Helping Our Children Love Their Differences

As a former early childhood teacher and parenting educator, I’ve heard countless conversations between children and the important adults in their lives that have given me a window into their unique life experiences.

Helping Siblings Get Along When You Have to Stay Home

“Someday, you two are going to realize how lucky you are to have each other!” I’ve said that to my kids more times than I can count. Hunkered down and separated from their friends due to coronavirus, they really are lucky to have each other.

Helping Teens Become Responsible Adults

Helping Your Child Adjust to Preschool

Preschool offers many benefits  it can be a great place for kids to interact with peers and learn valuable life lessons such as how to share, take turns, and follow rules. It also can prepare them for kindergarten and beyond.

But going to preschool does come with its fair share of emotions, for both the parent and the child. For a kid, entering a new preschool environment filled with unfamiliar teachers and kids can cause both anxiety and anticipation. Parents might have mixed emotions about whether their child is ready for preschool.

The more comfortable you are about your decision and the more familiar the setting can be made for your child, the fewer problems you and your little one will encounter.

Helping Your Child Make Friends Again

As our children’s social worlds begin to expand and return to a new normal after so many unknowns, parents are wondering how to best prepare young kids to make friends outside the home. And to be honest, it can feel overwhelming for both kids and grown-ups. My son often reminds me of something when we’re working through big feelings and life transitions: “Well, you never lived through a pandemic as a kid!” And he’s right!

Helping Your Child Think Through Decisions

When my son was 5, he came home from a neighbor’s yard upset. “All the kids want to play soccer and I hate soccer!” He began to stomp up to his room. But then he paused on the stairs, and I could see he was thinking things through. He didn’t want to play soccer, but he did want to play with other kids. So what other options were there?

Helping Your Four Year Old Express Gratitude

Gratitude involves both feeling and expressing our thankfulness; it means we show our appreciation for others. According to the Harvard Healthbeat, “Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships.

Helping Your Four Year Old Understand and Manage Emotions

Emotional self-awareness involves identifying and understanding one's emotions ― including "big feelings" that can sometimes overwhelm us. As Fred Rogers reminds us: "When we can talk about our feelings, they become less overwhelming, less upsetting, and less scary."

Helping Your Seven Year Old Become a Reader

While most children have "learned to read" by age seven, they are still building confidence in their fluency, vocabulary and reading comprehension skills as they grow into strong readers. Create a playful reading atmosphere at home by encouraging your child's curiosity about books and the world around them. Your example and interest in them will leave a lasting impression.

Helping Your Seven Year Old Develop Independence and Self Confidence

From taking their first steps to learning how to read, children gain self-confidence as they master new skills. This gives them the courage to continue to explore and expand their abilities. Seven-year-olds can set goals and make a plan for mastering new academic and physical skills – from math facts to soccer kicks. As you encourage their interests and independence, you may also need to help them talk through their frustrations and fears. They may be discouraged when a new skill doesn’t come easily to them or when a classmate or sibling seems "better than me" at a task.

Helping Your Seven-Year-Old Develop Independence and Self-Confidence

From taking their first steps to learning how to read, children gain self-confidence as they master new skills. This gives them the courage to continue to explore and expand their abilities. Seven-year-olds can set goals and make a plan for mastering new academic and physical skills – from math facts to soccer kicks. As you encourage their interests and independence, you may also need to help them talk through their frustrations and fears. They may be discouraged when a new skill doesn’t come easily to them or when a classmate or sibling seems "better than me" at a task.

Helping Your Six Year Old Develop Independence and Self-Confidence

Teach kids to reframe their thoughts by countering negative self-talk with self-talk that is both positive and realistic.

Helping Your Two Year Old Understand and Manage Emotions

Emotional self-awareness involves identifying and understanding one’s emotions – including “big feelings” that can sometimes overwhelm us. As Fred Rogers reminds us: “When we can talk about our feelings, they become less overwhelming, less upsetting, and less scary.” Two-year-olds can learn the names of core emotions: happy, sad, scared, and excited. Naming emotions empowers toddlers and helps them understand what’s going on inside their mind and body.

Homework Help: 4 Tips for Parents on How to Make Homework Fun

With the competitive, not to mention stressful, academic environment today, more and more kids are experiencing difficulty keeping up with the demands of the school. Experts say that one of the primary reasons why students, especially the younger ones, get tired or bored is that they are given lots of assignments without knowing where to get help with their homework.

Host Storytime at Home

If your child loves storytime at your local library or bookstore, he’ll be excited to have storytime at home too! Though it may be an audience of one, your storytime at home can be just as engaging and interactive. Below you’ll find a step-by-step guide to creating a storytime similar to those your child has enjoyed at school, the library or bookstore.

Household Safety: Preventing Choking

Putting things in their mouths is one of the ways that babies and small children explore their worlds. Choking is usually caused by food, toys, and other small objects that can easily lodge in a child's small airway — anything that fits can be a danger.

Pay special attention to the following to protect your kids from choking:

How and Why to Teach Your Kids to Help with Household Chores

Other animals don’t have to do household chores, but in nature, purposeful play is typical. When a kitten pounces on a ball of wool, it’s learning vital skills for its future survival as a hunter. Puppies chasing their own tails are developing motor skills and spatial awareness. A bird stretching its wings in the nest is preparing for flight.

How Mindfulness Can Help Kids and Parents Weather Emotional Storms

A couple of weeks ago, I let my five-year-old son stay up late to watch a big game on TV with the family. Sometime around 8pm, the mixture of excitement and exhaustion overwhelmed his system. He lost it.

How Not to Reinforce Negative Behavior With Kids

To parent successfully, determine the behaviors you want from your kids and then deliberately encourage those behaviors. Along those same lines, don't inadvertently reinforce undesired, negative behaviors. This conscious maneuvering can help your child learn your expectations and perform accordingly.

How Parents Can Simplify the Holidays

Much as we love the winter holidays, by the time Thanksgiving has come and gone, many of us are feeling a little anxious as well. We want so much to create memorable celebrations for our families, that it can be hard to separate our sense of duty and obligation from our own intuitive sense of what our children really need, and what we most want for ourselves during this hectic time of year.