This weekend, I had the chance to attend a Boy Scouts Pinewood Derby competition. Attending the event almost instantly triggered the question, “How many parents completely took over this project, completing the derby car for the kid instead of with the kid?” The number of people who answer yes to this question is likely—and unfortunately—a […]
The Worst (Well-Intentioned) Rule
Lately, I’ve been hearing or reading a lot about that classic daycare and preschool rule “You get what you get and you don’t throw a fit.” Adults argue that by telling kids this sing-song phrase, we are teaching them that life isn’t fair and people can’t always have the things that they want. And […]
3 Signs Your Kid Has Poor Boundaries
Are you frustrated or even embarrassed by your child’s lack of boundaries? While learning to recognize the social cues of appropriate boundaries is something that typically comes with age and requires patience on the part of the parent, this is a developmental stage that won’t just naturally develop on its own. Just as parents help […]
How to Raise a Kid Who Doesn’t Whine
Recently, I had the opportunity to play Sorry with a five-year-old. As we played the game, the child picked her card at each turn and pouted, whined, and threatened to quit the game each time she picked a card that didn’t allow one of her pawns to escape from the START point. In comparison, […]
5 Natural Consequences for Behaviors
New research has suggested that parents use natural consequences–in place of punishments like spanking–as a way to guide children’s behaviors. Basically, what this research suggests is that historical discipline techniques, like spanking, teach a child to fear the parent and do what is asked of him out of fear. This isn’t what parents are […]
Monkey See…Monkey Do!
I’m often inspired to write articles based on scenes from TV and movies. I have a difficult time shutting off my therapist brain and I ask myself, “Hmm…that was an interesting parenting lesson. I wonder if the parent viewers got that message?” When I ask myself that question, I just have to write about […]
The Top 3 Time-Out Mistakes
As an in-home therapist for young kids and their parents, one of the most common skills I taught to parents was how to run an effective time-out. Often times I did this because parents were attempting to begin a discipline regimine, as they hadn’t had one to begin with or the one they had […]
Creating Your Discipline Plan
Before I opened my play therapy practice, I worked as an in-home child and family therapist who helped parents to improve parenting skills so that their children could develop optimally. One of the most common complaints I received from parents was that the child “just won’t listen.” Even more, these parents were certain that there […]
When the Legal System Fails Kids
After almost 4 years of being a child counselor in Sioux Falls and surrounding areas, I get frustrated when I hear stories like this: Jackson was born to his mom 6 weeks premature with THC in his system. He was removed from his mom’s custody temporarily while she attended inpatient chemical dependency treatment and […]
5 Survival Tips to Caring for Children
When I ran an in-home daycare, I had to learn quickly how to adapt my life and my thoughts to adjust to the presence of little ones around me every day. I like my world to be neat, clean and well-organized, which isn’t a possibility in the child care business! During an especially rough […]
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