by Susie Windle | Nov 12, 2014 | Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills, Sensory Information, The Importance of Emotions, Your Child's Brain
You are probably aware that your infant is born with an unfinished brain, and particularly so in the higher, thinking brain. As a parent, this is important to remember. There will be times when your child’s emotional brain, the lower brain, will overwhelm your infant....
by Susie Windle | Oct 16, 2013 | Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills, Sensory Information, Your Child's Brain
By the time your toddler is twenty-four to thirty months old, he or she will be able to create mental symbols and ideas. These multisensory pictures allow your toddler to form a mental image of his or her wants and desires, and your toddler can label it with words....
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 | Jul 3, 2013 | Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills, The Importance of Emotions, The Power of Play
Fear is a basic human emotion. We have all felt fearful at some time. Fear is even necessary for survival. So, when we are helping our children deal with their feelings of fear, we want them to develop courage. How can parents help young children look at and release...
by Susie Windle | Jun 5, 2013 | Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills, The Importance of Emotions
Your child will have strong (strong!) feelings from time to time, and strong feelings will get in the way of problem solving if no one is there to listen and help name the feelings. Think about a time you were very upset. Did it help when (or would it have helped if)...
by Susie Windle | May 8, 2013 | Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills, Sensory Information, The Importance of Emotions, The Power of Play, Your Child's Brain
According to many research studies, moving our bodies directly affects our brain chemistry. When we change our physical state, we change our emotional state. This means that moving can help kids reset emotionally, and resetting emotionally will allow them to feel...
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 | 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...
by Susie Windle | Aug 8, 2012 | Parenting Playbook, Parenting Skills, The Importance of Emotions
Empathy—feeling what another person might feel—is an emotional capacity more common in early childhood than during the preceding toddler years. Empathy is one of the important motivators of healthy social behavior that leads to sympathetic responses of concern and...
