“Those pants don't really do you any justice.”

My (then) best friend said this to me as we were getting ready to go out dancing for the night. 

I was 18 years old and had spent adolescence and young adulthood hating my body. I self described as “big-boned” and wondered aloud, so my mom was s...

My three kids were born between 2000 and 2005. Their early years were filled with friends and family wanting to give them digital toys that talked, LeapPads, and hand-me-down Ipods. (remember those?)

And me, politely saying “No thank you. I don’t want them to think of technology as a toy.”

T...

My husband is terrible at sharing.  I am not throwing him under the bus. It's true and he’ll tell you as much.  He doesn't like sharing food off his plate.  He refuses to share his tools. And, although he will eventually hand over a sweatshirt when I ask to borrow it, he sends a pointed ‘you better ...

Toddlers are born salespeople. They refuse to take NO for an answer. 

They show up consistently. 

They exhibit persistence.

They use creativity to pose other potential solutions that get them what they want.

You, to say YES.

The truth is that these skill sets are vital parts of becoming a...

How often do you get caught in the trigger trap reaction cycle? It’s so easy to do and hard to break out of! 

Reactions are live-time, high emotion, frustration point solutions. They're short lived, and you have to repeat them over and over and over. And, they often lead to punitive discipline, ...

Traveling as adults is stressful enough. But traveling with kids is a different beast.

The planning. The packing. How does a tiny little human require so much stuff? And, of course, the changing of routines, food options, and sleep.

The first time I took my kids on a plane they were seven an...

Toddlers cry. A lot. It’s their primary way of communicating, well – everything. 

How they feel. What they are thinking. Their opinions. And their preferences as their tiny-little belief systems develop. 

In fact, crying is a healthy sign of early development. Kids who never cry are likely not pro...

She did it. This is what my husband says. 

People say, “Oh my gosh, you have such amazing kids”, and he smiles, points his finger at me and says “She did it. It’s because of her” 

He’s right. I did the bulk of the childrearing, adopting the role of mother, safety officer, therapist, goal set...

 How many emotional triggers do you field in a day? Don’t answer that, because you likely can’t.

Your toddlers and preschoolers are master button pushers and trigger your conscious and subconscious reactions, often without even trying.

You want to sit inside a level of self awareness that allow...

School wasn’t going well for my Kindergartener. Most spring mornings it was a battle to get out the door, followed by massive, puddle-on-the-floor meltdowns when she got home at the end of the day.

I knew something had to change for 1st grade, but how? 

I worked. My husband worked. And in...

I raised a challenging child with big, loud, audacious behaviors. Think puddle on the floor, screaming meltdowns that often went on for 30 or 40 minutes until she expelled her dysregulated energy, then – then popped right back up and reengaged with me, like nothing ever happened.

Big feelings have ...

Today we’re talking about physical behavior with our kids, how they come at us physically and how we are going to manage that.  One of my clients who's a Transforming the Toddler, Toddler Years course graduate, still works with me and we work very deeply together monthly. Here’s what’s happening wit...