How do you encourage your kids to be more independent? When do you as a parent step back to give them the space to step up? How can you encourage them in their fears? What are some of the easy parenting norms that we can try?
Lenore Skenazy joins Janine today to discuss some of these questions. They discuss:
What does it mean to be a tech intentional family? Now phones, ipads and other forms of technology are in most areas of life. There’s no size that fits all and what works for you and your family will look so different to your next door neighbor and the other parents you meet at the school gate. So where do you begin?
Play is such a powerful way for kids you learn ANYTHING including coping skills. Games can also be a way to help us learn and identify the feelings we have. Plus being a lot of fun along the way!
In this episode Janine discusses 3 specific examples:
In this episode Janine discusses…
riendships are such a wonderful and special part of life. From memory making to going through the highs and lows with your peers makes life so much richer. As a child, learning social skills and how friendships fit is a huge learning curve as they go through their childhood and find their ‘people’. As a parent, how do you connect and how do you teach your kids basic social skills and about what a great friendship can be?
Today Janine is joined by Caroline Maguire and in this episode they discuss:
What do you think of when you hear the word ‘gratitude’? Is gratitude something you display or practice each day? Practicing and looking for what’s gone well in the day is a great routine to get into in order to get past the tougher moments.
In this episode we discuss:
In this episode Janine discusses…
Last year, I did a whole series of perspective taking on the Calm & Connected Podcast, but I wanted to revisit the topic and discuss two other ways I like to explore perspective-taking with kids. Why do I keep talking about this topic? It’s a building block for empathy, a skill we all want to build in our kids. For two more ways to work on perspective-taking using art and poetry, listen to the podcast
In this podcast episode, I share this simple yet powerful visual activity to help kids see how kind acts can spread and make a positive impact. I also share some wisdom from Dr. Alan Chu from the University of Wisconsin Green Bay about the ripple effect of sending gratitude letters, and small acts of kindness. Take a listen to the podcast:
A social distancing summer looks super different, right? Back in January, I had major plans to go to museums and take day trips with my kids. Most of that has gone out of the window.
What are we doing instead? Instead, we're choosing to explore outdoor spots that are new to us and close by. Last week, we went on a hike to a place we'd never been before, and they were limiting how many people were going in, so that felt safe in terms of our ability to keep the appropriate social distance.
I wanted to hear ideas from others with unique ways to keep kids busy this summer, and I got a ton of responses.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve been getting requests for play ideas and coping skills kids can use, so I’ve been thinking about ways that I can get more information and resources available.
I’m going to be making short videos on YouTube with simple play ideas and simple coping skills kids can use. They are kid-appropriate, so they can watch and then try the play idea or do the coping skill.
On today’s podcast, I quickly re-visit one of my favorite ways to help kids see the impact their words can have on others. Then I talk about two more ways to help kids & teens understand the impact their words can have on other people. It's a great way to encourage them to think before they speak (or post). Here’s a sneak peek into what you’ll hear:
In this episode of the podcast, I discuss how to create teachable moments to practice social skills for kids. I love using group settings with kids to work on social skills because it can be a microcosm of the playground, recess, or other social situations. In the podcast, you’ll hear how I like to structure groups to be effective, and that I love messy groups!
Also, I talk about opportunities that happen at home where you can use those teachable moments to help reinforce social skills with family interactions and playdates.
Puzzles are one way my family and I love to play. I also use them at times in individual and group therapy. Puzzles are fun, but they also work on skills like organization, patience, perseverance and working together. Take a listen to how doing puzzles can help you playfully practice executive functioning skills and social skills.
What is perspective taking? It’s the ability to take another person’s point of view. This is a building block towards empathy. There are lots of different teachable moments that can happen in day to day life where you can talk about different perspectives people have on the same situation. There are also several games and activities you can play with children and teens to help them practice the art of walking in someone else’s shoes.
Over the next several podcasts, I’m going to be highlighting different games and activities that do this. Take a listen to Part 5 here.
