31May 2011 by Pase Garrett

Are we there yet???

Feelings and emotions, Motivation, Routines, Tips & Tools

Contributed by Jody McVittie, MD

Part of my memory of early family vacations include very annoying choruses of, “Are we there yet?” from the back seat. In my more sarcastic moments my internal voice was saying, “Are we stopped yet?” “Does it look like it?” and other variations of maternal snarkiness. I’m not proud of it, but I know that I didn’t always keep my thoughts to myself.

Gradually though, I learned to hear those choruses differently. They were voices of a trio that had not been involved in planning; three children who felt like baggage just being “transported” to …

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23May 2011 by Pase Garrett

How does your family play?

Connection and love, Feelings and emotions, Motivation, Self regulation, Tips & Tools

Contributed by Jody McVittie, MD

What comes to your mind when you think of play? Do you have childhood memories of moments of joy and reckless abandon with friends or family? Memories of giggling so hard it hurt? Or getting “carried away” jointly plotting something creative (but perhaps unrealistic). What is play anyway?

Greenspan and Wieder in their book, The Child with Special Needs, define play as: “(to) connect, to share the pleasure of doing something together, to experience mutual joy” (without forcing interaction). Another way of saying that is simply “to have fun together.” The purpose is not …

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07Mar 2011 by Pase Garrett

Parenting with the Body in Mind

Feelings and emotions, Science and parenting, Self regulation, Self-care, Tips & Tools
We sure hear a lot these days about the brain – and brain science. When we hear the word “brain” most of us think of the soft stuff that is inside our skull. That is, in fact, our “brain.” But it turns out that our body is not just the thing that carries our brain around. Human nervous systems are incredibly complex and there is a lot of information exchanged between the brain and the rest of the body. We can use this information to help ourselves and to help our kids.
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04Jan 2011 by Pase Garrett

What air do your children breathe?

Connection and love, Feelings and emotions, Mistakes yours and theirs, Tips & Tools

Contributed by Jody McVittie, MD

We have a lot of “air” stories and jokes at our house including one about the time I was checking out at the grocery store and my then 4-year-old announced (to the WORLD it seemed like), “Mom! You tooted!” But that isn’t the kind of air I’m talking about. I was reminded about a different kind of air pollution this December when my daughter had a pretty strong reaction to what I thought was an innocent comment about torn jeans. Why did she take the comment so personally? Well part of it is developmental… and… …

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08Nov 2010 by Pase Garrett

Now Listen here Young Lady !!!!!!

Conflict, Feelings and emotions, Mistakes yours and theirs, Setting limits, Tips & Tools

Contributed by Melanie Miller, M.Ed., Certified Positive Discipline Trainer and School Counselor

Back talk, eye rolling, the glare, the, “Oh mom how can you be so stupid look”…. As our children grow older, their vocabulary has grown and their words, attitude and eye rolling can dig a little deeper. The next time the disrespect comes your way consider this…

Why Kids do it: • Maintain dignity: think they have been treated unfairly and “need” to defend themselves, • Claiming and testing their power (who am I really?), • Don’t know how to respectfully disagree, • To connect with you, • …

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