What Your Calendar Says About Your Family Values Last week, a mom in my office…
The Morning Routine That Changed Everything
The Morning Routine That Changed Everything I’ll never forget the morning Sarah walked into my office looking like she’d survived a natural disaster. Her coffee-stained shirt told one story, but her eyes told another — the kind of exhaustion that sleep alone can’t fix. “I yelled at my six-year-old about his shoes,” she said quietly. […]
The 5-Second Response That Calms Any Meltdown
The 5-Second Response That Calms Any Meltdown Last Tuesday, I watched a father in the grocery store do something extraordinary. His daughter, maybe four years old, had just launched into full meltdown mode over a box of cookies. Instead of reasoning, bribing, or doing the tight-lipped march to the car, he dropped to one knee, […]
What Your Child’s ‘I Hate You’ is Really Trying to Tell You
What Your Child’s “I Hate You” Is Really Trying to Tell You The first time my daughter screamed “I hate you!” at me, I was standing in the cereal aisle of Target holding a box of store-brand flakes instead of the unicorn-covered sugar bombs she wanted. She was four. I was exhausted. And for about […]
What Your Teen’s Eye Roll is Really Communicating
What Your Teen’s Eye Roll Is Really Communicating Last week, a mom sat across from me in my office and said, with a weary laugh, “I swear, if I got a dollar for every eye roll my 14-year-old gives me, I could retire.” She paused, then added more quietly, “But honestly? It breaks my heart […]
The Bedtime Mistake That’s Making Nights Harder
You Are Not Alone Last week, a mom sat across from me and sighed, “I don’t understand. We have the bath, the books, the lullabies — all the ‘right things.’ So why does bedtime still feel like a hostage negotiation with a tiny dictator who refuses to sleep?” She wasn’t alone. In fact, if bedtime […]
Why Time-Outs Are Creating the Very Behavior You Fear
Why Time-Outs Are Creating the Very Behavior You Fear There’s a moment I’ll never forget from my practice. A mom — smart, loving, completely exhausted — sat across from me and said, “I don’t understand. I do everything by the book. Time-outs, consequences, staying calm. But my son is worse. He hits more. He screams […]
The Question That Transformed My Picky Eater Overnight
The Question That Transformed My Picky Eater Overnight I’ll never forget the evening with Emma, a mom whose five-year-old had eaten nothing but chicken nuggets and crackers for six months. She was exhausted, tearful, and convinced she’d somehow failed at this fundamental parenting thing. “I’ve tried everything,” she whispered. “Hiding vegetables, bribing with dessert, making […]
Why Your Strong-Willed Child Might Be Your Greatest Teacher
You Are Not Alone Let me tell you about Maya. She came into my office one rainy Tuesday, practically vibrating with exhaustion. “I love my daughter more than life itself,” she said, eyes brimming with both tears and defiance, “but some days I feel like I’m raising a tiny lawyer who never, ever rests her […]
The Secret Language of Sibling Rivalry
The Secret Language of Sibling Rivalry I was sitting with a mom once—let’s call her Sarah—who looked like she hadn’t slept in weeks. She told me, with tears in her eyes, that she couldn’t understand how two children she’d raised in the exact same home, with the exact same love, could be at each other’s […]
What Nobody Tells You About the ‘Easy’ Child
You Are Not Alone I’ll never forget the look on Maria’s face when she finally said it out loud: “I feel guilty for worrying about Ella. She’s not the problem — her brother is.” Maria had come to therapy to talk about her 10-year-old son’s explosive meltdowns, but three sessions in, she whispered something […]