As we wrap up 2025, I wanted to take a pause from tactical strategies (like scripts and tips) and spend some time discussing something more foundational - The beliefs that quietly shape how we parent.
We all have limiting beliefs. Every single one of us. They're part of being human. They develo...
"It's time to brush teeth."
"It's time to put on shoes."
"It's time to get in the bath."
With each request, your 3-year-old looks at you, grins, and runs away laughing or flat-out says "NO!" and refuses to move.
Every single daily task becomes a 20-minute negotiation that ends with you physical...
A mom during a coaching call described her nightly dinner battle: "If my 5-year-old son doesn't eat enough lunch at school, I make him finish dinner before dessert. He just refuses, gets upset, and hits me."
The problem was that she was fighting a battle she could never win.
You cannot force fo...
I could hear the exhaustion in a dad's voice during our coaching call:
"My 4-year-old hits us more now when she doesn't agree with something or wants to say no to a request. If she doesn't get the treat she wants, she immediately goes to smack me. If I give her choices and she doesn't want eith...
I've been thinking a lot about my kids this holiday season.
About how much STUFF they have. How different their childhood is from mine. How they've never known what it's like to worry about money or food or keeping the heat or lights on.
I have vivid memories of playing Jenga in the dark next t...
A parent in my coaching community recently told me something that broke my heart.
"We finally had a breakthrough. Four, maybe five days in a row where my son didn't hit or bite anyone. I thought we'd turned a corner. Then my mom came to visit for the weekend, and it all fell apart. The hitting ...
Last Saturday, I started my toddler's bedtime routine around 4 PM. We went upstairs for bath time. At first, he didn't want to take a bath.
"NO BATH!" he screamed.
So I leaned into what he loves: CARS. "What cars need a car wash today?" I asked. Immediately, he grabbed his blue airplane (yes, t...
It happened on the walk into school.
Your 5-year-old spotted another child and said, loudly, "Why doesn't she have hair??"
You froze. Your face got hot. You wanted to disappear.
Did the other parent hear? Did the child hear? What do you even say right now?
You feel conflicted because on one end...
Last week, I gave you the scripts to handle hitting in the moment.
But here's the truth: In-the-moment responses manage the behavior. They don't eliminate it.
If you want hitting to actually decrease over time and if you want your child to start using words instead of hands, you need a proactiv...
I just lived through this last week with my 2-year-old son.
We were at the end of our bedtime routine, already past the point of exhaustion, and he melted down over stickers. Not because the stickers mattered, but because his little brain was maxed out and had nothing left to give. When I final...
“Your brain is going to tell you you’re being mean. That doesn’t make the boundary wrong.”
That’s what I told two parents on a recent group coaching call. And I want you to hear it too.
Because right now, the parenting world is caught in a tug-of-war between two camps: gentle parenting and FAFO...
I don’t usually talk about my weight. But today I’m going to.
After my son was born in December 2022, I hit rock bottom.
He was a week overdue. By that point I was so sick and miserable I could barely walk. I remember going to the hospital for the induction and feeling like my body was giving o...
