Our Family Has a BIG Surprise to Share…

Our son Lucas says it so well, so I’ll let him do the talking…

How to Support Your Child’s Emotional Awareness (& prevent emotional eating later in life)

We need to feel our emotions. Reactions are human, natural, and normal. Denying them is to deny ourselves. It leads to emotional eating, among other problems.
This lesson is important not only for us, but for our kids too. How do we teach this lesson to our children?

Is This You? – “I don’t have a reaction. I have a bag of chips.”

If you’re labeling thoughts or feelings as wrong, you’re putting yourself in the wrong for having those thoughts or feelings. The natural reaction is to “stuff” the bad thought or feeling. Bury it deep, pretend it doesn’t exist. But this can lead to a lifetime of struggling with emotional eating.

How I Stopped my Toddler’s Tantrum in Its Tracks

Lucas looked to me for direction. “Boy sad,” he told me.

“Yes,” I told him. But I wanted to say more than that. I wanted to tell him that it was ok, that the boy wasn’t wrong for feeling sad.

So I pulled my cart to the side of the aisle, and had a gentle heart-to-heart with my son.

Make Potty-Training a Breeze (The How & Why of Elimination Communication)

In our culture, we train babies and toddlers to eliminate in diapers.

They rarely romp around diaper free (who wants a puddle on the floor or a poop-stain on the wall?!), it’s not the norm to offer them the potty, and so we tend to keep our wee ones in diapers 24/7 until the momentous day of potty training arrives. (Yes, ahem, pun intended.)

And then the world turns upside down as toddler’s diaper, the one thing they’ve always been able to count on 100%, is ripped from their terrified grasp, and their tear-stained face stares up at you with an accusation of betrayal.

Parenting Big Scary Feelings – How to Build a Strong Bond

Parenting is haaaaaard! (Did you hear my whiny toddler-inspired tone there?)
In the toddler years, kids are finding their voices, declaring their independence, and struggling to deal with some Big Scary Feelings in the process.