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.

Naughty or Nice: The Trouble with Using Santa for Behavior Modification

Thanksgiving was nowhere in sight. Where has Thanksgiving gone, and why are we so eager to skip the season of Thanksgiving?

Is your child clingy? Do you worry that she’s “too attached?” Is his behavior attention-seeking?

Perhaps the problem doesn’t lie in disciplinary actions but in critical words spoken or lack of quality time spent.

Pediatric obesity has reached epidemic proportions which has both immediate and long-term consequences for children.

Before you send your eye-rolling kid to his room, consider this. School is stressful, and children’s developing brains aren’t yet fully equipped to handle it.

The transition to middle school is an important milestone. It’s a time of tremendous change, not only to a new school building, but also physically, emotionally, and mentally for your child.

On the outside, I probably looked like a mom who had it all together.

Here’s how to tell if you are parenting from a fear-based mindset. Do you use time-outs, counting to three, or threats of punishment to change behavior? Do you physically punish your child? Do you set no limits or weak limits because you want your child to like you? Do you fail to discipline altogether?

Goal-setting is a simple way for kids to build confidence and self-esteem, learn responsibility, and gain a can-do attitude!

With no school lunches to pack or homework to complete, there’s finally a little more time to connect heart to heart with our kids.

“A happy life is made of a million little happy moments stitched together with great purpose.” – Rebecca Eanes, The Gift of a Happy Mother

Sometimes in the middle of a power struggle, our parenting strategy dissolves into one-upping our kids and aiming to get the last word.

The thing is, your child’s friends rarely love without conditions, and jumping through the conditions of acceptance and approval is exhausting every single day.

The benefits of play has been well-documented, but are you aware that play is a powerful parenting tool? We can use play to teach lessons, heal and process emotions, and connect with our children’s hearts. Why is play so effective? Because children are wired to learn this way!

We say, “Don’t do that,” and they do it anyway. We say, “Stop” and they continue. We say, “Pick that up” and they do so just to throw it back down again.