May
In Her Own Time
My daughter tends to use me as a human shield between her and other people when interacting with adults. She’ll stand plastered to me, arm rigidly locked around mine, her face half-hidden behind my...
Accepting Help and Embracing My Mom Tribe
I am most grateful for my tribe of mom friends.
These women of the “It takes a village” live and breathe the mantra down to their very cells. Mom friends know what it’s like....
Supporting Children in the Battle Against Bullies
Being a parent, there is always a tremendously visceral gut-wrenching feeling when your child is not accepted by their peers, especially when that lack of acceptance evolves into bullying.
For me, it’s a mix...
Coping with Negative Emotions as a Special Needs Parent
There’s a line that I often hear in my work as a psychotherapist for families of children classified as special needs. It’s a refrain that is always heavily loaded with grief, frustration, and anxiety,...
Quieting the Inner Turmoil of Parent Guilt
Even though I’ve been a practicing psychotherapist for nearly 17 years (11 of those spent exclusively with children and families), I am still subject to crazy parenting guilt. It creeps up on me in...
Supporting Function in the Anxious Child
Anxiety tends to stink, for the most part. There are times when being anxious can be useful, such as when you’re in fight-or-flight mode or when it keeps you alert to the needs of...
Shifting Perspectives and Rethinking Anxiety
Anxiety is a widespread and yet very debilitating phenomenon. There are two key ways of re-framing perspective (that is, a different way to approach your worry thoughts) so that they don’t become overwhelming. These...
Keep Them Young…At Least For a Minute
When my son was in kindergarten at a local catholic school, a reading teacher of his stopped me in the hallway to let me know that she thought that I ought to let him...
Pressure and the Anxious Child: A General Guide for Emotional Support
Enter the mind of an anxious child, and you step into a storm.
Thoughts are a constant swirl that instantaneously runs through a thousand catastrophic scenarios as they rapidly assess situations and determine their safety...
Talk To Me Tomorrow
Today I didn’t mom so well.
I felt guilty about half a million things left undone and agonized over the things I didn’t do for my kids.
My daughter’s extracurricular activities have ramped up lately. I’ve...