Jessica

bribing your kids

7 ways to connect with your school-aged kid

During our busy lives, connection can be hard! But you know that saying, ‘quality over quantity?’ Sometimes, that’s not quite true in parenting. What do I mean? I mean that sometimes, more is better. Don’t sweat making every moment with your child magical. Those little moments…in the car, running errands, making dinner together, finding that

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How to support your special needs child without enabling

We want to shield our children from pain, difficulty, and trauma. This is natural. But we do our kids a disservice when we succumb to enabling. What is enabling? This is when we, as parents, inadvertently encourage unwanted behavior. Case in point: when we give in to a tantrum in order to avoid a scene

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Creating Autonomy for toddlers and preschoolers

What do we mean by autonomy? Autonomy is the capacity to make an informed, uncoerced decision for oneself, or to have choice and control over yourself. Behavioral autonomy is the ability to make decisions and follow through with actions, rather than simply following along with peers or parents. Often, we think of teenagers when we think

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Creating Autonomy for teens and school-aged kids

New to learning about autonomy in kids? Start with our post on creating autonomy for toddlers and preschoolers. Welcome back! Ready to create autonomy for teens and school-aged kids? Feeling a sense of control and direction over one’s life is hugely important to school-aged kids and teenagers, and it starts in the toddler years. In

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Back-to-school tips: What you can do now to prepare your child for school in-person

Yes, it’s still summer. Thank goodness! But school will be here before we know it. Last year was an unusual school year for most students, and your child may need more time to adjust as in-person learning resumes. After all, they have been home with Mom and Dad for a very long time. Here’s what

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How to use Parenting de-escalation strategies to avoid meltdowns

We’ve all been there. That moment when the situation goes from bad to worse. It’s usually in public, or at a playgroup where you worry about judgy moms. Right? But what if you could use parenting de-escalation strategies the next time your child loses it? Using de-escalation strategies is not just to save face as

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