The Blog
Our best advice when it’s tough with kids:breathe, laugh, dance, sing, hug, call a friend. Be gentle with yourself, you’re not done growing up yet. This won’t last and you are not alone.
When should a child stay home from school
Hello there, As parents we face a lot of choices about our children’s education. When a child is asking not to go to school or to go to a different school how do you handle it? How do you balance your parental needs and your child’s needs? How do you even know what is...
How to NOT go to bed mad
Hello there! We’re going to keep this one short and sweet. We had a rough evening. Everyone was tired, grumpy, hungry, and irritable (except Cecilia, because she is always “peaches and cream”). Dishes clashed, voices got louder, and maybe a door slammed. Then, after...
Helping Kids with Tantrums
Hello there, Have you even been trying to help your child through a tough moment and she turns on you in a tantrum and hits, kicks, pinches, or lashes out with her words? Maybe you offered kind words or a suggestion and she flipped out. What do you do then? “All...
How to REALLY listen to kids
Hi there! This afternoon, I (Cecilia) started thinking about how parenting is just like playing in a band. Today I got to play music with some of my favorite people. I have played instruments and sung most of my life. I was even part of an all-girl rock band for a...
Effective Parenting by Design not Default
Hello there! I don’t know about you but it seems that we are constantly researching and “looking things up” online: What’s the best crockpot to buy? Where should we invest our money? Should we watch this movie? When it comes to decisions about our kids these choices...
Take away 80% of the struggle of parenting
Jason and I are both big fans of the 80/20 Principle, especially as it relates to parenting. (We’ll explain the parenting part in a bit, hang tight.) The 80/20 Principle was discovered by Italian Economist Vilfredo Pareto in the early 1900s when he realized that 80%...
What Research Says About Effective Parenting
Following is an excerpt from our email series about effective parenting and the effect punishments and rewards have on kids. I’d like to tell you a story (this is Cecilia): Years ago, I got a degree in occupational therapy. I’ve worked with children nearly my entire...
Kids Having Feelings About Going Back to School
Hello there, I’ve received a few emails recently from parents asking how to support their kids emotionally as they return to school. I’ve got a really cool tool to share with you from the book The Whole Brain Child by Dan Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson. This tool, the...
How to help a child grieve
As much as we wish we didn’t have to see our children in pain, sometimes things happen--a grandparent dies, a beloved family pet has to be “put to sleep”, or a friend moves away. These situations, when our child comes face-to-face with loss, death, or grief, can be...