1969…1969…1969

1969...1969...1969

It was a bathroom mirror moment–one of those instants where you stand between two mirrors and see yourself patterned to infinity. Mindy, our neighborhood babysitter, sorted pennies by date, with my daughters, then three and five years old.   I walked in from the dentist office, minus two wisdom teeth. I’ll admit I wasn’t at the […]


Help with Stuttering

children seek to create a flow of activity

“Kate has started to stutter. What should I do? How can I help her?” Doug, father to three-year-old Kate, asked. As we develop spoken language, stuttering is a symptom of expressive skills lagging behind receptive language skills. If we think about receptive language being our reservoir of words and understanding, and expressive language as the […]


When All Else Fails, Sing!

when all else fails sing

The dot on my hand darkened to black, deep black. Wearing a plastic mood dot was part of my stress management class. If all went well, the dot shone blue. If not, it turned shades of bluish-black, to midnight. In my preschool class, over the course of a couple of weeks, I noticed that certain […]


See It In Your Child Video: Meeting The Goal Of Power

meeting the goal of power

How can we help our children enlarge their circle of power? In this video and accompanying article I’ll discuss three vital steps that help us as parents and teacher.  When we use these three steps we’ll find that our children’s unconscious goal of power is met in a way that meets our children need to […]


Allowing Opportunities For Movement

allowing opportunities for movement

A kid’s got to move.  Observing a few minutes at a playground will attest to that.  You don’t see children sitting around if they have the chance to run, jump, climb, or skip.  Children are in a sensitive period of development for movement from birth to about age five-and-a-half. Around age four-and-a-half, children have a […]


Some Alternatives to Saying “No”

alternatives to saying no

There are some days in February that seem as if all we do as parents is say “no”. “No, Susan can’t spend the night. Your brother has the flu.” “No, you cannot go bike riding right now. It’s dark.” “No, we can’t go to the mall. It’s supposed to start snowing soon.” Bad weather, illnesses, […]


Removing Obstacles to Development

obstacles to development

If we wanted to raft the Grand Canyon, how would we prepare for the trip? Depending on our experience level, we might arrange for a guide to navigate us down the river. We’d want to learn about the nature and force of the river. We would want to be familiar with dangerous parts of the […]


Sensitive Periods: Language Development Is Critical

Sensitive Periods Language

From birth to six, children are in a critical period of language development, when the spoken word develops naturally.  Ninety percent of our adult conversational language is in place by the age of six.  If a child does not speak by age six, it is improbable that the child will acquire spoken, written or sign […]


Together

together

In my chiropractor’s examining room, there is a poster of two hands reaching for a handshake with the title “Together”. The poster reads: OUR JOB See you as an individual Respect your privacy and your time Provide a comfortable office Explain procedures Monitor and report progress Show you ways to get and stay well Offer […]


Breaking Away

breaking away

“The finest inheritance you can give a child is to allow it to make its own way, completely on its own two feet.”   Isadora Duncan “Don’t kiss me or hug me in public, Mom,” your child says as he or she wipes off your kiss. Affection that was freely given and accepted becomes an embarrassment […]