Is your child starting school soon?  Kids can experience a wide range of feelings, from anxiety to excitement over the first day of school.  Heightened emotions in any direction will affect your child’s ability to control their impulses and their behavior, but there are things that you can do to help calm their nervous system and prepare them for a good first day of school.

What to do the night before:

Work on having a ...

Are you looking forward to your kids returning to school? It’s that time of year when we all start thinking about kids going back to school, and I do a lot of coaching on how to help kids prepare for the transition.

Here are a couple of things I recommend you do in the two weeks leading up to the first day of school:

Start using your child’s school bed and wake-up times. 
Children often go to bed and get up later in the...

Do you have a little one starting preschool or kindergarten?  Little ones starting school for the first time can experience a whole host of different feelings ranging from pride at being a “big kid” that goes to school to anxiety about being separated from you and not knowing what to expect.

This time of year I do a great deal of coaching on how to prepare kids for school.  Knowing that transitions and new situations can...

Do you have a child that has a hard time falling asleep at night?  This is quite common, and I’m working with several clients right now who are struggling to get their young children to settle down at a decent hour.  I have one Mom of a 4-year-old who really pushes the limits and battles both going to bed as well as waking up super early.

Typically when parents tell me their kids have a hard time falling asleep at night,...

Do you battle with your kids over screen time?  Do you have a child that begs for screen time, and then has a meltdown whenever they’re asked to shut off the device?  If so, know that you’re not alone.

I work with many parents who have these battles, and it’s one that I had myself for many years.

I have a child who loved technology and video games from a very early age.  As a result, we had many battles about screen tim...

What did you learn about being a parent from your Dad?  As another Father’s Day is upon us, I took time to think about my relationship with my own Dad, what I learned from him, and what parenting qualities I appreciated and wanted to carry on for my own children.  

Let me start with a little background…  My Dad came from a large family of 14, with 9 brothers and 4 sisters.  He always wanted to have sons, but ended up wit...

As we get closer to the end of the school year and the start of summer — with extra activities and schedule changes — are you experiencing more behavior issues with your child?  

This is an issue that I often see come up this time of year.  Parents are showing up for coaching meetings in a bit of a panic because the outbursts are unpredictable and seem to be ramping up.  I had one mom reach out with a ‘911’ call because ...

Are you struggling to stay on top of everything as the end of the school year approaches?

Traditionally, this is a hectic time of year for many parents — All of the end of the year activities, awards, final parties, field trips, playoffs, recitals…  It can be overwhelming for even the most organized of parents!  I had one mom wondering if she was the only one wishing her son’s team didn’t make the playoffs because she ha...

Are you in the final countdown, caught up in all of the end of year activities as the school year winds down?

I just got back from a trip to South Carolina to celebrate our nephew’s graduation.  My sister-in-law was so excited and grateful to have everyone visiting, yet she couldn’t wait for it all to be over.  Staying on top of everything that needed to be done for her son, planning the graduation party, and having a ho...

Memorial Day has arrived, kicking off summer and a time when many families take vacations together!  I don’t know about you, but I tended to go into a vacation thinking that I would unplug and unwind.  Unfortunately, what I typically imagined and reality were worlds apart.  I often returned feeling more exhausted and needing a break from my kids.

Taking vacations as a family was often more stressful than work!  Can you r...

What does raising an emotionally healthy child mean to you?  For many parents, it means raising kids that generally feel good and positive.  Unfortunately, this definition can have parents trying to protect their children from “negative” feelings and challenging situations and detract from their developing mental strength and resilience.

As a coach for parents of kids struggling with BIG Feelings, many clients come to me...

Do you have someone in your life that you look up to when things are challenging or hard?  When you’re struggling, who do you turn to?  For me, that person has always been my Mom, and I am beyond grateful for her.  

My Mom is one of the strongest and most resilient women that I know.  Her life wasn’t easy growing up — she lost her father when she was two, she lost her brother who she was very close with to a brain tumor ...