by Susie Windle | Jan 8, 2014 | Discipline and Trying Times, Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills, The Importance of Emotions
Morning routines can create stress in a family. Time pressures and moods can evolve into an emotional storm, with voices rising and good-bye hugs forgotten. Who wants to start the day like that? As a parent, you can help mornings move along more smoothly by planning,...
by Susie Windle | Dec 4, 2013 | Discipline and Trying Times, Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills, The Importance of Emotions, Your Child's Brain
Temper tantrums typically occur because connections in a child’s brain have not yet developed in a way that allows for powerful feelings to be managed in socially acceptable ways. This week, we will look at distress tantrums, temper tantrums that are the result of...
by Susie Windle | Oct 30, 2013 | Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills, The Power of Play, Your Child's Brain
Structured activities for and with your child can be fun . . . some of the time. For example, it might be fun for you and your child to enjoy an art, gymnastics, or Kindermusik class. Just be sure to balance structured activities within the context of your already...
by Susie Windle | Oct 23, 2013 | Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills, Your Child's Brain
Board games provide a great way to spend time together as a family, and playing games as a family is one way to practice social skills—particularly around developing a healthy attitude toward winning and losing. In order to teach how to win and lose gracefully, a few...
by Susie Windle | Aug 28, 2013 | Discipline and Trying Times, Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills, The Importance of Emotions, The Power of Play
Every child, even an only child, has the feelings, thoughts, and behaviors that are commonly associated with the catchphrase “sibling rivalry.” If you look underneath the conflicts that go along with sibling rivalry, you will usually find questions: Am I truly and...
by Susie Windle | Jul 31, 2013 | Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills, Your Child's Brain
As parents, we become expert about a child’s body. For example, we know that a fever occurs when our child’s body temperature is above 98.6 degrees, and we know to clean a cut he or she has suffered to avoid infection. It is also important for parents to understand...
by Susie Windle | Jun 19, 2013 | Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills, Sensory Information, Your Child's Brain
Children can be, and most often are, quite resilient. That does not mean they are immune to stress, however, or to its resulting responses in the brain and body. In fact, children are highly vulnerable to stress during the first few years of life. As a parent, you can...
by Susie Windle | Jan 16, 2013 | Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills, Parents: Practice Self Care
If you find yourself too often thinking or saying to your children, “Hurry up! We are running out of time!” it may be time to make some time to evaluate commitments. Otherwise, it is too easy to slip into a mode of continual acceleration and nonstop doing, resulting...
by Susie Windle | Dec 26, 2012 | Discipline and Trying Times, Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills, The Importance of Emotions
Most parents tell their children, “Talk to us if you are upset or have a problem.” Yet sometimes that statement can be more accurately translated as, “Talk to us if you are upset or have a problem, when it is convenient for us.” A child can find it hard to believe...
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,...
