Dawn worries that her quiet two year old is always the one who gets the brunt of her peers’ aggressive behavior. Is Maggie undisturbed or does she not know what to do? Dawn’s childhood experience of being bullied is hard for her to ignore when she observes her daughter’s passive nature. Bonnie explains the how-tos of role playing—no matter how old the child—to help empower a child who appears the underdog. But she also warns parents to support who their child is and resist the fear of who the child could become.

Bonnie Harris, MS.Ed., director of Connective Parenting, 30+ years of coaching, teaching, and writing for parents. 

https://linktr.ee/bonnieharrisparenting

Website: bonnieharris.com 

Email: [email protected]

Produced, mixed, and scored by Echo Finch

 www.echofinch.com

Kelly, a naturally organized person who kept her toys in order from the get-go, is at war with her seven-year-old who makes a thick carpet of his toys all over the house. Kelly has attempted to give her two children a life where they want for nothing. But now her oldest is seven and demands she get him water. She feels trapped and exhausted by the constant clean-up struggle. Listen in to learn how Kelly can begin to step out of the battle. It requires allowing her son to struggle.

Bonnie Harris, MS.Ed., director of Connective Parenting, 30+ years of coaching, teaching, and writing for parents. 

https://linktr.ee/bonnieharrisparenting

Website: bonnieharris.com 

Email: [email protected]

Produced, mixed, and scored by Echo Finch

 www.echofinch.com

Lisa’s daughter Ayla is a sensitive child who gets triggered easily by things not going her way/not going “right” from her point of view. When that happens, she expresses loudly, angrily, and often physically. Lisa worries that her younger son is getting overwhelmed by his sister’s meltdowns and fears he will think that he gets short shrift whenever Ayla wants to get her way. Listen in to gain strategies for handling these big emotions and ensuring that the bystander sibling will be just fine—also handling sibling fights between the two kids.

Bonnie Harris, MS.Ed., director of Connective Parenting, 30+ years of coaching, teaching, and writing for parents. 

https://linktr.ee/bonnieharrisparenting

Website: bonnieharris.com 

Email: [email protected]

Produced, mixed, and scored by Echo Finch

 www.echofinch.com

We all want our kids to feel motivated to be successful, but we often get motivation mixed up with pressuring them to do what we think is right. Unintentionally we can send our kids down the path of anxiety and perfectionism when we lose trust in following their impulses, desires and tendencies. Tune in to hear Bonnie discuss the differences and how to make sure you are not setting up unrealistic expectations your kids may fail at meeting.

Bonnie Harris, MS.Ed., director of Connective Parenting, 30+ years of coaching, teaching, and writing for parents. 

https://linktr.ee/bonnieharrisparenting

Website: bonnieharris.com 

Email: [email protected]

Produced, mixed, and scored by Echo Finch

 www.echofinch.com

A huge part of the exhaustion and drain of parenting comes from our need to teach our children how to be good people. What if you didn’t need to teach so much? What you need is to be the respectful, responsible person you want your child to become. Arbitrary consequences are disrespectful of a child and interfere with the powerful teaching of natural consequences—which require allowing rather than teaching. Respect of self and others means having a clarity of boundaries that makes parenting life much easier and less complicated for your children to figure out. But of course, respecting yourself may go against everything you learned as a child.

Bonnie Harris, MS.Ed., director of Connective Parenting, 30+ years of coaching, teaching, and writing for parents. 

https://linktr.ee/bonnieharrisparenting

Website: bonnieharris.com 

Email: [email protected]

Produced, mixed, and scored by Echo Finch

 www.echofinch.com

Of course we want our children to play. Who doesn’t? But how many of you are willing to let them play the way they want to—and need to? Parents are too quick to jump in and supervise in well-intentioned efforts to teach children right from wrong, how to be “nice”, and how not to be selfish. But do these intentions fit with a child’s normal developmental processes? Children’s play has become more and more supervised and externally directed. The result can be dire for later learning and discipline issues in our youth.

Bonnie Harris, MS.Ed., director of Connective Parenting, 30+ years of coaching, teaching, and writing for parents. 

https://linktr.ee/bonnieharrisparenting

Website: bonnieharris.com 

Email: [email protected]

Produced, mixed, and scored by Echo Finch

 www.echofinch.com

For eons, children have been “taught” to do what the parent wants using punishment as a tool. But punishment actually teaches the opposite of what you want your children to learn—because it teaches out of fear. It’s also hard to get out of the head that you as the parent should not be the “boss” of your child. In fact, you want your child to be the boss of herself. Just not of you. Enter problem solving—the tool of partnership, engagement, and balance.

Bonnie Harris, MS.Ed., director of Connective Parenting, 30+ years of coaching, teaching, and writing for parents. 

https://linktr.ee/bonnieharrisparenting

Website: bonnieharris.com 

Email: [email protected]

Produced, mixed, and scored by Echo Finch

 www.echofinch.com

You want to know what’s going on with your kids—why they’re doing what they’re doing or what feelings are festering inside. But most parents go about trying to find out by asking questions. What’s wrong? Why are you so upset? How do you feel about that? Why can’t you understand that? They don’t know why or what’s happening in their emotional state—until they get to be emotionally literate. Most kids don’t have the maturity to #1 understand what they are feeling, and #2 put those feelings into words. And most kids, especially introverts, hate to be asked questions. 

Bonnie Harris, MS.Ed., director of Connective Parenting, 30+ years of coaching, teaching, and writing for parents. 

https://linktr.ee/bonnieharrisparenting

Website: bonnieharris.com 

Email: [email protected]

Produced, mixed, and scored by Echo Finch

 www.echofinch.com

Caroline has a strong sensitivity to noise and gets easily overwhelmed by her young children’s normally expected loudness, especially from her very boisterous 2 yr. old. But her attempts to control herself from yelling at them result in shutting down or withdrawing, which may send them the wrong message. Listen in while we examine ways for Caroline not only to own her problem honestly but engage her children in helping.

Bonnie Harris, MS.Ed., director of Connective Parenting, 30+ years of coaching, teaching, and writing for parents. 

https://linktr.ee/bonnieharrisparenting

Website: bonnieharris.com 

Email: [email protected]

Produced, mixed, and scored by Echo Finch

 www.echofinch.com

Every parent I know wants to limit their kid’s screen time. Making an agreement with a child to do so is not the hard part. It’s getting them off when time is up that can drive the best of parents mad. Lacie and Weston are worried about the slippery slope their 5 yr. old is on. He wants to veg in front of a screen at the end of his very active day. That’s fine. But when and how does it stop? Think motivate instead of threaten.

Bonnie Harris, MS.Ed., director of Connective Parenting, 30+ years of coaching, teaching, and writing for parents. 

https://linktr.ee/bonnieharrisparenting

Website: bonnieharris.com 

Email: [email protected]

Produced, mixed, and scored by Echo Finch

 www.echofinch.com