Thank you for continuing to watch our A to Z of Taming Tantrums series! Today’s episode is the letter I and I is for instructions.
How we deliver instructions will really change how our children respond to those. In this video, I walk through some tips on informing them what needs to in happen in a way that increases the chance our children will cooperate with us.
Have you heard ofpositive and negative core beliefs before? These are the beliefs we hold of ourselves, other people, and the world based on our life experiences.
Hi! Welcome to the next video in our A to Z of Taming Tantrums series. Today’s letter is G, and G is for gratitude. You might be wondering how gratitude and reducing tantrums are linked—they certainly are!
Feeling grateful is a (scientifically proven) way to increase our happiness, and when we are feeling happier, we have better access to the rational part of our mind that helps reduce our emotional outbursts and helps our children through theirs.
My youngest son loves to help in the kitchen. One day when he asked my sister if he could stir the spaghetti sauce on the stove, I shuddered at the thought of red sauce being flicked out of the pot, but she calmly responded: “Sure. Be low and slow.”
He looked at her, smiled, and did just that.
I stared at my sister and said, “That’s amazing. Those two words can really inform many of our actions — especially as parents.” She nodded in agreement, with a wink that she knew this all along.
I find it so valuable to look back at the posts throughout the year, which really resonated with parents. There were some amazing articles published in 2015!
I asked my parenting educator colleagues to send along their most shared posts and was delighted to be looking through incredible, well-written information. I suggest book-marking these posts and reading them as you have time. The content here will certainly help you to be at your parenting best.
Here is a roundup of some of the great parenting articles written this year.
After a rushed morning, getting my young boys out the door to a function I needed to attend, I pulled into the event parking lot a bit flustered. While thinking about what I had to do to get ready for this event, I heard a bang. I swung around in my seat to see that my son had opened his car door with too much “oomph,” and had hit the vehicle next to us.
I knew last night’s bedtime was going to be tricky when I spotted my youngest son jumping back and forth across the room from his bed to his brother’s. I was right: it took him quite a long time to settle down. I don’t blame him, though; it is pretty hard to get to sleep when we are very excited about what’s happening the next day.
I feel the same way as him when we need to get up early to catch an airplane! I can’t tell you the number of times I wake up to make sure the alarm is set.
“Laughter releases the same tension as tears,” Laura Markham, PhD. It certainly does! That is why the “F” of the A to Z of Taming Tantrums is for “Fun.”
It is really hard to stay cranky when you put a song on and dance like no-one’s watching. Moments of goofiness like that can really help encourage our children to cooperate with our requests, and help reduce tension that might be building.
Being able to empathize with our children is the second pillar of my Connect Four Parenting because our ability to see how life is through our little one’s eyes can help us calmly and appropriately respond to them.
Welcome to the next installment in our A to Z of Taming Tantrums video series. This week I talk about the letter D, and D is for de-escalate: catching a tantrum in the bud, redirecting the intensity of it before it turns into a big meltdown.
When couples share their exciting news about having a baby, part of me cheers for them, and part of me sends them a quiet wish. This wish is to hang in there, because life after a baby is incredibly different than before.
I see articles about how to increase your connection when babies arrive, or even how to improve your sex life, but I suggest a much different goal for the years when children are under five: promise to stay together. I say that assuming neither partner is hurting the other.
Hello! Welcome to the third episode of our A to Z of Taming Tantrums Series. Today’s video is about the letter C, and C is for Calm.
Calming down is certainly an easy thing to say, yet often, a very difficult thing to do. The part of our minds that trigger strong feelings of anger or frustration get activated when our children experience emotional upset.
My husband, a family physician, is faced with the same question each year from many of his patients:
Should I get a flu shot?
The answer to this question may seem a bit complicated when you look at the science behind whether or not the flu vaccine is effective. But at the end of examining the data, the short answer to that question is, YES.
Hi! Welcome to the second episode in the parenting video series: "A to Z of Taming Tantrums." Today’s episode is about the letter B, and B is for Buckets!
What are buckets?
They are metaphorical containers that represent our major needs. I find it easier to attend to my children’s needs when I picture that they have some buckets or tanks inside of them, each one representing an essential part of being.
As parents, you will likely agree that taking your kids for their vaccinations can be a very stressful experience. For me, despite my stress, my guys did okay but the anticipation of shrieking cries made me sweat with fear! I own a medical clinic and have seen many babies and toddlers do just fine through their vaccinations—I had to learn how to stop psyching myself out.
One of the ways to connect more deeply with your child (which reduces unwanted behaviour) is to concentrate on filling what I call a child’s “ALIVE tanks.” These are imaginary tanks that hold your child’s most important needs: to feel connected, loved, important, heard and capable.
Welcome to the first video of our A to Z of Taming Tantrums video series. This video is about the letter A, and A is for Attention.
Are you wondering how attention has an impact on reducing tantrums? I believe that filling our children with the attention they need is a preventative tantrum strategy. When children don't feel they have enough of us -- enough of our undivided focus, they can use negative behaviour to try to get that attention from us.
Hi! Andrea Nair here. I'm very excited to share with you that my video series called the A to Z of Taming Tantrums is now here!
Each week I will share the next letter of the alphabet and how it relates to reducing tantrums and improves our experience as parents. This week I introduce the series and tell you more about what's in store.
How is your daily experience parenting young children going?
I certainly hope it's going better than my own did! It was only a few years ago that my children were toddlers, and it was common for me to hang my head and whisper through tears, “I didn’t sign up for this.”
