We know what it feels like to feel worried about something. Even overly worried, even panicked. So when we see this in our child we feel desperate to help them and helpless when we can’t. If telling someone “calm down” “relax” and “don’t worry”, worked, well quite frankly, it would have worked by now. But if this isn’t helpful, what is? Let’s take a look at some practical tips to help kids (and adults) begin to learn to calm their anxieties. But before we do that… What is anxiety ...read more

Check out our latest guest post! Lynn Louise Wonders, LPC, RPT-S, CPCS is a professional business mentor of mine and owns Wonders Counseling Services, LLC and Wonders Wellness, LLC. She is in private practice in the metro Atlanta area in Georgia and she provides distance training, coaching, consultation and mentoring services to people nation-wide and internationally.   Calls come into my office every day from people needing help with their relationship. It requires courage to ...read more

Time is a commodity. A scarce resource. We all feel like there is not enough of it. But, it’s one of the most important things we can give our children. Why? Time spent with the people we love builds connection. It creates a sense of safety and trust in the relationship. It creates a space that helps your child feel safe enough with you to show you their big emotions. When they feel safe, the likelihood that that will come to you when they need help increases. Spending time with ...read more

Sometimes it seems too simple to think that helping our kids get more sleep, eat better, exercise, and be in nature can reduce concerning behaviors. Things like tantrums, unrealistic anxiety, anger and irritability to name a few. The truth is, behavior that seems abnormal, could actually be a normal response to being out of sync. In my practice, I am frequently helping caregivers of children explore “symptoms” to see where they lie on the spectrum of normal to “clinical.” We look at how ...read more

Check out our latest guest post! Dave Roberts, LMSW is a retired addiction professional and an adjunct professor of psychology at Utica College and a HuffPost contributor. He has been a keynote speaker and workshop presenter on grief and loss both locally and nationally. For more information, please go to Dave's website: www.bootsyandangel.com. Also check out www.tcfmohawkvalley.org for more information on getting support after the death of a child. My life until 2002, was fairly routine, ...read more

The most important thing between a parent/caregiver and child is their relationship with each other. A relationship based in connection and mutual respect increases the likelihood that, even though there will no doubt be difficult interactions, the relationship will win out most of the time. Kids cannot be “controlled,” but the adult in a child’s life can have influence over him. And that influence is directly related to the connection that adult has built with the child. Kids listen to the ...read more

Feelings don’t need to change only behavior needs to change. You learned about this and how to acknowledge and validate your child’s feeling while not accepting their behavior in my previous post on the one must have parenting technique. But, do you still think your child needs help listening? Are you feeling like something is missing? We all want our children to listen when we ask them to do or not do something. We all want to avoid draining power struggles and improve our ...read more

Young children, even if they are really smart and talkative, don’t have the same vocabulary that adults do. They struggle to communicate with words and the result are often communication through behaviors. What do I mean? I mean that when your 4 year old wrecks the partially completed puzzle on the floor and throws the remaining pieces, he may be communicating his frustration over not being able to make his little fingers work to fit the pieces together. Especially when he sees how easy it ...read more

The Importance of Comprehensive Evaluation & Diagnosis Originally posted by Danielle Bronk, Ph.D., ABPdN Neurodevelopmental Health Services, Utica, NY At every age, children are mastering a set of developmental skills and for some children a developmental stage may pose particular challenges. These challenges may manifest in delayed acquisition of developmental milestones, learning and academic struggles, behavioral concerns, or changes in the child’s social-emotional functioning. For ...read more

Parents are the most important people in a child’s life. Even as adults, kids, knowingly or not, seek the approval of their first caregivers. It’s just in our biology. Your child sees themselves first through your eyes, and as a result, the way you speak about your child becomes their inner voice. Can you think back to something you remember your mother or father (insert grandmother or uncle or whomever raised you) saying about you that always stuck? Was it “That Kathleen, she is always a ...read more