Raising kind kids with parenting that empowers
I got a phone call this morning and I was talking about how my 2 and 4 year olds were unintentionally tag-teaming a scream-a-thon. “Why?” was the response. But all I could think is “Anyone’s guess is as good as mine. Because they have big emotions? Because they don’t know how to express themselves? Or […]
To shame someone is to put them down. It’s to crush their heart and make them feel less-than in the moment. Most literally, if we descriptively define what it actually means to use our words to shame another person, it is to inhibit, humiliate, embarrass, degrade, crush, and wither their very soul. And yet we […]
In 2011, I started shifting away from negative language in my high school classroom to a more positive beat. It’s part of what I studied and researched throughout college. Even so, to my astonishment, I started seeing results almost immediately. As if I was holding some sort of magical potion, these teenagers started behaving differently […]
Our family believes in natural and logical consequences. We also strive for positive guidance through tough situations. But when a child becomes defiant or lies, natural consequences feel a little less “black and white” and a lot more confusing both for parent and child. It’s easy to feel like we’re grasping at straws to find a logical […]
As I walked to the dismissal line at school, Jenn quickly walked right past me with a sour face. She trotted to the car without a word and melted immediately upon entering the van. “What’s wrong? What happened?” I asked. “Ms. Kinsington told us if we weren’t better, she wouldn’t be our teacher anymore!” she […]
Emma, my middle child likes to stomp, scream, and hit when she is mad. She’s a threenager. And she can be vicious when she wants to be. But even my older child resorts to hitting when her emotions boil over to the point of using action to express them. In fact, it can be really […]
