This time of year, it feels as if we are off and running as soon as October ends. Every morning our feet hit the ground. We’re going from one to the next thing. We have Thanksgiving dinner to plan for. Company coming. Not to mention family birthdays, shopping, outings, therapies, and all the regularly scheduled stuff.

The tips that I want to give you today are not tips about Pinteresty stuff such as – and find the perfect Christmas tree or the perfect ornament to make. Not that those are bad things. Those are fun things to do, but it’s more about self-care and taking care of yourself during the holidays.

Grab a cup of coffee and join me as I share 3 tips to help you practice self-care and thrive this holiday season!

How do you provide felt safety for yourself? And why do we need to provide felt safety? Shouldn’t the fact that we are basically safe from the trauma of our past be enough?

We parent our kiddos with the lens through which we view life. Our beliefs direct our parenting.

We parents with a trauma history and/or a Captial Letter Syndrome can stay stuck. We do this by ruminating on what can happen to us based on our fears about our past. 

So we need to provide felt-safety for ourselves because our children mirror our dysregulation when we don't feel safe.

Grab a cup of coffee and join me as I share three tips on how to make yourself feel safe!

How do you provide felt safety for your kiddo? And why do we need to provide felt safety? Shouldn’t a child being safe be enough?

Fear is a bully. It pushes a child into a corner. The child responds with tantrums, meltdowns, shutdowns, and high levels of anxiety.

Myth: Your child will feel safe because they are safe.

Grab a cup of coffee and learn the difference between safety and felt-saftey and why it matters!

Why doesn’t traditional parenting work with kiddos who have trauma histories/Capital Letter Syndromes?

 Traditional Parenting tends to focus on outer behavior. Its practice is all external - punishments, lectures, and consequences.

Traditional parenting really tends to focus on the outer- how are you behaving?

Grab a cup of coffee and join me as I dig deeper into the difference between traditional and connected parenting plus how you can parent in a more connected way.

Prefer to read the article? Click HERE.

Join me as Dr. Jerrod Brown shares - Trauma 101- the first in a monthly series (releasing the first Wednesday of every month). 

I'm so excited for you to learn from Dr. Jerrod. Grab a pen and paper or open your notes app and get ready for this overview of trauma!

Check out Dr. Jerrod's bio below-

Jerrod Brown, Ph.D., M.A., M.S., M.S., M.S., is a professor, trainer, researcher, and consultant with multiple years of experience teaching collegiate courses. Jerrod is also the founder and CEO of the American Institute for the Advancement of Forensic Studies (AIAFS). Jerrod has also provided consultation services to a number of caregivers, professionals, and organizations pertaining to topics related to autism spectrum disorder (ASD), fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), confabulation, suggestibility, trauma and other life adversities, traumatic brain injury (TBI), and youth firesetting. Jerrod has completed four separate master’s degree programs and holds graduate certificates in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Other Health Disabilities (OHD), and Traumatic-Brain Injuries (TBI).

 FASD Part 3

I'm sharing some of my real-life stories as well as my three-pronged approach to treating FASD.

When I began researching FASD- there wasn't a ton of information. Thankfully, that's changed. 

While researching, I amassed a library on Capital Letter Syndromes and I just started trying things. So many Capital Letter Syndromes have overlapping symptoms with FASD, so I decided, why not? Why not try them?

Grab a cup of coffee an listen and grab the tips that work for you.

 FASD Awareness Part 2

Maybe you’re fostering kiddos or you recently found out your kiddos were exposed to alcohol in the womb. What should you know right off the bat? Or what should you tell other friends, family members, or church staff?

In this episode, I share about - Brain and central nervous system problems

Grab a cup of coffee and join me as I share what I wish I had known about FASD!

In this episode, I talk about three things that I wish I had known about FASD. I got my first bit of education about prenatal alcohol exposure through a conversation with my aunt, who was a nurse. She shared some of the physical anomalies an infant suffered because of alcohol exposure prenatally. I was a young mom of one child at the time. Little did I know, that ten years and two more bio kids later, I would adopt a sibling group of four who all suffered from the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure. Grab a cup of coffee and join me as I travel down memory lane and share the first of three things I wish I had known about FASD. 

Grab your free chapter - Why Traditional Parenting Doesn't Work (And What Does Work) on Trauma-Informed Parenting. (just click the button at the top of the page)

We have ways of parenting that were handed down to us. Maybe you recently found out your child has a Capital Letter Syndrome, or you foster, or recently adopted kiddos and your current parenting isn't working anymore.

Have you heard this? You just need to discipline your child more!

Then this is for you!

I tried traditional parenting for years and it backfired.

You can relearn parenting for the sake of your child.

Isn't the goal to connect with your child? Raise a child with coping mechanisms. Children can grow into adults with a purpose and be more comfortable in their own skin. Everyone has value. Paren them by coming alongside them.

She isn't (and never be) a perfect parent. We need to let go of the myth that perfect parents exist. We can be proactive parents. We can be parents who re-parent.

Grab a cup of coffee and join Kathleen as she shares why traditional parenting doesn't work. 

 When it comes to parenting or working with kiddos with a trauma history or Capital Letter Syndrome, what's your biggest struggle?

One of the respondents to a survey I sent out answered - "Why Isn't My Child Not Listening?" which inspired this series.

Often the kiddo can't listen, not won't. They are not being defiant.

What does your child need to regulate so that they can listen (better.)

If your child has a trauma history and/or a Capital Letter Syndrome-

Schedules are comforting. If the schedule changes, don't expect your child to be able to regulate or listen.

When a child is in survival mode, fight, flight, or freeze, your change can't listen. You must arrange the environment to suit what he needs.

*Try using a wake word with your child such as their name. Pause. Repeat Pause. 

Your child may not be listening because he is tired, hungry, or thirsty. A child with a trauma history or Capital Letter Syndrome - does not recognize her own body's signals for hunger, thirst, or need to go to the bathroom. If their needs were a cellphone - it would be on silent.

There is so much meat in this short coffee break podcast!