Benefits and Simple Ideas for Summer Enrichment “Mom, come quickly!” E says practically jumping up and down. “There’s a bluejay in our yard!” And this scene has played out over and again but with varying creatures – bunnies, beetles, and butterflies –… Read More
Category: Building a Positive Family Environment
Tags: appreciating nature, Caring, Cooperation, Empathy, Exploring nature with kids, Family connectedness, Motivation to learn, nature and kids, Parenting, Perspective taking, sense of awe and wonder, summer enrichment
For Promoting Social and Emotional Skills in the Home or Classroom Mandy is having a tough day because each friend or relative she meets can’t play. But the narrator of this story asks good questions of Mandy to learn more. It turns… Read More
Category: Building a Positive Family Environment
Tags: "The Grit Up Series", Abbie Kelley, Care to repair, Empathy, negative self-talk, Relationship skills, Responsible decision-making, Self awareness, Self-management, Social and Emotional Learning, Social and emotional skill building, Social awareness
Perhaps you volunteer in your child’s classroom as I do and are helping plan the annual Halloween party. Maybe you are a teacher looking for ways to both entertain, celebrate, and build skills on the holiday. Or you could be planning a… Read More
Category: Building a Positive Family Environment
Tags: Active listening, classroom cooperative games, Collaboration, Collaborative games, Creative thinking, Empathy, halloween cooperative games, halloween games, halloween party, Negotiation, Nonverbal communication, Perspective taking, Problem solving, Social awareness
THE GHOST OF A FLOWER “You’re what?” asked the common or garden spook Of a stranger at midnight’s hour. And the shade replied with a graceful glide, “Why, I’m the ghost of a flower.” “The ghost of a flower?” said the old-time… Read More
Category: Building a Positive Family Environment
Tags: Ages and Stages, Cognitive flexibility, Empathy, Executive function, Halloween, Kids and Halloween, Parenting and Halloween, Perspective taking skills, perspective-taking development, Relational Frame Theory, school readiness, Self-regulation, Teaching kids empathy, Theory of Mind
How Can You Help Your Five-Year-Old during the Major Adjustment to All-Day Kindergarten? “We have to go back every day?!” exclaims five-year-old Simon incredulously in the first week of kindergarten. I was reminded of when the nurse told me “only 20 more… Read More
Category: Building a Positive Family Environment
Tags: adjusting to kindergarten, emotional kindergarteners, emotional meltdowns, Empathy, five-year-olds, kindergarten exhaustion, parent patience, parents dealing with kindergarten, Self control, Self-management, separation anxiety in kindergarten, transition to kindergarten, young children and hyperactivity, young children and self-control
Oh, the places you’ll go! The worlds you will visit! The friends you will know! – Dr. Seuss1 “What are you guys up to?” I say to the three six-year-old friends in my living room. “We’re sharing our books!” one says with… Read More
Category: Building a Positive Family Environment
Tags: children learning to read, Creative thinking, emotional, Empathy, how children learn to read, Moral development, parents reading with children, Perspective taking, promoting reading, Reading, Responsible decision-making, role of reading with families, Social, Social awareness, Stories and social and emotional development, teaching reading
You are invited! Because you follow and read Confident Parents, Confident Kids, you clearly care about the powerful influence you possess as a parent and you realize how you use that influence matters greatly. My friends, Cecilia and Jason Hilkey, have launched… Read More
Category: Building a Positive Family Environment
Tags: "Happily Family Conference", "The Heart and Science of Parenting", brain science, building resilience, Cecilia and Jason Hilkey, Empathy, family mindfulness, Jennifer Miller, Learning about parenting, Mindfulness, Parenting, Social and Emotional Learning
“It is high time the ideal of success should be replaced by the ideal of service.” – Albert Einstein Most leaders acquire their power from the choice of their social group to elevate individuals to that level. However, parents, by the very… Read More
Category: Building a Positive Family Environment
Tags: "The Power Paradox", Awareness, Communication skills, Empathy, Foresight, Listening for understanding, Listening skills, Parent reflection, parenting and leadership, Parents as servant leaders, power, Power and parenting, Relationship skills, Responsible decision-making, Robert Greenleaf, Servant leaders, Servant leadership, Service
Use the smell of your morning coffee or tea to remind you to take some deep breaths to start your day. When there is global and national unrest, we all experience a nagging anxiety that just won’t seem to go away even… Read More
Category: Building a Positive Family Environment, Modeling Social and Emotional Skills
Tags: Dealing with Anxiety, Empathy, global unrest anxiety, managing stress, parenting and stress, parenting and stress management, parenting tension, self-care, Self-compassion, Stress management
My son burst into tears as his friends waited at our door to play. He had fallen up our stairs and gashed his shin on the metal rims of the hall steps. I plopped on the floor to comfort him and as… Read More
Category: Building a Positive Family Environment, Modeling Social and Emotional Skills
Tags: Breathing to calm down, Calm, Connection, Empathy, Gratitude, holidays & mental well-being, holidays and anxiety, holidays and stress, peace, planning for big emotions, social and emotional competence
