We all experience various levels of stress throughout our lives, but as we know, the adolescent years can be especially charged with anxiety as teens learn to deal with uncertainty, change and forming their identities. Their lives are full of new challenges and opportunities and these transitions can be stressful, especially around body image, performance,…
Our primary job as parents is to teach our children healthy habits of self-discipline and self-regulation. I wholeheartedly believe the most successful way to do this is by connecting to our children in a calm, safe, attuned, and curious manner. When children feel safe, they have the freedom to explore, take risks and develop in…
I start almost every parenting blog with the statement “parenting is hard; really really hard”, and that’s because every time I sit down to reflect on parenting issues, that is the first thought that pops into my mind. I am a professional licensed counselor, and I too mess this parenting thing up… often…. maybe almost…
Let’s get one thing clear: Parenting is hard. Parenting is really, really hard! I am a parent of two wonderful, energetic, curious, and sometimes mischievous kids. My little ones are five and eight years old and watching them grow and develop is a true joy. Even therapists’ children have meltdowns, blows ups, power struggles, and…
A lot of us have heard the airline safety instruction ‘put on your own oxygen mask before putting on your child’s’. This same instruction has been used to provide imagery for helping our children with their dysregulated emotions while at the same time our own emotions are dysregulated. Let’s break down how this can be…
Postpartum depression is a perinatal mood disorder that can occur at any point in the first year after giving birth. It is estimated that as many as 1 in 5 women will experience depression during their first year postpartum. While as many as 60-80% of new moms experience what’s known as “baby blues” (a period…
If you’re a mom – chances are you’ve experienced the dreaded “mom guilt” at some point in your motherhood journey. Mom guilt is an equal opportunity offender, spreading self-doubt amidst stay-at-home moms and CEO moms all the same. It sounds harmless enough, and in some cases can even be a good thing; after all, guilt…
What is mindfulness? Mindfulness is a term that you’ve probably heard as the practice has grown in popularity recently, and for good reason: practicing mindfulness has been show to help with reducing symptoms of anxiety and depression, among many other health issues. So what exactly is mindfulness? At its core, the goal of mindfulness is…
Parenting in a Pandemic – Spoiler Alert: It’s F’ing Hard Parenting in general, even on the best of days, can be tough. Add in a global pandemic and it can feel impossibly difficult, not to mention increasingly more stressful (as if parents were in short supply of stress as it was). One of the ways…
Everyone is an expert at parenting, until they have kids Want to hear a funny story? Before I had kids, I knew exactly the kind of parent I was going to be. I was going to be loving and patient and supportive and do all those fun Pinterest crafts and of course, I was going…