by Susie Windle | Apr 19, 2017 | Parenting Playbook, Parents: Practice Self Care
As a parent, it takes some awareness to recognize when you feel emotionally low and need to refuel with the company of other adults. Because children count on grown-ups to provide emotional regulation for them as they learn to manage their feelings, this regulation is...
by Susie Windle | Apr 5, 2017 | Discipline and Trying Times, Parenting Playbook, The Importance of Emotions
The key to setting limits and staying connected to your child relates to emotions. Tuning in to your child’s emotional state is important if you are going to set a limit that is in conflict with your child’s wishes and desires. Empathize first. Reflect her feeling...
by Susie Windle | Mar 8, 2017 | Parenting Playbook, The Power of Play, Your Child's Brain
Downtime is important for the healthy growth and development of your child. Your child’s brain needs breaks in order to process the incoming flood of new information. Being idle allows the brain to take what it already knows and then think, reflect, and change. Idle...
by Susie Windle | Feb 1, 2017 | Parenting Playbook, Parents: Practice Self Care, The Importance of Emotions
Implicit memories—our memories that are not on a conscious level—cause us to form expectations about how the world works. These expectations are based on our previous experiences, and it is important for parents to examine how subconscious memories of past experiences...
by Susie Windle | Jan 18, 2017 | Discipline and Trying Times, Parenting Playbook, Your Child's Brain
If you have ever taken your child with you shopping, you probably realize that stores—especially stores with toys—can activate the seeking system in your child’s brain. Curiosity, exploration, willfulness, drive, expectancy, and desire are a part of this system. In...
by Susie Windle | Dec 21, 2016 | Parenting Playbook, Your Child's Brain
Did you know that you can help your kids improve their ability to remember? Memory is a brain function that gets stronger with practice. The more we exercise memory, the stronger it becomes. So, when you give your kids practice at remembering, you improve their...
by Susie Windle | Dec 14, 2016 | Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills, The Importance of Emotions
Children need constructive ways to deal with the range of emotions they experience. To develop constructive responses to emotions, children need to learn how to calm down. We all think more clearly when we are calm. When children especially are experiencing upsetting,...
by Susie Windle | Dec 7, 2016 | Parenting Playbook, Parents: Practice Self Care, The Importance of Emotions
One of the most important skills you can develop as a parent is recognizing when you are frazzled. When you realize that you are at the end of your rope, it is time to be with some emotionally replenishing people. Adult company is very important for maintaining...
by Susie Windle | Oct 19, 2016 | Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills
When children regress—that is, when they act younger and less mature than they really are—their behavior can trigger annoyance in parents. Usually, regression happens when children (and parents) are feeling stressed, as when a new sibling has arrived to join the...
by Susie Windle | Oct 5, 2016 | Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills, The Importance of Emotions
Patience refers to our ability to accept or tolerate delays, troubles, inconveniences, or distress without getting angry or upset. As any parent knows, parenting provides an opportunity to examine the meaning of patience on a daily basis. Though it is true that some...
