by Susie Windle | Sep 19, 2012 | Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills, The Importance of Emotions, Your Child's Brain
Words can hurt. In fact, words—along with the tone of voice that delivers them—can do real damage. Just think about comments that have been directed your way over the years. Comments of criticism, shame, rejection, anger, or mockery have an impact on our feelings,...
by Susie Windle | Sep 12, 2012 | Discipline and Trying Times, Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills, The Importance of Emotions, Your Child's Brain
As emotional beings, we all need more than food and water to feel satisfied and healthy. Eric Berne, a psychologist, first coined the term “psychological hungers.” Three of the psychological hungers he first identified were stimulation, recognition, and structure....
by Susie Windle | Aug 22, 2012 | Discipline and Trying Times, Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills, Sensory Information, The Importance of Emotions, Your Child's Brain
How we all make sense of things and create meaning from our experiences depends on our state of mind. As parents, our state of mind importantly affects how we create the meanings tied to the behaviors exhibited by our children. Specifically, it’s important to notice...
by Susie Windle | Jul 18, 2012 | Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills, The Importance of Emotions, Your Child's Brain
Most parents know from experience that telling stories can both distract and calm down children. Now there is science to explain how and why stories are so important and powerful. The right side of our brain processes emotions and autobiographical memories. It is our...
by Susie Windle | Jun 6, 2012 | Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills, Your Child's Brain
Your little miracle is born with a brain that is still in the process of developing, and you get to play a major role in nurturing that development. Here’s why . . . At birth, your child’s brain is actually unfinished—particularly the higher brain, which is the newest...
by Susie Windle | Nov 30, 2011 | Discipline and Trying Times, Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills, The Importance of Emotions, Your Child's Brain
Remember “connect and redirect”? Connect to the emotion your child is feeling, and then redirect your child in a way that helps him or her tap a developing ability to think rationally. Connect and redirect is a very helpful strategy for many of those delicate moments...
by Susie Windle | Oct 19, 2011 | Discipline and Trying Times, Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills, Your Child's Brain
Last week we discussed how understanding the development of the right and left sides of the brain could be beneficial in making choices as a parent. This week, we will discuss the vertical aspect. The lower areas of the brain include the brain stem and the limbic...
by Susie Windle | Oct 12, 2011 | Discipline and Trying Times, Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills, The Importance of Emotions, Your Child's Brain
The brain, as you probably already know, has two hemispheres. The strength and function of the left side of the brain is organization. The left side is logical and literal, and the left side likes words and putting things in a sequence. The right side of the brain is...
by Susie Windle | Sep 21, 2011 | Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills
In March 2011, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) panel concluded that not enough evidence exists to prove that artificial food colorings contribute to hyperactivity, distractibility, and other behavioral concerns exhibited by children. The panel did conclude,...
by Susie Windle | Jul 20, 2011 | Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills, The Importance of Emotions
When the excitement and novelty of having a new brother or sister wears off, the older child may begin to feel painful emotions. The older child can feel left out, second best, and invisible. These painful feelings are very real—real for the child on an emotional...
