Every behavior serves a purpose, and behaviors that may seem disruptive or “difficult” are often children’s attempts to communicate how they are feeling deep inside. Particularly in a difficult social climate ridden with collective fear, your child is likely experiencing some amount of anxiety.

Often times highly intelligent children will end up checking out (disassociating in a way that could even sometimes be misdiagnosed as ADD) when other kids are joking about something they think is childish or silly…or learning something in the classroom that is elementary in comparison to what this child is ready to learn about. As a result, they can feel disconnected from the group and then develop low esteem as a result of feeling like an outsider.

Parents often ask me how to deal with a child who is hitting their siblings (or being physically aggressive towards their siblings or other children). Most of the time, parents intuitively know that it is not helpful to make a child feel ashamed for their natural human impulse to hit, punch, kick, or bite...YET it can be infuriating and ultimately very concerning to experience violence between your children. And SO these situations most often end in more yelling, confusion, and disconnection between all members of the family.

When you have a little boy who feels so deeply, it’s hard to know what to do as a parent. Here are my top tips for supporting your son who is very sensitive and emotional.

It’s easy to feel frustrated and lost when figuring out how to deal with a highly sensitive child. However, there are plenty of parenting strategies that can help both you and your child feel better. In this post, I share everything you need to know about raising a highly sensitive child, including my top tips for how to help them thrive.

Highly sensitive children need a different kind of parenting to thrive. If your child had a medical condition, you would see the right specialist and get the information you need to support your child in being as comfortable to grow as possible. It's no different for a highly sensitive child with a unique brain and nervous system makeup...that needs unique support. Read on for more reasons why...

Slowing down and tuning in is a non-negotiable to show up as a conscious parent. Meditation is a helpful tool for many to connect back themselves…and then be able to connect more ease-fully with their children. Take a comfortable seat and tune in for this 7 minute meditation that will shift your entire day.

Most of the time, when your child is coming to you with a big feeling, they not only don’t want you to fix it, they actually need you to not fix it…and instead tolerate and model simply hanging out with them in the feeling. Offer these 3 simple steps to support your child in moments they need you most.

Rooted Rhythm Tuned In Parenting Principle #1: Relax into the present moment, and replace any sense of urgency with patience. Kids are great at making you feel like every matter is very urgent! This is developmentally appropriate as they are functioning much more of the time from lower (more primal) parts of their brain. Little ones need US (the grown ups!), however, to teach them how to use the higher parts of their brain (where self control, rational thinking, and communication lives)…by holding our center in moments of chaos. They will only learn how to slow down and find a calm place in their hearts if we show them!

So often parents that I work with are experiencing disconnect or conflict in their co-parenting relationship due to a lack of awareness of their individual needs… Here is a healing guide for how to identify unmet needs in your family and to shift opposing relationship dynamics into a complementary support system. The key is that all needs (of both parents and kids) are valid…and there is always a way for all family members to source their highest needs!

Having realistic expectations for your child based on their age and developmental stage can give you more space to support them! And the ultimate task of the conscious parent is to RELAX into observing your child work through whatever developmental task they are currently up against.

Our inner child craves to be fully seen and understood in order to receive healing. Working therapeutically to heal the child within allows us to safely navigate old wounds (that are still subconsciously running our patterns) and to open our hearts to a greater sense of self love, compassion, and trust in our world and in our relationships. Access audio to a free inner child mediation here.

Three-year-old Ada was referred to play therapy for support around her parents’ recent divorce. Ada’s mom and dad were struggling in the transition to their new lives apart from each other and feared that Ada was forming anxious attachment patterns due to unresolved feelings around the separation… and a play therapy story began.

I work often with children who have been diagnosed with ADHD. Their parents usually arrive overwhelmed, feeling like they don’t know how to help their child calm down. With these families, we work to help both parents and kids build more tools to understand what is happening in their bodies, learn to connect to themselves when they feel activated, and use tools to come back to center. Support your child in calming their nervous system with this audio recording of a butterfly body scan.