Here are my strategies for balancing a busy schedule while finding joy and creating connection along the way.

As we seek to understand our children’s feelings and experiences, we draw closer to them. In turn, they are more secure, cooperative, and connected.

Kindergarten is an exciting milestone for your little one! It can also be a time filled with anxieties and challenges. Here are five ways to make the transition easier on both of you.

Emotional intelligence is a key part of conflict resolution because for a resolution to take place, children must be able to understand their own emotions and the emotions of others and to verbally express those feelings in an appropriate way.

From the time that our babies learn to walk and talk, we are hit with warnings.

One of just a few summers where our driveways are covered in sidewalk chalk, sprinklers serve a higher purpose of spraying kids in the face as they run through, and hands sticky from popsicles leave prints on everything in the house.

When we seek to understand that is motivating our children, we are better able to address the cause of the behavior rather than reacting to the behavior itself.

Is your child’s behavior baffling you? It can be difficult to understand what is motivating a child’s poor behavior.

My shift came when I finally understood that behavior was communication – and wrongful behavior was a cry for help from my child. That’s when positive parenting clicked for me.

It’s a time to celebrate and spur your child’s interest in reading and literacy. Reading aloud to your child every day is one very effective way to do just that!

As if all of that weren’t enough for a child to handle, there’s a new set of difficulties that we didn’t have to deal with when we were middle schoolers, and that’s navigating the online world and learning how to stay safe in it.

Your Gut is Smart- Listen to It

Today, St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated around the world, but beyond the shamrocks and wearing of green, what does the day mean?

Unfortunately, the result for introverted moms is often that we carry too much guilt – guilt for wanting to be alone and guilt for feeling overwhelmed.

We typically profess our love with store-bought cards and the boxes of candy, and those are sweet gestures, but what if we choose instead to create purposeful traditions that make our children feel truly loved and cherished?

It isn’t naughtiness that drives aggression – it’s frustration or fear. That’s an important distinction because when we see a child as being frustrated or afraid instead of mean or bad, we are moved to respond with compassion rather than anger.

Are you feeling the post-holiday blahs? Do you struggle with irritability and a general bad mood? If so, you’re in the right place, because I’m going to share 5 proven ways to boost your mood every day so that your kids can see your smiling face.

Are we now more concerned with having the best-behaved, best sleeping, fastest reading, most accomplished, and most obedient child, or are we concerned with one of a parent’s most important duties – keeping their child’s heart safe?

The research is clear – spanking is harmful to child development.

The real lessons we want to teach our children are how to control their own behavior, make wiser choices, think of others, and take responsibility for their actions.

While many children understand it as the pretend play of childhood and happily carry on the tradition with their younger siblings and friends, some children can feel quite upset and even betrayed by the lie.