Building a strong connection with our children is really important and taking the time to invest in our relationships with them at each stage of childhood and into the teenage years. Today Janine considers the opportunities we create for them to share what they like and what you enjoy also in day to day life. How can we connect with our kids well so that when they face challenges or difficulties they feel like they can come speak with you, the parent?
Here’s what Janine discusses in today’s episode:
Has your child hit their teenage years and puberty has started? Have you noticed their emotions are changing? What about their most extreme emotions? Do you find that your teenager can feel really angry at times?
In today’s episode, Janine unpacks some strategies to help you as parents support your teenager and how to develop that connection between yourself as the parent and them.
Here’s what Janine discusses in today’s episode:
OCD can manifest itself in different ways with different obsessions and focus that are going on in your life. Children’s author, Marin Canaday describes OCD feeling like a monster devouring your emotions and feelings, where you could get to the point where you feel out of control and you begin to believe the lies the OCD obsessions tell you about yourself…
A child at Elementary School will be learning and figuring out what emotions are and what’s going on in their bodies when their ‘big feelings’ appear. They’ll be learning to put names to their emotions and trying figuring out why they’re feeling what they are.
In the moments when they feel upset, overwhelmed and unable to put words to their emotions, there are some straightforward strategies we can have in our toolkit ready to use and support this age group with.
Here are some some of the strategies discussed in today’s episode:
It’s wonderful having a home set up where you have a reset or safe space where your kids can use strategies and process their emotions. But what happens when we go out? Having coping strategies ready is just as important. Whether that’s at school, traveling, out with friends, before a medical appointment or at parties knowing what you can do outside of the comfort of your own home is really helpful.
The topics I cover in this episode are:
You’re out with your son running errands and you can see his anxiety getting bigger and bigger. You can’t delay these errands, but you’re noticing he looks like he’s about to head into full meltdown mode. And you don’t have his coping skills toolkit with you right now. What can you do? Maybe there’s an app that could help.
Inside: Instructions for making your own feeling faces chart using your own children's faces
Emojis are like a modern day feeling faces charts. When I first started out as a therapist, there was that one particular image of feelings faces that everybody used. Nowadays with emoji's everywhere, there are so many more choices out there for creative feeling faces charts.
Inside: 5 tips for helping kids cope with anxiety, stress and anger in healthy and safe ways.
The phone rings, and your heart stops when you notice the number. You know it’s because your daughter is having a hard time at school again. What could it be this time? A writing assignment she didn’t respond well to? A kid brushed her off?
You take a deep breath and answer the phone.
Inside: A book review of the Happy Kid Handbook by Katie Hurley. It's a wonderful addition to any parent's bookshelf!
Have you ever read a book that you couldn’t put down? That you felt compelled to underline and highlighted and put sticky notes all over? This happened to me when I started reading The Happy Kid Handbook. I got it out of the library and as soon as I started, I knew I needed to get my own copy so I could underline and highlight to my heart’s desire.
Here are a few of the reasons why I enjoyed this book so much and why I find it to be an extremely valuable resource.
Inside: 10+ Strategies you can use today to help an angry child cool down and diffuse anger quickly.
Your son and daughter have been playing together while you get dinner ready.
Your daughter says joyfully “Connect 4!” as she wins the 3rd game in a row. And then it begins. Your son growls, and yells “You’re cheating!” then knocks the game off the table.
Inside: All about fidgets - why they help, who can benefit from using them, and lots of suggested fidgets, both those that you can DIY and those you can buy.
We all know those kids who can’t quite get settled in the classroom. They may have a hard time sitting down to get their homework done. They may be zoning off in the middle of a lesson in school. Or they may look like they are paying attention, but their mind is constantly wandering off. These kids might benefit from a fidget!
Inside: 12 proven strategies to help your child's anxiety and help them settle in for a long night’s sleep
You're finally settling onto your couch, remote in hand and ready to start binge watching your latest Netflix obsession. You're just about to press play when you hear tiny feet padding down the hall.
“Mommy? I can't sleep. I'm scared!!”
Inside: 5 common causes of childhood stress, and 4 strategies you can use as a parent to help your child manage stress in healthy ways.
This story starts, as always, with coffee. I was in line at Dunkin Donuts, thinking about what I wanted to get done today. We were on the beach for a long weekend, but being the type A person that I am, somehow I still wanted to get some things accomplished and starting to feel a bit stressed about it. As I’m waiting for my precious beverage and mentally rearranging my to do list, I overhear a father ask his son:
Inside: Some ideas why kindergarteners might be so angry, 4 questions to ask yourself to get a better idea of what's going on, and 5 suggestions of things to try that will help.
It was happening again. Your son came off the bus and he was fuming. His face was red and his eyebrows were furrowed. His whole body was full of anger. Almost immediately, he began hitting and kicking at you. You and your husband look at each other, bewildered. What happened?!?
