In “Double Babysitter” (s2 e39), Bluey is skeptical about having a babysitter put her to bed. The reason that she’s able to give right away is that it’s just “different” from when Mum and Dad do it. Mum and Dad reassure her, and confidently leave them with the babysitters anyway. At first, the babysitters try … Read more
I had the chance to speak with Heather, the host of That Early Childhood Nerd, about the consequences post that I wrote which became somewhat infamous on Facebook very quickly. You can listen to the interview on her website, That Early Childhood Nerd, here. It’s also available on iTunes here, and on Spotify here. If … Read more
My coworker and friend walked into my office and said, “I just went to use the microwave and someone had just left it on one second!” My other coworker/friend agreed “Ugh, I hate that!” I sat there, knowing for certain that I was the one who had left it on one second. For a fraction … Read more
One thing that’s really challenging for adults in all contexts—parenting, or professional contexts—is balancing between how much autonomy and how much protection to provide to their child. That’s why when I was writing this reminder to go on the board in my therapy gym, for the adults who work with kids who use it to … Read more
Last year, I had the opportunity to train some of the staff at one of the schools I work at about how to use the therapy gym as a place for some of the children to use regularly to self-regulate throughout the day — i.e., as opposed to only coming in there with me during … Read more
I spoke to a parent recently whose child was getting in trouble at school for being too “touchy” with other children—wanting to hug, touch, wrestle, tickle, etc more than was school-appropriate or allowed. I know these types of kids, too, and my heart really goes out to them! Rough-and-tumble play is a powerful and important … Read more
[Though I don’t currently have the bandwidth to accept any new consultation requests by email, I am still working through the backlog of consults that I did with people a couple of months ago when I was able to accept those. Here’s another of those questions.] *** A parent wanted to know about ways to … Read more
This Tumblr post feels so much like the exact heart of occupational therapy. And maybe that’s why I feel like it overlaps so hard with my parenting style…because I’m also on a mission to just try to instill these things in the next generation from the beginning, instead of having to re-teach them again as … Read more
Two stories about power and powerlessness. A child and an adult were entering a classroom, together, one on one. The child skipped ahead of the adult through the open door of the classroom, zigzagged to the left and the right, saw the mini trampoline in the room and beelined toward that, did a single jump … Read more
A couple of weeks ago my son, who’s 5, needed to have dental work done for the first time in his life. It wasn’t extensive and there wasn’t any drilling, but just the process of having to go to a scary place and have someone put their hands and tools in his mouth was hard … Read more