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Emotion coaching

Child's behavior means he is collapsing on ground

Understanding your child’s behavior

Four things to remember when your kid falls apart

“But I KNOW he can do this! He just did it all by himself yesterday! My child’s behavior is too much right now.” An exasperated parent exclaimed as she explained to me how difficult it had been to get out the door that morning for school. Another parent recently lamented, “She CAN manage her anger;…  Read More

Children in grief making art after their dog died

Children in Grief: Crying is Brave

And Other Insights From Kids

I had a summer screen time post all written and ready to post on the website. Then our family dog got very sick and eventually passed away earlier this week. In an instant work, emails, newsletters, and to-do lists flew off the priority list and grief took its place. Jasper, our thirteen year old husky…  Read More

Child crying who needs an emotion coach to help handle his feelings

Be an Emotion Coach: 6 Simple Steps

Emotion coaching helps kids learn how to manage powerful emotions and turns would-be power struggles into learning opportunities. Whether or not you know it, your children already sees you as their emotion coach. So here are six steps to start honing your coaching skills. Listen. Pay attention to your child or teen. What are they…  Read More

Illustrations of emotions emerging from brain

Why Your Child or Teen Needs An Emotion Coach

And Why You Are the Person for the Job

At a recent workshop on emotion coaching I asked parents to share something about their children that they were really proud of – not in terms of accomplishments, but in terms of behaviors they have been working on. This distinction is important. You no doubt feel proud if your child makes the honor roll or…  Read More

Child playing with legos demonstrating that play builds executive function

3 Ways to Practice Executive Function Skills at Home

We just wrote a post about executive function and how important these skills are for our kids success in school and in life. Here are some tips for giving your kids lots of practice: Help your child build a framework: Helping your child set attainable goals and breaking tasks into achievable steps helps build executive…  Read More

Person talking into tin can to symbolize communication

How to Communicate Effectively With Teens

The science behind parent-teen miscommunication

At the end of a conversation with your teen, you might be hard pressed to identify the exact moment when it went from a calm, cool conversation to doors slamming. Depending on the day, talking with your teenager might feel like walking through a minefield blindfolded. There aren’t a ton of great models out there…  Read More

5 year old hitting

When Kids Hit: Helping Your Child Regulate His or Her Emotions

Parent question: I am looking for a good technique to stop my 5 yr old from hitting me when he doesn’t get his way. I usually use the 1-2-3 counting and then time out in his room, but find for hitting it doesn’t work well, because I am not going to let him hit me…  Read More