Elementary
Power & Safety
Exerting power over a child just for the sake of exerting it is a threat to the child’s feelings of safety, and they know it. They’ve been living in this world for however many years, […]
Regulation
At Home
Helping vs Revenge
This quote sums up everything I’ve ever tried to say about “behavior” and does it so perfectly succinctly in four sentences. What’s the best-case scenario? That instead of wanting to get revenge on children for […]
At Home
They’re Not Playing Dangerously
“They’re actually not playing dangerously.” I tell this to my own body. My own nervous system. My own fight-or-flight response. Because of the way the noise feels. It pounds against my ears. It sends jolts […]
At Home
Playground in the House
We have an outdoor toddler climbing frame/play set in our house. It was outdoors for the first 6 months or so of us living here. Then it became apparent that the extended period of cold […]
At Home
“Not Letting” Them Whine
This post has an audio and video recorded version for those who prefer to learn by hearing rather than by reading. Scroll to the bottom for the video of me reading it. Someone recently asked […]
At School
Puddles & Choices
My son huffed at a puddle that he didn’t want to be there the other day and said, “The rain is making bad choices!” It made me laugh, because it was cute and funny. And […]
Personal
Statistics
“Did you know,” he tells me, his feet kicking off the ground to push the swing again, “that if you wake up before 3 AM, there’s a 1 in 3 chance it’s because you heard […]
At School
How the Feelings Connect to the Actions
It can be really tricky to teach children how to understand the emotions inside of their bodies. It feels obvious after you already know all the emotion words — maybe, depending on how in tune […]
At School
What Roles the Team Has
One thing that’s really challenging for adults in all contexts—parenting, or professional contexts—is balancing between how much autonomy and how much protection to provide to their child. That’s why when I was writing this reminder […]
At School
What Sensory Self-Regulation Is
The transcription of the whiteboard can be found at my intro post for this series: What the Therapy Gym Is. When I set out to write this as a helpful reminder for the adults who […]