Dear Faith, My 5yo has enormous tantrums--kicking, hitting, even biting. We went through a phase of this at 3.5 when her younger brother came, but we thought it was solved. Now we don't see any external factors. Her father wants to move to more punishment-based discipline. I don't necessarily agree, but certainly need to find something that will help her, and us … [Read more...]
How to Help Your Kid Calm Down
We all know that toddlers and preschoolers have BIG emotions! We don’t want to squash those emotions; rather, we want to help our children learn that they can be in control of their feelings, instead of letting their feelings rule them. This important skill is called emotional self-regulation. It is one of the most important skills learned in early childhood, … [Read more...]
A Playful Way to Teach Kids to Control their Anger
A friend recently sent me a link to THIS STORY by NPR about a researcher in the 1970s who noticed that the Inuit community where she was staying had very strong cultural expectations about people controlling their negative emotions (especially anger and disappointment). Although they never raised their voices to reprimand their children, all of the children grew up to have … [Read more...]
Holiday Book Sale
Many of my readers don't know that my mom is none other than Rahima Baldwin Dancy, author of the classic early childhood book You Are Your Child's First Teacher. Up till now I've kept it mostly on the down-low, but now I'm letting the cat out of the bag! So...if you've read her book, then you automatically know lots of stories about my childhood. Yes...I really used to climb … [Read more...]
Holiday Craft Projects with Kids
Children thrive when we slow down and do things with a "sense of spaciousness": the attitude that we have enough attention for our task AND the child(ren), and that we have all the time in the world for whatever is happening right now. During the holiday season it can be especially hard to slow down. We still have everything we normally do, plus holiday parties, shopping for … [Read more...]
How To Avoid the Terrible Twos
Everywhere you look, the message about toddlers is that they are “terrible,” that their favorite word is NO, and that they’re using all of their energy to become independence from us. However, this cultural paradigm has gotten it all wrong! Toddlers and parents are not going from connection to independence. Rather, they are transitioning from one-sided relationships (where … [Read more...]
Bath-Time Hair Washing
Dear Miss Faith, My 2yo son screams bloody murder every time I wash his hair. I'm ever so slow and careful, but nothing seems to help. He particularly hates it when water falls into his ears, which is almost impossible to avoid 100%. It's gotten to the point where he starts crying as soon as I mention that it's time for a bath. Any suggestions you have would be most … [Read more...]