Category Archive:
Social/emotional needs

The Prepared Environment

prepared environment

“Pretend that you just found out that you’ll have to be in a wheelchair for a year, possibly longer. What adjustment would you have to make to your home to accommodate this change? This week crawl around your house, through every room, and make a list of changes that you would make. That’s your homework. […]


Three Levels Of Obedience

three levels of obedience

Sometimes when I am working on the computer I feel like a three-year-old. At least, I think I feel like a three-year-old. I try to do some function that I haven’t done in a while, and I look at the computer screen wondering how I did it. When I am utterly confused, I’ll phone one […]


Understanding Happiness

understanding happiness

Happy. We use this word as though happy is a goal unto itself. An elusive objective, indeed. The meanings of happiness and pleasure are used interchangeably in our world. Happiness and pleasure are not the same concept and to think so is dangerous. Pleasure seeking will not bring us happiness. Conversely, happiness is rarely found […]


Helping Your Child Learn To Listen

helping your child learn to listen

“You can’t help your child learn anything if you don’t teach them to listen and pay attention. That’s what you have to do first.” I overheard Tricia, a mother of three, as she visited with a father at a parent get-together. Afraid of breaking a child’s spirit, we are sometimes reluctant to “make” a child […]


10,000 Steps

10,000 steps

10,000 steps. A step is approximately one-third to one-half an adult or child’s height. For example, a person six feet tall would cover 20,000 to 30,000 feet or approximately 4 to 5 miles with 10,000 steps. In contrast, a child three-feet tall would cover two to three miles with 10,000 steps. The idea of 10,000 […]


Using Advent To Teach Patience

using advent to teach patience

The holiday season is officially here. For the three to seven-year-olds in our lives, the excitement and anticipation of holiday events can be excruciating. Developmentally, children of this age don’t have a solid concept of time. Today, tomorrow, next month, next year, in five days—these are abstract ideas to our youngsters. Waiting for Christmas when […]


Finding Seeds Of Appreciation

finding seeds of appreciation

In our worst traits lay the seeds of our best traits. In those moments when we criticize behavior, we have an opportunity. If we take the time to shift our perception and look for the positive in the situation, we will find a quality to appreciate. In those moments when we might be critical, we […]


Curing The Gimmee’s

curing the gimmees

Before I reached the checkout counter, I knew what was going to happen. Picking up a few items for dinner at our local market on a Sunday afternoon, I noticed a five-year-old boy with his grandmother, both of them looking a little worse for wear. The boy sported a Red Power Ranger suit with inflatable […]


Teaching Transcendence

teaching transcendence

Transcendence refers to the universal virtue that consists of the ability to express an appreciation of beauty and excellence, gratitude, hope, humor, and spirituality. Positive psychologists see these characteristics as being part of 24 personality strengths that create healthy and happy people. The virtue of transcendence helps us create connections to everything in the universe. […]


Letters Of Encouragement

letters of encouragement

As young parents, my husband and I took a video-based parenting course called “Active Parenting” developed by Michael H. Popkin, Ph.D. Impressed with all the valuable information I was able to put to immediate use, I became an Active Parenting instructor for several years. One of the many “gems” from the course was writing “letters […]