There’s a whole list of things to remember, to do, to be, in order to feel like you can call yourself a Gentle Parent. That list can include things like being respectful, apologizing when you’ve made mistakes, recognizing what sets you off, and learning ways to handle certain challenging situations. I even give three things […]
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Chocolate Chunk Lactation Cookies (with vegan option!)
When Danny was about 2 weeks old, one of my good friends (Laura) asked me if I wanted her to make me some Lactation Cookies. Um…YES PLEASE! I had never tried lactation cookies! She delivered them to my house, and they were so amazing I started making them myself. Well, Clare and I started making […]
Week 2: Creative Play for Toddlers
Here’s what we did during our second week of Creative Play for Toddlers! Interested in joining us? You still can! Go here! We did sponge painting! With purple paint! We read Splat the Cat, by Rob Scotton (I love these books)! The water work was a hit! And we sang the super funny song […]
Blaming contributes to more lying, less empathy.
We’ve noticed that when we ask questions like, “Oh, who did this?” or “Who made this mess?” or even “Clare, did you spill this?” Our 3-year-old is quick to say it was someone else. And since the only other living beings in our home are the 2-month-old and the pets, the blame usually falls on […]
Week 1: Creative Play for Toddlers
I should have started these posts sooner, but better late than never! Here are all the fun things we did at Creative Play for Toddlers, Week 1! We’ll be painting with different materials through the coming weeks, and this week we used chopsticks: We sang the Good Morning song: “Good morning, Daniel, Good morning, Daniel, […]
Favorites from this past week! 9/24/16
Happy Saturday! Here are some interesting, and helpful things from around the internet this past week: Skill-Building Approaches to Anxiety-Fueled Work Avoidance – “Behavior is a way of communicating, and a symptom of an underlying problem. In my experience, when you dig into the roots of work avoidance, you find skill deficits in initiation, persistence, […]
How to Make a Waldorf Hand Kite
These are super easy and fun to make for little ones! I’ve made several of them over the past couple years, and this time my 3-year-old actually got into it and wanted to help me: Materials needed: 2″ wooden ring (I use these ones) 3/8″ ribbon, different colors (like these) Directions (these are so simple): […]
No one grows out of needing hugs
When was the last time I hugged my big girl today? I’m not sure I had. I had spent the whole day carrying around my 3-week-old, only touching my 3-year-old to lift her up and down from the counter when we were baking, and when I was gently moving her away from covering her brother’s […]
Favorites from this past week! 9/15/16
Good morning! It’s Thursday and we’re about to head into the weekend! Here are a few things I’ve found this week that I thought were worth the read…let me know what you think. Empower the Child Through Language ~ this is a really sweet article on the importance of using real names and words (as opposed […]
Behavior Charts…if you’re going to use them, here’s how:
Are you thinking about using a behavior chart for your child? Have you tried one already but it wasn’t successful? Let’s talk about this for a minute… When we say ‘behavior chart’ what we usually mean is a token reinforcement system. A token reinforcement system is used to increase behavior we like, behavior we want […]