I would like to recommend a book for to you today. It is called – “E Is For Ethics” by Ian James Corlett. We bought it a few years ago and as a family have had some amazing conversations about Morals and Values as a result of it. We kept the book in the car and whenever we were all on longer car rides we would pick one chapter to read and discuss. There are 26 chapters in total covering all sorts of things like: Honesty, Understanding, Forgiveness, Courage, Tact, Perseverance, Politeness, Loyalty, Gratitude etc. Let’s pick Gratitude, it looks like this: O After each picture, there is a short story related to the Title followed by one main question to spark the curiosity and trigger the conversation. There are then a few more questions and a couple of quotes. We have spent hours and hours chatting about things like what it takes to be patient, having integrity, empathy and sincerity and have found this book a particularly fun way to engage our kids in conversations on such things. I hope that this might inspire some of you with younger kids to follow suit. I highly recommend it and it …Read more →

The older I get the more I love and appreciate Dr Seuss and “My Many Colored Days” is one of my personal favorites. I have read it countless times with my own kids and use it when I am teaching parents on the subject of Emotion Coaching and Self-Regulation. I recommend that they read it to their children to help them understand and deal with their emotions and how they are feeling. I love to spark a child’s curiosity about their emotions, ignite their imaginations and really engage them in the story when I am reading to them. Asking them questions while you read can be a lovely way to do this and while reading “My Many Colored Days” I might intersperse some questions like these into it: It’s amazing how seeing simple, bold pictures and using questions like the ones I listed above like can help children recognize and put words their feelings, share how they are feeling and subsequently “claim” and “tame” them. Stories are a wonderful way to engage them, put things in context AND share quality time to strengthen the relationship and bond we have with our children. There are also many wonderful posters and images …Read more →

PROACTIVE PARENTING SOLUTIONS from YPP Dear YPP, My 3 year old daughter seems to be going through a highly emotional period right now and I just can’t seem to help her calm herself down. When she is crying or screaming with frustration, I ask her why and try to talk to her but she just ignores me and gets even more upset. Please help. Dear Mum, Children who wear their hearts on their sleeves can be challenging to deal with, especially in the heat of the moment. I can understand your frustration here and thank you for reaching out. First and foremost, in the heat of the moment you need to be able to remain calm so that you can be the anchor in order to help calm your daughter down during the emotional storm. In order to respond with the compassion and support that your daughter needs, you need to almost create a moment of space to reflect, listen for cues as to what is needed next, and that might be to simply take a deep breath and be there for her. “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our …Read more →

How do we / should we manage or handle our child’s emotions? With the levels of childhood anxiety on the rise I think that this topic is especially relevant for parenting today. Also, for those of us who live in BC, Canada, having some tools to help us deal with the potential anxiety and mixed emotions that may face parents and children alike right now with regards to the BC Teachers Strike may be helpful. There are many studies now that suggest high EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE (EQ) is a greater predictability of success over high IQ and that developing and fostering this skill in our children is particularly important. It is how children start to discover a sense of who they are and self-confidence. What can we do? One of the most important things a parent can do with their child is to acknowledge and validate their feelings and accept that their child might be feeling a particular way, even when they don’t agree, or should I say, especially when they don’t agree! How often do we hear things like this: “You can’t possibly be hungry, you just ate your lunch 20 minutes ago” “How can you be tired, you just …Read more →