Tantrums: Should I Talk About Them With My Child?
Dear Hand in Hand I’ve worked really hard to support my daughter when she cries recently. When I hold her and tell her I’m listening she does come to a point when her tears clear,
Category: Setting Limits
Why Does My Child Always Want Mom?
Our son is nearly three years old. He still goes through some separation anxiety when he’s without his mom. We usually put him to bed together, but the other night, my wife needed a break.
How The Opposite of Worry Works With Children on the Spectrum (a guest book review)
In his fantastic book, The Opposite of Worry, Lawrence Cohen introduces us to what anxiety in children looks like, and what we can do to help. He covers a great deal of current theory in a
Whining? Potty Words? Hitting? How Does Your Child Tell You She Needs You?
My three-year old daughter had been seeking quite a bit of connection from me for the last day or two. She had been employing all of the tactics we’ve developed over time to get me
Hold The Limit, Honor the Struggle: Homework Battles and How to Help
It’s the beginning of fall and as surely as leaves will drop, so will the homework. Pages and pages of it. Sometimes whole binders worth. Homework can be the source of many arguments, and I wanted
How Can I Handle My Child’s Picky Eating Without Disrupting the Whole Family?
Setting Limits and Staylistening Those of you with picky eaters are familiar with requests—or demands—for “something else” to eat. Rigidity around food is like rigidity around anything else: it signals a need for help. We
“I See You’re Having A Hard Time”: Why Connection Doesn’t Reward “Bad Behavior”
We’ve all had those mornings. The one that begins like nothing will ever be right again: “I do not want to get dressed. I want breakfast.” “I don’t want cereal. I want oatmeal.” “I wanted
A Connection Checklist for the Back-to-School Transition
Recently, I took my younger daughter to her preschool after a vacation break of 10 days. This transition back to our usual rhythm, and her emotional response to it, reminded me of the many times
5 Tips To Help You Manage Anger with Connection and Conscious Communication
A Guest Post with Lori Petro of Teach Through Love Why does my child get so angry? Why won’t they listen? How do I control my anger? How do I get my kids to control their
When Children are Focused on Winning or Losing
My 6 year old got his leg injured while he was practising sports. Unfortunately, the injury happened just before a school sport’s event and he was not able to fully take part in it, although
8 Rules for Safe and Healthy Play [Infographic]
We know that play is a child’s work.The best play provides opportunities for fun, and also chances to build intelligence. Because good play has the power to help children laugh through fears and address their
Are You Missing This Vital Ingredient to Stop Dinner Time Battles?
We’ve all read the stats. Eating dinner together with our children helps with everything from language skills and emotional resilience, to avoiding drink, drugs and obesity, and scoring better grades in school later on. So
Surprise! Holiday Meltdowns Are Actually A Good Thing
Your child will have big feelings when a special holiday or birthday comes up. It’s one of the phenomena you can set your clock by. We parents wish the universe were governed by forces
Five Positive Things You Can Do To Promote Sharing On Playdates
Parenting can be all encompassing. It can seem to take us an age to figure out what we can accept and what our boundaries are at home, and then bam! We have to leave the
How Connection Helps Create Trauma Sensitive Classrooms
Trauma can really undermine a children’s ability to thrive at school, affecting relationships and making it hard for them to follow school structure and directives. Dealing with these behaviours can be taxing on teaching staff, but
9 Steps to Beat Boredom With Connection [INFOGRAPHIC]
What happens to you when your child announces “I’m bored?” Despite research telling us that boredom is actually good for children – it can help foster creativity and independence – most of us try to rush
Unexplained Crying May Come from an Emotional Need
With Laura Minnigerode You thought you’d covered everything. It’s late in the day, your baby is fed, healthy, and her diaper is changed, you’ve jiggled and jostled her until you are exhausted, and she is still
Why Crying Helps Calm Fearful Children
A guest post by Laura Minnigerode Children’s brains are wired to connect with caregivers. And if they cry it means they feel especially safe and secure. Since a child’s limbic system works brilliantly to protect