Parenting is a lifelong journey; it is not a destination. Just as in life, parenting has ebbs and flows. There are moments of joy and heartache and there is plenty of the mundane and boring when one is a parent. To truly be engaged and at peace with parenting, one must accept that the experience … Read more
Over the years I have helped many parents work on improving their relationship with their children. My approach has always been to build positive connections while reducing negative interactions. Recently, I became certified in Howard Glasser’s Nurtured Heart Approach to parenting. This approach resonated with not only my instinct about parenting but also with the … Read more
So often when parents ask about how to best discipline their child it comes from a place of desperation. “Nothing works with this kid “is a typical refrain. I believe them. I’m sure their kids are difficult to discipline. It might be that they have a child with an intense, sensitive, or neurodiverse make-up that … Read more
As with so many of my blog posts, I was inspired to write about coping with your child’s social struggles after a particularly emotional session with a parent whose child was entering the middle school years. She tearfully described how gut-wrenching it felt watching her tween daughter struggle to be accepted for who she is … Read more
Parents often worry about whether their children are behaving in ways that are “normal”. Although normal is a relative term, we do have general guidelines from child development and pediatrics to help us navigate this aspect of parenting. I lean on the work of Erik Erikson (1956). According to Erikson, the socialization process consists of … Read more
Over the last 25 years of private practice, I have seen the rates of anxiety grow exponentially for children and adolescents. There are many reasons for this increase in rates which include the rise in environmental stressors, daily exposure to news and events through social media, and a deterioration in the sense of community and … Read more
I think the term tantrum has gotten a bad rap. When anyone thinks of the word tantrum, most see a toddler falling to the floor as she wails at her caretakers to give her what she wants. Every human has tantrums. We never grow out of them. Tantrums allow us to release the emotional valve … Read more
Attunement is a key concept in the world of child and adolescent psychology. When our child is born, we define attunement as those subtle interactions we have with our infant that communicate with him/her that we feel their emotions.
My answer to this is emphatic: YES! This won’t surprise anyone. What might surprise you is the best answer to these questions is that kids should have chores without expecting any sort of allowance. Don’t get me wrong, I think allowance is a great idea, but it should be completely independent of performing chores.
If you are reading this NurtureNook entry, you are likely a parent of a teen who is approaching the end of her/his high school experience. This also means that you are negotiating the “next step” with your teen. The first decision is whether the next step is college, the workforce, or perhaps taking a gap year experience. If college is your child’s next step, get ready for an intense ride.