Head & Heart Parents

An experienced mother shares what she wishes she would have known about holiday traditions when her kids were young When my sons were little, I was so excited to live out my fantasies of being a great mommy who created Norman Rockwell-ish holidays. Since the time I was old enough to play with Barbies, I [...]

It seems that just about every family has at least one child who spends most of his time trying to figure out what others want.. so that he can do exactly the opposite. Frustrated by their testy behavior, it’s pretty darn easy to fall into less than effective parenting practices. I hear some of these [...]

When kids go full blast until bedtime they have trouble. Parents who complain that their children have a sleep problem often discover the problem is that they are expecting their kids to make an abrupt switch from a high activity level to sleep. It is better for a child to slow down and then switch [...]

It’s scary when toddlers run away. Dad decided to take baby, new puppy and a 4 year old boy for a walk. The boy ran away from the Dad.  Once the boy returned, dad said with empathy, “This is so sad, we have to go home now since I can’t be sure you’ll stay with [...]

This year has brought a new experience for John and I …temper tantrums. That moment when Hailey clenches her fists, shakes uncontrollably, and squeals like a pig…randomly throughout our day.  Tantrums could be triggered over a number of different things in her “high-stress” day.  As adults, we talk about temper tantrums like they are a [...]