At Home
Both Sadnesses
If a child feels the deepest depths of sadness they’ve ever felt, and expresses it by becoming silent, laying their head down on their desk, and silent tears rolling down their face — adults will […]
Social/Emotional
At Home
Immediate Obedience
Immediate obedience is a fear response. There isn’t immediate obedience when you’re committed to parenting your children without making them afraid of you. Sometimes your kid just needs a second to process what you asked […]
At Home
Would You Have Been Safe?
When you were a child, if you had said, “I’m so mad right now,” would you have been safe? If you had said, “I’m furious—I need a break, get away from me!” If you had […]
Elementary
The Going Through Things Is The Process
When adults ask me for advice, sometimes they’ll ask about a child who’s going through something that’s legitimately difficult. A big life transition (new baby is a common one), a grief or loss, something traumatic […]
At School
At Home
When Siblings are Sensitive to Crying
Someone asked me what to do when one of their children was distressed by the other child crying. Their kids were 6 and 4, and so are mine. The 4 year old especially would cry […]
At School
First, Then
Imagine that you sit down to watch a movie. You pop yourself a bowl of popcorn to go with it…maybe your favorite toppings, whether salt and butter or marshmallow or Parmesan cheese or something else…you […]
At School
Writing Connection
One of my kids who does not like to write and feels particularly threatened by writing, really does like to have some kind of transition object to hold in the hallway while we walk from […]
At School
Old School/Baby Steps
At the top of the poster is a sentence describing “old school expectations”. It reads like this: “Kids at desks / sit silently / (without sensory supports) / while adult teaches / on adult’s […]
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