We strive to connect with our kids as we teach them new skills. Â Before we can take away a survival skill, we need to replace it with a new one. One of the things we often suggest to families is for them to do family nurture group in their home. Before you begin Gather some [...]
Author: Kayla North
Kayla North is co-founder of One Big Happy Home and is considered an expert on childhood trauma. Along with her husband, she has developed training materials and programs for parents, churches, and schools educating them on trauma and its impacts. Kayla is also an affiliate trainer with Trauma Free World, an ETC Parent Trainer, TBRI practitioner, and the Executive Directory of Tapestry. She speaks at churches, schools, conferences, and retreats nationwide.
The “Yes” Jar
Would you love to have a simple parenting tool you can start implementing right away that will help you build trust with your kids? There is one simple word that can make a huge difference... "YES!" An easy way to begin giving our kids more yesâs is to make a Yes Jar. Large open mouth [...]
A Day of Saying Yes!
One of the tools we teach in Empowered to Connect is having parents embrace the privilege of saying âYesâ to their children. Day one of our 2016 spring break was a day of saying yes at our house.
Connection Jars
Finding ways to connect with your kids can be hard. Connection jars can give you a quick and easy way to add connecting activities to your everyday routine. Set a certain time each day and allow each of your kids to pick an activity from the jar. Spending just 5 minutes each day connecting with [...]
Rest
I donât do New Yearâs resolutions. I used to but found they were quickly broken, leaving me feeling defeated before the year was really underway. I tried goal setting but found my goals were too small for fear of failing at the big things or too big and, therefore, set me up for more failure. [...]
I Get to Share my Mother’s Day
Today is Motherâs Day. It's the day we set aside to celebrate moms for all the hard work and loving attention they give to their children throughout the year. While it is a day of celebration and honor, it can be a day of conflicting emotions for some of us. Ten years ago I became [...]
Lazy Parenting
I donât consider myself a lazy person.  I am up early, I rarely sit down, and I always have a to-do list a mile long. I mean who has time to be lazy when you are a parent?  Yet I find myself parenting lazy.  I find myself saying ânoâ to my kids out of laziness.  I [...]
10 Ways to Support Kids in Foster Care
Ask any foster parent the phrase they hear the most and it will likely be âI could never do what you doâ or âIâd love to foster, but I could never give the kids back.â Â While it is true that not everyone is equipped to be a foster parent there are so many other ways [...]
Homemade Sloppy Joes
I have never really liked Sloppy Joe's. Â Not just because they are sloppy, but because they just had a strange flavor to me. Â For some reason thought, they sounded good to me and I decided to find a homemade recipe that I could make without using those cans of "sauce" with their questionable ingredient [...]
Beware Bugs and Burns
Enjoying summer nights can be hard to do if you are fighting with pesky bugs who want to nibble on your ankles. Â A few years ago we began searching for an alternative to the icky chemical bug repellents you can buy. Â We discovered that using Young Living essential oils is as effective and smells so [...]