Several years ago, I wrote an article on this topic because the mother of a client of mine had significant concerns about getting through the holiday season, in particular, all the parties. I also understood this from my own experience as a parent, so I gave her some ideas. Since it's that time of year, I wanted to share these ideas with you to help. Take a listen!

We all know how important it is to help kids explore their feelings - it's a vital step in helping them understand and manage their emotions. But what do we do with those little ones who don't want to talk about it? Truthfully, it can be hard for kids to talk about their feelings. Here are four ideas to help you explore a child's emotions - without talking!

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.

Taking deep breaths can be tricky to teach! That’s why I love using props to help kids focus on deep belly breaths. In this podcast, I discus three of my favorite items to use to help kids learn how to take a deep breath. Take a listen here!

A coping skills toolbox is an actual physical container that houses items kids can use to help calm down and express their emotions in healthy ways. There are a ton of strategies your child can use to calm down, and having a toolbox is one way to keep several of these tools readily available to use.

Where can you get these items to help create a coping skills toolbox or a calm down kit? I spend a lot of time at Michael’s because I love arts & crafts. But they also have lots of items that would work well in a calm down kit. On a recent trip, I took pictures of what I would put in a coping skills toolkit in the store. Listen to what I found!

Recently I watched the documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor all about Mr. Rogers. I enjoy documentaries and like to watch them at night as part of my evening routines. I started to watch this one evening, and within the first few minutes, they had already talked about emotional regulation and social skills. I decided to stop and watch it during the day when I could write things down. When I watched the documentary, I took a ton of notes, and I wanted to share some of my favorite quotes and insights I gained from watching. Take a listen!

This week, the focus is all about giving you a few quick ideas for starting a morning and evening routine for yourself.

A coping skills toolbox is an actual physical container that houses items kids can use to help calm down and express their emotions in healthy ways. There are a ton of strategies your child can use to calm down, and having a toolbox is one way to keep several of these tools readily available to use.

Where can you get these items to help create a coping skills toolbox or a calm down kit? One of my favorite places to go is Target. Recently, I went on a Target run and took pictures of what I would put in a coping skills toolkit. Listen to what I found!

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.

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.