How to Help Your Kids Regulate Their Emotions
Today, Marc Brackett is the founding director of the Yale Center for Emotional intelligence. But he remembers what it was like to be a kid who struggled with his emotions. “I would sometimes just sit in a room and cry and catastrophize, like I’m never going to figure this out,” he recalls. He would think, […]
How Parents Can Help Kids Ask the Big Questions
“I can do it myself!” That’s a phrase we typically associate with young children when they learn to get dressed and eat breakfast. Later, they might use it as they start riding a bike or reading a chapter book. But what does the question have to do with their spiritual development? A lot, it turns […]
Five Habits to Help Kids Be Resilient
What resources do you find helpful when you’re struggling? In the wake of the pandemic, a series of federal grants brought me into Milwaukee Public Schools to support children’s well-being and resilience. In one fourth-grade bilingual classroom, students were so engaged with our playful mindful Self-compassion practices that I returned the following year as a […]
How to Raise Kids in an Anxious, Chaotic World
Parenting with confidence and ease seems to get harder each week. How do we honestly encourage our children to believe in a safe future when headlines are covered with violence, from the streets of our cities to the Middle East? Meanwhile, heat waves and natural disasters make it impossible to ignore the reality of climate […]
Seven Tips for Talking With Your Kids About Terminal…
Some of the most challenging moments in parenting occur when we need to provide comfort and guidance to our child during a time when we are also hurting. And one of the biggest challenges we may face is when we or a loved one has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. These situations may involve […]
How Are the Kids Recovering From the Pandemic?
Earlier this spring I got a desperate text from an 18 year old. She’s from one of the families I profiled in The Stolen Year, my 2022 book that documented the impact of the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic on children. My young friend told me that she and her nine siblings were experiencing […]
How Moments in Nature Help Kids Thrive
Awe doesn’t often make the headlines. But on April 9, 2024, the front page of the New York Times read, “A Divided America Agrees on One Thing: The Eclipse Was Awesome.” All photos by Deborah Farmer Kris of her children in nature Though our town was about three hours south of the path of totality, […]
Why Forcing Gratitude in Kids Backfires—And What to…
Do you like being told what to do? If you’re like me, the only time you appreciate it is when you’re too tired to pick a place for takeout. Kids don’t love being bossed around either. As adults, we guide—but trying to force feelings doesn’t work. That’s true of many things, but let’s focus on […]
Eight Tips For Talking With Your Kids About Death
Parents have many tough conversations with their kids. We explain to stubborn toddlers why it’s important to share their toys and talk with disappointed elementary schoolers about their feelings after losing a game. Some conversations are more challenging than others, such as discussing why Mommy and Daddy don’t live in the same house anymore. Among […]
There Are No Bad Kids
Thirty years ago, right after completing my bachelor’s degree in psychology, I spent a summer teaching kindergarten at a Columbus, Ohio, school designed for children with behavioral disorders, many of whom were diagnosed with oppositional defiant disorder (ODD). The student body was overwhelmingly BIPOC and had endured extensive trauma: separation from family, various forms of […]