Mountain Dreams Parent Coaching

Calm down Not the best thing to say to a child with big emotions. Instead try I can see you’re really frustrated because...... I get angry when someone takes my things too you’re doing a great job managing your sadness right now

It’s not always roses and butterflies with siblings. If you have more than one child, it is inevitable that they will fight. Here are some tips to support sibling relationships. ... Be careful with making generalized statements about your kids. She’s our rule breaker he’s a picky eater he’s our smart one they are the athletic one. When we give a child a label the message we send is the other one isn’t good at it. Our children notice us making comparisons. This can cause our children to feel they are competing with their sibling for our attention. Find time where each child gets some one on one time with you. It doesn’t need to be elaborate. Play lego, draw, dance, bake. Be sure this time is child directed, where your child leads the play. Be present with no distractions for 10-15 minutes. Let your children fight. If no one is getting hurt, don’t step in. Let them work it out. If you get in the middle you often end up choosing a side. If you have to step in, don’t offer opinions, just create space for them to learn how to work it out. Give them turns to talk, help them recognize their big feelings and if they need time to step away. Help them manage conflict with skills that defuse the situation. Be patient. As they fight, they are learning negotiating skills. They are learning leadership. We can help them do this in a helpful way. Children will often fight for your attention, friends attention, other family members attention. Try to take a step back and see what might be the underlying cause of the fight.

When teaching kids about gratitude it is easy to get stuck on the big things like having a home, family, food etc. While these things are important and we shoul...d be grateful for them, when we want to build a mindset of gratitude we need to dig a bit deeper. Having these 5 prompts may help. 5 things you can see - sunshine, clouds, trees, comfy bed etc. What are the things around you that you are grateful for? 4 of your favourite memories - birthdays, holidays, etc what are the times you have had that you are grateful for experiencing 3 of your Strengths - what are the thing about you that makes you who you are? 2 things you have learnt - gratitude doesn't just have to be about good things. It could be remembering the hard things and how you grew out of them. It might be new skills that you have learnt. 1 funny joke - there is always a joke that will bring a smile to your face no matter how many times you have heard it. More information on my blog: https://www.thetherapistparent.com//teaching-kids-gratitude Link in bio #gratitude #grateful #teachinggratitude #gratitudeattitude #parenting #positiveparenting #gentleparenting #resilience #respectfulparenting #psychologist #play #playtherapy #childdevelopment #childtherapy #parentingtips #teachers #asd #family #life #adhd #mumlife #momlife #dads #consciousparenting #illustrator #doodles #sketching

This article can really help us understand what can drive a child to tell mistruths. Whether you have a child who is neurodiverse or not, this gives insight into what may be happening for them. https://www.additudemag.com/why-lie-adhd-fight-flight-fre/

Do you have a child with ADHD who is struggling with sleep. Here are some great tips. https://www.additudemag.com//i-cant-sleep-help-for-adhd-/

Even when you prepare, the hurt is stil there. Teen moms and dads. I see you. https://www.thesuburban.com//article_40509018-a6ab-11eb-92

Most times it’s simply what they see us do!

Yikes! My toddler keeps climbing out of their crib. Now what? Has your child learned they can climb out of their crib? Does this have you wondering if it’s time for a toddler bed? It is suggested to hold off as long as you can, with the suggested age being age 3, to shift to a toddler bed when possible. ... A crib can feel safe and secure. Where a toddler bed can cause worries and curiosities. Here are some tips you can try before feeling pressured to move too soon. Climbing is a milestone often reached at age 2. It can seriously stress parents out when a child really loves this new skill and starts to practice when they should be sleeping. Shifting to a toddler bed too soon has the potential to cause way more disruptions to sleep. If you’re child is climbing from their crib, a big kid bed gives them more freedom to climb out and wander the house. And moving them to a toddler bed sends them wrong message. It can reward this climbing behaviour and encourage them to climb out of their toddler bed. Here are some tips to help minimize crib climbing: A sleep sack can truly help as it hinders them lifting their leg to climb. If they take it off, put it on backwards. You can also stitch their sleeper legs with a strip of fabric to keep their legs from lifting too high. if your crib has a high side, put it facing out. If they do crawl out, avoid long drawn out tuck ins or extra stories ( again we are then rewarding the behaviour). Put them back in bed no talking no eye contact. Stay firm and consistent on where we sleep for naps and bedtime. And this phase will pass.

With a bucket of chocolate eggs in the house. Are you wondering how to help your children have a healthy relationship with sugar? It can feel overwhelming to watch your children on their tenth chocolate egg with no end in sight. We live in a society that demonizes certain foods including sugar. Teaching kids to be afraid of sugar leads to lying, shame, sneaking sweets, and disordered eating. But it never helps them regulate their intake of sweet things. ... Shaming food never helps children eat more balanced, it usually just makes them feel bad for wanting to eat these foods. Exploring sugar and sweets mindfully and letting our children practice self regulating is how they learn. If your child eats to a point of discomfort, this can be a great learning point. With no judgment respond with sometimes that happens to me too. When I eat too many chocolate eggs, my tummy feels yucky I don’t like when I get too full either I find if I wait a little while it will start to feel better As parents, we don’t get to decide what our children eat but we can decide what we offer. If your child asks for more chocolate, with no judgment it is ok to say we need to eat a lot of different foods. We’ve had lots of the sweet type of foods today so maybe we can eat some different types of foods now we can eat more chocolate eggs tomorrow. It’s always ok to say no, we just want to be careful there is no shame attached. Offer a ‘treat’ daily. When we don’t restrict something or make it off limits, it loses its forbidden appeal. And have some empathy. We’ve all eaten way too much of something. That is how we learned ourselves. We have to let our children learn too.

Hoppy Easter to all those who celebrate. May the Easter Bunny be good to you (lots of mini eggs, cream eggs and skip the peeps for this household).

Any other mommas managing sensory overload. Just hit the wall with the noise, touching......sensory overload!

A great question foe kids can be is it something you can control? Of course we want to validate emotions whether the child can change the situation or not. Here are some great tools to support them in shifting their focus.

Let’s give our children language for their emotions. Then let’s normalize and encourage all the feelings. This allows for healthy regulation of these feelings. In my clinical practice, I work with mostly teens. So many of them recently have expressed fear of any emotion other than happy. They’ve been taught by society that we have to do everything we can to get to happy. Ultimately feeling other emotions has been shamed. We need to experience all emotions. Anger is normal ...and important to express. Sadness is a good reaction too. Kids need to experience disappointment, jealousy, joy, and love. A tantrum is just a child learning to manage new or big feelings. Rather than trying to fix the situation, as parents we can support them in getting those emotions out and celebrate how well they calmed their body after the tantrum. Let the tantrum run it’s course. The emotional release is healthy and if we can name the big emotions when they are done they will have a deeper understanding of themselves.

It’s been such a great process working with two amazing and talented women as I rebrand and expand. @featherlitedesigns and @jessrobson are amazing humans with such a depth of expertise and passion for other women entrepreneurs. As Mountain Dreams has expanded to support families in sleep and behaviour support, I chose my dream team to communicate this shift to the world. I couldn’t be more excited about what we came up with. It’s always a great thing to revisit the ‘why’ ...of Mountain Dreams and clarify my vision and values. No better team to keep me focussed and creative. Hope you love my new site as much as I do. More to come as I get support from social media superstar @adventuresofdw with tips on sharing this site and all we are doing for families.