Emotional Health
Friendship: because parent sneed play dates too
Cultivating friendship in the adult years can be surprisingly tricky. But parents need play dates too. How many play dates have you made for your child in the past year? Probably not as many as in a usual year, granted. But I am willing to bet for most of us we’ve spent a good deal…
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R.E.S.T.
Receive. Exhale. Sleep. Time to play. Be like this cat. Rest. Feel free to use my handy little acronym for some ideas of how to rest. Rest, by the way, isn’t always about stopping activity completely because most of the time we have to work and live and parent. Rest is about learning how to…
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Our journey through Covid: A family activity for processing loss
I am so aware of so many living with deep loss at present. The losses have accumulated over the past 18 months in multiple, unanticipated ways. The thing that stands out for me is that as the pandemic continues and pandemic-fatigue has indeed become a thing, we’re struggling to know how to process our own…
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Belonging and Reassurance
We need to recognise when children are presenting with reassurance-seeking behaviour and to do what we can to let them know “You belong here, you’re mine and I am so glad you are.” The best thing my husband ever said to me was not “I love you”, but “You belong here, with us.” It was…
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Fresh hope today
I admit that I have had to keep consciously choosing hope instead of despair at times. When we hold a value dear, it will usually be tested. That’s life. There are shake-ups and changes and disappointments we didn’t anticipate. I’ve been thinking that it is a really apt time to talk about Fresh Hope. These…
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Parenting: The job without the manual
Children don’t come with manuals. This is a well-established fact that the village of people surrounding each child knows all too well. Sometimes things are tough and what we really want is for someone to tell us what to do. Or even better fix it. Now. Children don’t come with manuals, because the intentional work…
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I am most proud of myself for…
This is not a “puff myself up” type of pride, but a recognition of “hey, I can do hard things” pride. This is a celebrate me and celebrate you pride! Let’s face it, some of those little things were hard (and still are) to do in the midst of a pandemic. One year and two…
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Safe conversations
I want my children to come to me, or another trusted adult, when things don’t feel right, or they need help. I want them to be able to know who and what makes them feel safe. I want them to know that it’s not a choice between being good and being safe. What’s the first…
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Set the tone and not the pace
The pace at which a child lives is determined by their age, developmental stage, and the struggles and joys they’re currently experiencing in daily life. But no matter their current pace, you are the emotional safe space your child seeks. Every child has an internal clock which determines the pace at which they grow, learn…
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Creative Imaginings
“Imagination is absolutely critical to the quality of our lives…it gives us the opportunity to envision new possibilities – it is an essential launchpad for making our hopes come true.” Bessel van der Kolk, M.D. “Imagination is absolutely critical to the quality of our lives…it gives us the opportunity to envision new possibilities – it…
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