More on sibling rivalry . . .

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...

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