by Susie Windle | Mar 22, 2017 | Discipline and Trying Times, Parenting Playbook
Giving children choices rather than routinely telling them what to do engages the child’s higher thinking brain. By offering choices with consequences, your child will get some practice in planning and thinking through his or her choices as well as experiencing the...
by Susie Windle | Oct 26, 2016 | Discipline and Trying Times, Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills
Consequences provide feedback for behavior, and when we provide logical consequences for our children, they will connect their choices to outcomes. Logical consequences fit a particular situation. A parent chooses a response that connects to a child’s choice, which...
by Susie Windle | Oct 12, 2016 | Discipline and Trying Times, Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills
Natural consequences can be quite instructive for your child, and all you have to do is sit back and let the laws of nature do the teaching. The feedback your child receives from natural consequences can be less than pleasant, such as when he or she learns that going...
by Susie Windle | May 11, 2016 | Discipline and Trying Times, Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills
Parenting has its share of frustrations, and sometimes the appropriate thing to do in response is not apparent. Frustration, impatience, confusion, and anger are all expected emotions during the parenting process—yet they are not excuses for copping out, threatening,...
by Susie Windle | May 4, 2016 | Discipline and Trying Times, Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills, Your Child's Brain
Most families have some rules. And that’s a good thing. Family rules, if based on fairness, create a sense of safety for everyone in the family. In addition, a few family rules help kids engage and wire up the thinking part of their brains, which will help them...
by Susie Windle | Sep 17, 2014 | Discipline and Trying Times, Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills, Your Child's Brain
Knowing your child while he or she is growing is important as you practice parenting. Each child is his or her own little being, and each child will go through developmental stages differently. Effectively providing discipline will be easier if you keep this in mind....
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...
by Susie Windle | Jul 10, 2013 | Discipline and Trying Times, Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills
Parents do need to set limits, and the hard part about doing this is deciding which lines to draw. Your personal values and attitudes will guide you, and it will also be helpful to remember to set your boundaries wide and then enforce them while keeping your child’s...
by Susie Windle | Oct 10, 2012 | Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills, Parents: Practice Self Care
There are 24 hours in every day, and we each get to make at least some of the decisions related to filling those hours. If we don’t make well-considered choices, it is easy to get caught up in responding to emails, making phone calls, working long hours, scheduling...
by Susie Windle | Oct 3, 2012 | Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills, Parents: Practice Self Care, Sensory Information
We have all heard the saying “It’s the little things that count,” and we probably have all experienced “little things” counting on more than one occasion. In terms of how this adage applies to our health and well-being, research is showing that little daily practices...
