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.
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...
How to Support a Sad Kid
All we really know at the beginning of this video is that we have a really upset child. We don’t know why exactly he’s upset, nor do we know how to make it better. He acts like want me close. He acts like he doesn’t want me to talk or help. I’m sure there is a good...
Clean Up Games
I hate cleaning up. However, I do believe cleaning up is a valuable skill for kids to learn—not to perfect, but just participate in … at least a little bit. How do you get kids to clean up? Normal people would offer ice cream or time outs. But if you don’t want to use...
See Us Parent
Do you ever wish that you could just watch someone else parent (who shares your parenting values)? See how they handle things and learn from it? Get inspired from hearing what they say or at least just know that you aren’t alone in your struggle? Well now you can! I...