“It is impossible to protect your kids against disappointment in life” – Nicholas Sparks How do you handle disappointment from others, specifically your child? When your child is feeling sad and disappointed by something or someone, perhaps even you, how do you respond? How do you respond to your own disappointment? One of the most…
How do we define motherhood? Typically, it looks different for every mother… so, why do we constantly use the term “good mom” if motherhood takes a different style on each wearer. Raising children is hard. It is even harder when we hold expectations for ourselves as to what it means to be a mother—specifically a…
Our kids learn how to “work the system” at a very young age. They learn how to ask for certain things and who to ask to acquire what they want. When your child is looking to do something, get something, have something, or even just begin to ask something, how do you engage? How do…
Life lessons come in many packages. We learn so much from our mistakes. But first, we must accept that we have made one. This involves owning our mistakes by first acknowledging the action or behavior. This takes courage and acceptance. Acceptance is part of being a human being. We are all fallible—it’s human nature. As…
Oftentimes we create worry in our life by borrowing someone else’s problem, trouble, or pain. We also tend to hyper-focus on what might happen to us in our own life. The what-ifs can be endless. Worry does not take away tomorrow’s troubles; it takes away today’s peace. Worrying is twofold: it is about dwelling on…
We live most of our lives inside of our own heads. As such, it is our job to tend to and nurture it, making it a nice, habitable place. But how do we do that? To create a blossoming garden, we rid it of the weeds. Our internal weeds, in this case, exist in our…
Has your child ever played opposite day with you— A day where they did the exact opposite of what you asked or expected of them? How often does your child do the opposite of what you have asked of them, or perhaps do nothing at all? When we bring this into our awareness it allows…
Self-efficacy is an important trait for children to develop, starting at a very young age. Self-efficacy is defined as the belief in oneself, that one can independently complete tasks successfully and with confidence. In addition to self-efficacy, self-sufficiency is another key developmental trait. Self-efficacy involves having the ability to take care of one’s own needs…
The emotional and mental umbilical cord is very challenging to cut, even when we are determined to do so. For many of us, there is a sense that we must trust that these relationships are there to serve us all through life. This often lends itself to approval-seeking behaviors, even in adulthood. I used to…
Parents often ask me why their child isn’t responding to their requests in the way that they want or expect them to. It is moments like these that we have to stop and introspect, examining our own expectations and whether they are even feasible. At times we think we can control all of the things…
