Compliance or Relationship? Often moms will vent to me about how sick they are of kids arguing with everything they ask them to do. They just want them to do what they are asked to do without an attitude. I can totally relate! I have those days when all I want is compliance. Just one [...]
Finding Balance I have always been a "worst case scenario" person...in my head. You know what I mean right? Like when my husband calls to say he is headed home from work, and then when he doesn't come home at the time I think he should, I imagine that he has gotten into a wreck [...]
No one told me it would be this hard. Or maybe they did and I just didn’t hear them. Sure I remember hearing stories of sleepless nights and crying that went on for hours (wasn’t that just supposed to be the kids?). High fevers that caused worry. Tantrums that would leave you scratching your head [...]
One of the eternal struggles of parenting is getting your kids in bed and having them stay in their beds. Bedtime is a simple struggle at its root, kids don’t want to go to sleep and parents just want the kids to go to bed. It’s a struggle because we have competing agendas at bedtime, [...]
In this episode of the podcast Chris, Kayla, and Ryan are all about chores. They discuss finding the sweet spot between recognizing that no one wants to do chores and that they need to be done. They also address how leading by example and offering to help might be good places to start. Become a Patron [...]
Getting to the Heart of Behaviors When faced with challenging behaviors where do we begin? Connected parenting says to look for the need behind the behavior. Another way to say this isWhat's at the heart of this behavior?It can be hard to figure out how to address the challenging behaviors, but here are some practical [...]
I got to work check-in at prom on Saturday night (hence the cheesy purple scarf that was part of my “flight attendant” dress code) and see everyone all dressed up and excited for a fun evening.Somehow in the midst of it, I missed my own kids coming through. I texted them and told them I [...]
How often do we hide behind a mask that says to the world we’ve got this when inside we are falling apart? Some days we may pull the mask off for a minute only to be told by people around us that they really preferred when we kept our mask on. They may not say those [...]
We have 6 kids. These cuties are numbers 5 & 6 for our family. A lot of people told us we were crazy to bring home a kiddo with as many needs as our Addie girl. The doctors didn’t think she would walk or talk and expected her quality of life would be low. The judge, on adoption [...]
Sometimes I think people are surprised that I don’t encourage them to foster or adopt. The younger me wanted everyone to become a foster parent or adopt. I wanted to shout from the rooftops how big the need was for foster and adoptive parents. But the older and wiser me has a different story to shout. [...]