Meet Sarah! Sarah Seweryniak is a freelance writer and marketing professional. She resides in Western New York with her husband Matthew. They welcomed their daughter, Genevieve, in the Summer of 2017. Adventures in Exclusive Pumping In the months leading up to the birth of my daughter, I had been prepping my idea of what […]
Gentle
Our Summer Idea List (free printable!)😘
The title was supposed to be The Ultimate Summer Bucket List. But as Clare and I talked about it, my husband added that bucket lists sound like ‘To-Do’ lists to him. And he’d rather not have a to-do list during the summer. Pretty sure his contribution to the items on our list was “throw out […]
Community Chat: SHARING
An interesting post about sharing was posted in the Facebook group not too long ago, and following it was a fantastic conversation on sharing and how some of our members handle this often-tricky topic. This is the shared post, written by Alanya Kolberg: MY CHILD IS NOT REQUIRED TO SHARE WITH YOURS. As soon as […]
How We Avoid Punishing Our Children
I often see comments in gentle parenting boards asking, “If you don’t punish, what do you do?” Or, “There are definitely circumstances where punishments are necessary, right?” As a BCBA (Board Certified Behavior Analyst), I frequently have to hold back from defining the term ‘punishment’ because I know that’s not exactly what folks mean. I […]
Please don’t spank your child.
Please don’t spank your child. “But if I don’t spank them, they will grow up to be entitled brats.” Everything you do as a parent will impact your children. Whether you spank or not does not have anything to do with your child growing up to feel entitled. It will, however, impact the way they […]
8 Helpful Phrases for Reconnecting with Your Child
My 3-year-old daughter stood up from the potty and slowly started peeling one square of toilet paper away from the roll. The baby was fussing in the other room and I knew he wanted to eat. Ohmygosh hurry up! I shouted in my mind. She was tired, and no one in the house had been […]
Instead of Threats and Counting…
The other night was a test of patience. Our little one, who is 2.5, was practically bouncing off the walls and could not hold still even for a moment to allow us to help her get ready for bed. She tends to act very hyper when she’s especially tired, so it’s not like this was […]
Give Your Energy to the Behavior You Want to See
A friend of mine, who also happens to be a Marriage and Family Counselor and BCBA, often gave what I considered a fantastic speech during trainings we used to do together. He would ask our audience during which scenario more energy was being displayed. Then he would dramatically shout something like the following: “What are […]
Instead of “Say you’re sorry”
Forcing a child to say sorry is not a good way to encourage authenticity.