Experiencing and Processing Difficult Emotions

What are you teaching your kids to do when they experience difficult emotions? How do you respond when they are scared, anxious or overwhelmed?

Your response teaches them how to handle their difficult emotions. Some kids learn that certain emotions like fear, anger or jealousy are unacceptable. Instead of expressing these emotions and letting them go, they learn to push these emotions down and put on a happy mask.

Unfortunately, emotions that aren’t expressed don’t magically disappear. These suppressed emotions hang out in the recesses of your mind waiting for an opportunity to be released.

Disregarding Difficult Emotions

Emotions arise from thoughts about situations. The thoughts may happen so quickly or unconsciously that they aren’t easy to notice.

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Resources for Tackling Cyberbullying

This "parenting around technology" page has more helpful information for parents.

Guiding Kids Through Experiences of Loss

Part of growing up is experiencing loss. As much as you love your kids and hate seeing them in pain, you cannot protect them from all harm. The good news is that being human means they are equipped for resilience. They will fall down and they will pick themselves back up.

Your job is to be there for them through their pain … not to prevent the experiences from ever happening. They can and will survive many painful situations. Their losses will fuel some of their most powerful growth and learning.

Experiencing Little and Big Losses

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Improving Your Family Through New Parenting Intentions

Have you made new year’s resolutions? Do you remember one of your resolutions and how it went? People often start out a new year by making resolutions for how they are going to behave differently.

Some people decide to get in better shape. Gym memberships spike in January and participation declines by February. How does it feel if you do not stick to your resolution? Resolutions have judgement built into them. You either pass or fail.

The title of this article specifically uses the word intentions instead of resolutions. Intentions come from your heart. Resolutions come from your head. Setting an intention does not mean you will never fail. It means that when you fail, you will cut yourself some slack for being human. You won’t abandon your intention because you didn’t do it perfectly.

Setting Your New Parenting Intention

What is one thing you’d like to change to improve your family? Any intention that improves your physical, mental, emotional or spiritual wellbeing will benefit your family. Focusing on one priority will increase the likelihood of achieving it.

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Breathing Through The Holidays

How do you feel when you think about all the activities of the holidays? Are you taking calm, deep breaths or shallow, short breaths? Is your heart racing when you remember all the things you want to get done?

Sometimes your own high expectations rob you from enjoying yourself. Take a step back and consider your top priorities for the holidays.

Breathing Deeply Together

Families spend more time together at the holidays. How does the rhythm of your family change with your kids on a break from school?

Do you have time to slow down and catch your breath? Or is there additional tension that leads you to holding your breath as you navigate through? Are your family gatherings stressful due to taking on more than your share?

Mindfully deciding on how to spend your time and energy over the holidays can increase your joy. When you think of your own childhood what are your fondest holiday memories? What holiday traditions would you like your kids to remember when they are your age? Do your favorite memories include any of the following …?

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Improving Family Relationships By Positively Shifting Your Energy

How do you feel about your relationship with each of your children? Are you feeling warmly connected, coolly distant or somewhere in between?

Relationships are dynamic. They change over time as both you and your children grow and change. These gradual changes can be hard to notice until one day you realize you are not happy with the way you and your kids are relating.

Signs of Struggling

It might be that you are feeling overwhelmed and underappreciated. Or perhaps you feel the only way you can get your kids to listen to you is if you yell.

Maintaining warm, loving relationships with your children is not easy. If you are struggling, you are not alone. Below are answers parents gave on a Priceless Parenting quiz for their biggest parenting challenge:

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Improving Family Relationships By Being Fully Engaged

Think about a time when someone was completely engaged in listening to you. Where were you? How did you feel?

Now think about a time when you were trying to talk to someone but they were distracted. What did you do when you noticed they weren’t really paying attention? How did you feel?

There is a huge difference between being fully present and being half there. It’s hard to fake being present when your mind is somewhere else. Others pick up on your distraction even if they don’t openly acknowledge it.

Being Engaged Versus Being Distracted

Like all people, you go between states of being engaged and distracted all day. Your connection to your children and your ability to do your best parenting is affected by which state you are in.

When you are distracted, you are thinking about things other than what’s currently happening. Like a distracted driver, you are wandering around oblivious to the subtleties of the situation. If you have young children, being distracted is especially dangerous because they can quickly get in serious trouble.

These are some characteristics of being distracted:

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