Learn why setting clear boundaries helps your children feel safe and secure, consider their impact on others, and work through big feelings. Clarify your limits, learn how to communicate them, and gain the skills you need to follow through with consistency and care.
You will learn the brain science behind why boundaries help children and teens develop skills like emotional regulation, impulse control, accountability and empathy.
You will understand that setting limits does not need to come at the cost of warm and caring connection. Indeed, it is the combination of warmth and structure that helps children thrive.
You will practice the strategy of limits and consequences and build a rich toolkit for setting loving limits with toddlers up to teenagers. We will offer step-by-step suggestions that you can adapt to your family.
You can practice an approach to discipline that balances warmth with structure and that helps your kids practice the skills of emotional regulation.
(Delivered in English, video subtitles and all downloads translated into Spanish)
This class is designed as a self-paced class. This means that when you begin the class, you will get access to a new “Spark” every week for three weeks. Watch short videos and work through downloads on your own time. Join our Spark & Stitch online community to ask questions, hear from other parents, and get the support you need. Then access for three months so you can revisit the content when you and your kids need it most.
We talk about why it can be challenging to set limits, what the research says about why it is important, and what is at stake if we don’t.
Highlights:
You have come to understand more about why setting limits matters. So, how do you do it? This section guides you through the steps involved in naming and communicating limits in ways that will help them develop the tools they need to manage themselves.
Highlights include:
Parenting isn’t a science, it is an art. Science can inform the art – but it is your job to test and listen and try strategies to see what works for your family and your kid.
Highlights include:
Nobody’s time is more precious and valuable than that of a parent. By the end of this course you will have received engaging video lessons, strategy-packed downloadable guides, and had the opportunity to engage in an online community.
We are confident that if you really engage in this course, you will feel the difference in how you parent. If you don’t see the value within 14 days – we will give you your money back.
If, within 14 days of accessing the class you still aren’t satisfied, you can reach out to the Spark & Stitch team and we’ll work to refund the course fee.
We’ve designed workshops and delivered keynotes and workshops on raising connected, courageous kids across North America for over twenty years. We’ve watched parenting trends and ideas come and go during that time. One of the consistent findings over time and across communities is that children need connection and boundaries to thrive. We also know that setting boundaries is one of the hardest parts of parenting.
Building on Dr. Dave’s bestselling book No, Why Kids – Of All Ages – Need to Hear It and Ways Parents Can Say It, we’ve taken what we’ve learned and brought the essentials into this course so that you can strengthen your toolkit for setting limits and consequences without sacrificing the the warm and caring connections your kids need.
Here is what you are getting when you enroll today:
“We are parents of a really young daughter of 18 months, so it’s important that as we start to introduce self-regulation that we are on the same page. This program has been incredible in getting us to shoot for that goal of being the balanced parent as opposed to authoritarian or too permissive.”
– Parent, Minneapolis, MN
This online class updates and builds on Dr. Dave Walsh’s bestselling book.
“The combination of scientific fact and warm wisdom and real life experiences, for me, it’s invaluable. Who would have thought such a tiny little word “no” could have such a huge impact on the overall success of my child’s life?”
— Roxanne Battle, parent and journalist
Parenting in a pandemic makes setting limits feel more complicated and enforcing consequences more challenging. How do we set limits in our homes when our children are already facing so many limits on their activities, education, and socialization? How do we account for the fact that they are stressed and need more flexibility?
The reality is that continuing to provide boundaries and structure in our homes creates the sense of safety and security that our children desperately need right now. This is not the time to throw all limits out the window. It also isn’t the time for yelling, fighting, and punishments. Our kids may never ask us for it, but they are relying on us to provide structure when the natural boundaries provided by our usual routines are gone.
Your child’s development isn’t put on hold during the pandemic. You deserve evidence-based support that builds on your hopes for the kinds of children you want to raise while helping you get through the day without power struggles and battles.
Let’s be real about what parenting is like. Because right now, your toddler might be grabbing, hitting, or biting you or other kids to get what they want.
Your kid might be demanding that you start streaming Disney Plus, slamming doors and yelling that if you don’t get it, they’re never going to ________ (fill in the blank of an activity that you cherish).
Your teen might be refusing to help out around the house and you are at a loss around what to do about it.
These parenting challenges aren’t new. But the broader stakes are especially clear right now. As we commit to social justice efforts in our neighborhoods, schools, and identity groups, we must teach our kids how to move through their most self-centered impulses while nurturing their ability to be respectful, caring, and courageous humans. Especially during times of stress and uncertainty it’s easy to revert back to old patterns and dynamics. Now, more than ever, you deserve ongoing support and clear guidance.
We are here to help you. This course will help you clarify your priorities, reflect on what is working and what isn’t, and set the warm boundaries that your kids need right now.