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Social Emotional Learning in the Classroom: Simple Tools for the New School Year

by Suzanne Tucker

Social emotional learning starts in everyday classroom moments. Explore simple SEL strategies teachers can use to build emotional literacy, support regulation, strengthen relationships, and create a classroom where children feel safe, understood, and ready to learn.

Woman kneeling to comfort a young boy, with illustrated hands exchanging a gray cloud for a red heart in the background

Positive vs. Negative Reinforcement: A Guide for Parents

by Alex Petrou

Learn how positive vs. negative reinforcement influence your parenting style and the ways positive reinforcers can support your child’s development.

Mother comforting her highly sensitive teenage son during an emotional moment, illustrating parental support, empathy, and teen mental health.

Helping Your Highly Sensitive Child Gain Confidence

by Rebecca Eanes

When our children are highly sensitive, rejection and criticism hurt more deeply. They get embarrassed easily and have strong emotional reactions, which can make them the target for bullying. Here are 5 tools to boost your child's confidence.

Woman looking at an old childhood photo of herself, surrounded by illustrated hearts and clouds

Healing From A Childhood You Don't Remember

by Ashley Patek

While we may not remember our childhood with our mind and verbal words, our body keeps the score and stores the information it receives from our formative years, namely which parts of us to grow and which to shrink. These downloads show up as patterns in adulthood and in our parenting. Read more.

Woman with eyes closed and hand on her chest, staying calm, with a flower graphic beside her

9 Mantras I Use When Low On Patience With My Kids

by Ashley Patek

Mantras can change the wiring of our brain and create a new lens to see ourselves, our kids, and the world at large. Here are 9 parenting mantras I use when low on patience with my kids.

of two young girls/ siblings fighting, one pulling hair

End Sibling Rivalry And Bring Peace Into Your Home

by Ashley Patek

Siblings are natural competitors for attachment, bidding for our love and attention. Here's 3 Parenting Do's and Don'ts when it comes to sibling relationships.

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3 Bunny Brain Breaks To Increase Emotional Regulation And Academic Learning

by Ashley Patek

Multi-sensory movements specific to eye-teaming, hand-eye coordination, and whole-body awareness changes the architecture of the brain, bolstering social-emotional and academic learning. Here are 3 Bunny Brain Breaks to do with your kiddos this spring (Free Printable!).

Accepting Ourselves And Our Children While Embracing Growth And Change

by Rebecca Eanes

The desire to do better can exist in and of itself. It doesn’t have to be driven by a dislike or disgust of who you are now. Here are 3 steps toward self-acceptance.

Going With The Flow: Using Improv Games To Teach Flexibility

by Guest Author

Sam struggled with impulse control and emotional processing when he didn't get what he wanted. Does this sound familiar in your home? I created an improv game to help nurture emotional intelligence and bolster flexibility. Get this game and more in our E-Book: 10 Minutes of Play For 10 Days!

Mindful Parenting and How It Affects Children

by Alex Petrou

What is mindful parenting? Learn the benefits and practices of this positive parenting style and how you can integrate it into your child's life.

Teaching (Not Training) Toddlers To Toilet

by Ashley Patek

Helping children transition from diapers to using the toilet is a big milestone, one often surrounded by stress. Here are tools to guide our tots in toileting without the power struggle.

Raising Teens: They're Still Under Construction

by Rebecca Eanes

“Just wait until the teen years,” they’d say. Now I am here, and I get what they were referring to. Teens' fluctuating moods can be hard to deal with, but it's not our fault. Blame it on the brain.

There Is No Such Thing As A Bad Child

by Guest Author

As a mother and trauma therapist, I can sniff out social trauma from a mile away.

Our Kids Are Listening Even When They Don't Seem Like It

by Ashley Patek

I was starting to lose hope that my three-year-old was actually absorbing anything when I talked to him about emotions or attempted to elicit empathy after he hit or kicked another in a fit of rage. But then this happened, and I realized he had been listening after all.

Feeding The Senses Helps Regulate Emotions: Part 1

by Ashley Patek

Learn about your child's sensory system and how dysregulation leads to big emotions. Here are some tools to alert or calm your kiddo's nervous system to help regulate big feelings and behavior.

Until The Last

by Ashley Patek

A poem about savoring the little moments of parenting. "No one prepared me for the hardest part of parenting … letting go. Parenting is the longest, most gradual break-up. A story that grows in chapters, filled with firsts that turn into lasts."

5 Sensory Activities Better Than Slime

by Ashley Patek

I am no Pinterest mom. Let’s start there. But when I saw a picture of a kiddo playing in a tub of colored noodles, it intrigued me. As an occupational therapist, sensory integration is my jam. Unfortunately, the noodles turned out to be one colossal fail. Here are 5 sensory activities that won’t let you down.

If It All Feels Heavy Today, Read This

by Rebecca Eanes

There are millions of beautiful moments in parenting and also, sometimes, it feels hard. If you’re finding yourself in a heavy season today, or if you are having trouble recognizing yourself, here are 5 pieces of encouragement.

The Invisible Mother

by Ashley Patek

Poem about Motherhood. "While Motherhood has completely undone her, she has rebuilt herself from the sticks and stones more whole than she could have ever imagined."

Ask Andrew: Finding Your People

by Andrew Patterson

Andrew answers today's question: My 14 year-old daughter with autism doesn’t get invited to things and gets mad at her 6 year-old sister because of jealousy, I think. What can I do to help her with this?

Parenting Toddlers, Tweens, and Teens Using Time-Ins

by Ashley Patek

Crystal is a mama with a household of toddlers, tweens, and teens where uncontrollable sobbing and outbursts were a daily occurrence, and not just from her three-year-old.

Pretending To Be Calm Is Not Helping Our Children

by Rebecca Eanes

Many of us believe that if we can remain calm no matter what and teach our children to do the same then we have successfully mastered self-regulation. But true regulation has nothing to do with achieving a certain state. It's in noticing and responding to whatever emotion you are feeling.

Sometimes It's Hard, And That Isn't A Failure

by Guest Author

We cannot shield our children from stress, heartache, and pain, especially as they grow older. And we can't protect them from mental illness. But we can provide them attachment and love them through it.