Head & Heart Parents

Little kids want to be big kids, and parents can leverage that desire to get cooperation when behavior problems arise. In one example, 4-year-old Emma’s mom asked her to blow her nose. “No!” Emma shouted. Remembering how important it was for Emma to feel like a big kid, Mom said, “Oh, that’s right, I know [...]

Do our kids need limits? Yes!  Do they thank us when we set them? No! What do they do instead? They whine and argue. They negotiate and beg.  They apologize and promise they won’t do it again. Parents who give in, engage, or try to reason with the child will lose the battle. Let’s instead, [...]

Would you like your life as a parent to be complicated? Would you like to live in a constant state of confusion and anxiety? Would you like to feel unsure about how to deal with the problems your children create? Would you like to frequently think to yourself something like, “Oh, no. Now what do [...]

Wouldn’t it be nice to start each evening with some time to sit, relax and chat with your husband, wife or significant other? Evening parenting takes a lot of energy after a full day of either working outside the home or parenting. One couple I worked with used to try to sit and talk when [...]

Most of us SAY that family comes first, right? Wouldn’t it be nice if living that motto was as easy as saying it? Whether we like it or not, work often drains the best from many of us and our family gets stuck the leftovers. Dale used to come home stressed, tired, and irritated by [...]

Evening family time can sound so lovely … family dinner, playtime, baths, stories and cuddles. In many households, however, people don’t quite feel like they’re “livin’ the dream.” Quite the contrary, in fact. Many couples I work with tend to “read” each other and make guesses about how their mate is feeling. Fact: they often [...]

I am standing in the kitchen getting breakfast ready for my family… Palmer (6) is banging on the counter with an action figure while he asks for a drink. Landon (2) is playing on the floor at my feet with his new and very noisy digger, saying “Play, mommy!” Keaton (9) is downstairs hollering at [...]

Imagine this: you’re sitting in a restaurant and when the waitress asks for your friend’s order, your friend goes through the whole menu of what she DOESN’T want… “I don’t want the burrito and I don’t want the tacos and I don’t want the chimichanga.” How likely is she to end up getting what she [...]

Bless my kids and their cranky days. If my 3 boys were perfect and delightful all the time, I’d have no credibility as a parenting instructor. Lucky for me, I don’t have that problem! Just the other morning, I was tempted to yell. I came right to the brink when two of them were participating [...]

For many years now, my children have unwittingly been actors in a drama… the play could be titled “Kerry’s Fantasies.” These fantasies consist of dreams and stories created by a much younger me in which my children are happy and well adjusted, squeaky clean and smiling. In this dream, there is an act by the [...]