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Whole Child Development

Art Therapy Every Child Could Use

by Filed Under: Child Development & DAP, Create, Learning through Play and Experience, Positive Guidance and Social Skills, Uncategorized 6 Comments

Curious about Art Therapy?  I have been!  A huge thanks to Faige Kobre of EduArt 4 Kids for sharing her expertise in today’s post. 

2 kids coloring at home

Many of us have the vague feeling that art is really good for us. We know it makes us more creative and stuff like that. However, research shows that doing art is not only for creativity but, it actually increases the levels of serotonin in the brain which is what is used to help lift depression. Art also helps people learn to like, accept and control their feelings. Feelings of anger, fear, jealously and aggression.

There is even a whole field that uses art to help children and adults heal from painful and abusive situations. This discipline is called art therapy. [Read more…]

The Parable of the Swing: Why Kids Need Both Choices and Boundaries

by Filed Under: Child Development & DAP, Positive Guidance and Social Skills, Uncategorized 15 Comments

 

I’m sharing a little sneak peak into my newest ebook, Positive Parenting: The Basics.  

Parable of the Swing

 

I often write about the importance of giving children choices.  They are struggling with a need to feel powerful in a world that often makes them feel powerless.  Being able to take control and make their own choices gives them that powerful feeling, meaning they feel less compelled to seek out power in negative ways like tantrums or fighting.

Children also need to be offered choices to give them practice making decisions and experience handling consequences as life skills.  Giving children choices is important.  But it is also important to recognize that as adults, we need to be clear in setting the boundaries for those choices. [Read more…]

Teaching Kids Problem Solving with a Great Book!

by Filed Under: Building Readers, Positive Guidance and Social Skills 2 Comments

Ladybug Girl
  I’ve got a thing for well-illustrated books that really capture the endearing quirkiness of kids.  That’s the first thing that made me love Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy* by Jacky Davis and David Soman.  But as I read it to my 4-year-old again tonight, I realized what a perfect book it is to illustrate the social problem-solving kids need to do almost every day.  Something he had done today, in fact.

Just this afternoon, he and his brother were at odds about how to play together.  As they got flustered and frustrated and began to grouch at each other, I stepped out to intervene.  In a split second, I had to decide whether to intervene by settling it myself, or by taking the time to teach them to own their problems and problem solve together. 

[Read more…]

Building Strong Boys: The Video Game Debate

by Filed Under: Child Development & DAP, Positive Guidance and Social Skills, Uncategorized 12 Comments

The Video Game Debate

Video games have come under fire lately as a possible contributing factor in a variety of undesirable behaviors, particularly for boys.  Whether it’s examining possible links between real world violence and video games or questioning the connections between gaming and issues of apathy and motivation, many are quick to point a finger at the flashing screens in living rooms all around the world.

[Read more…]

First Friday Q&A — Tantrums: Emotional Regulation or Pure Manipulation?

by Filed Under: Positive Guidance and Social Skills, Uncategorized 15 Comments

A great question came up on my Facebook page (if you’re not following me yet, you can start that here).  It was essentially this:

How do you recognize the difference between when a child is ‘acting out’ and when a child has lost complete control of his emotions and can’t self regulate their actions, and how do you navigate them in both cases?

[Read more…]

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