Dysregulation at Home

During one of the recent snow days home, my kids were getting really sick of being cooped up inside and struggling to be able to play with one another successfully. They both needed more space than was available inside, and they were both sick of trying to play bundled up in the snow, and the … Read more

Rage For No Reason

We came back from the usual 2-week holiday break, and then had school cancelled for an entire week due to snow and road conditions. So, when my kids went back to school yesterday (with a 2 hour delayed start, on top of everything) for the first time in 23 days, I knew it was going … Read more

Strange World

I love the movie Strange World. It’s charming, compelling, visually gorgeous, and doesn’t get enough hype. It was my kids’ favorite for awhile like a year ago, but we hadn’t watched it since. I put it on while I needed to keep them in one place with me for awhile but couldn’t move much after … Read more

“Why Did You…?”

It’s really understandable why adults ask children “Why did you do that?” After all, children are constantly doing things that seem honestly incomprehensible if not outright bonkers. An interesting side note is that in my job role, I am often assigned to stand in a set place and watch a particular child for a long … Read more

Yelling, from a Sensory Side of View

Did you know that yelling is, from a sensory perspective, a very regulating thing to do? That might sound weird and it might make your brain jump to conclusions that aren’t the same as exactly what I’m saying. But think about it for a moment, from a mental perspective of thinking of the mechanics of … Read more

Perfection

Age 5 (and 6) is extremely concerned with perfection. It’s a normal developmental phase. (Yes, this might also mean that your 4 year old or 4.5 year old or 7 year old are like this. I am describing the peak age at which this phase is typically, generalised across a population, at its most intense.) … Read more

When One Sibling is “Right” and One Sibling is “Playing”

I wrote a post about myself, an adult, not freaking out when my children said things that were factually incorrect because I knew they were playing at having that skill. Like pretending to read a sign, or drawing scribbles and then “reading” them to me. The point of my post was that I don’t need … Read more

Corrections to Corrections

Sometimes I get stuck in awkward situations with other adults where the other adult feels like they need to correct a child in some way that feels wrong to me. It might be exacerbated by my presence — like, for example, at a park when a parent is over-correcting what their kid is doing because … Read more

Turn Arguing into Play

A little moment from my life: The kids (5 and 4) ran to get in the car. They began arguing: Apollo: I got here first! Summer: No, I got here first! Apollo: No, I got here first! Summer: No, I got here first! I was a solid 45 seconds behind either of them. As I … Read more

Naming the Subtext

This post has an audio and video recorded version for those who prefer to learn by hearing rather than by reading. Scroll to the bottom for the video of me reading it. You know, one thing that I notice is a pattern with most adults (me included) is that they might notice patterns with their … Read more