Kangaroo Konsciousness

06/20/2013

Very rarely does one sentence have immediate impact on me. Very rarely does one sentence change the way I interact with my family. But this one did. It was not from Henry Thoreau or some renowned c...

05/10/2013

Our children will experience more change in the first ten years of their life than the generation before.

04/29/2013

The author of Parenting without Power Struggles and Huffington Post columnist invites us to experience the present moment with our children, and find contentment along the way.

04/07/2013

So important....emotional literacy.

"We've become a culture obsessed with running away, avoiding pain." Shefali Tsabary, PhD discusses our ineptitude in teaching true emotional literacy & resil...

12/12/2012

I love the imaginative realm that 9 year old girls play in! Olivia's drew this ideal bedroom - note the video game, popcorn maker, ICEE maker and Cotton Candy maker...with party balloons to boot. When (and why) do we lose this beautiful orientation to making life playful?

11/10/2012

Susan Perrow on imaginative play: "It may be hard for adults to engage with this realm of childhood perception, but it is nevertheless often a reality for children, and something of course which comes alive in many folk and fairytales. Rather than insisting that children see the world as we do, we can learn from them something we often forget - that nature is alive and ensouled, full of dynamic energies and vital, often unperceived realities." From Healing Stories for Challenging Behaviors.

08/07/2012

Beautiful thought...

One generation full of deeply loving parents
Would change the brain of the next generation,
And with that,
The World.

05/04/2012

I also love this book. Our role as parents is to be "Emotion Coaches". He says "Much like athletic coaches, they (Emotion Coaching parents) teach their children strategies to deal with life's ups and downs. They don't object to their children's displays of anger, sadness or fear. Nor do they ignore them. Instead, they use emotional moments as opportunities for teaching their kids important life lessons and building closer relationships with them" - John Gottman, "Raising An Emotionally Intelligent Child - The Heart Of Parenting".

A review of why I think John Gottman's book, Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child should be required reading of all parents.

04/02/2012

"For a child the imaginative and spirit world could be as real as the physical, everyday world." - Susan Perrow in Healing Stories for Challenging Behaviors

"The little ones still remember how to use the power of their imagination. They are still engaged in the utilization of their imagination — that is one of the reasons that keeps them so exhilarated." ~ Abraham

04/01/2012

One of the most powerful portals into awake parenting for me has been to notice when my mind is objecting to my daughter's "hot" feelings. Funnily enough...that is part of my own personal journey as well.

"In my research I discovered that love by itself wasn't enough. Very concerned, warm and involved parents often had attitudes towards their own and their children's emotions that got in the way of them being able to talk to their children when they were sad or afraid or angry." "But while love by itself was not enough, channeling that caring into some basic skills that parents practiced as if they were coaching their children in the area of emotion was enough. The secret lay in how parents interacted with their children when emotions ran hot" - John Gottman, PhD from "Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child - The Heart Of Parenting"

03/23/2012

Great song for kids about Loving Kindness

03/14/2012

Taking children's emotions seriously requires empathy, keen listening skills, and a willingness to see things from their perspective. It also takes a certain selflessness - John Gottman, PhD from "Raising An Emotionally Intelligent Child - The Heart of Parenting"