Tag: Parenting

How to Talk to Your Kids About Tragic Events

In the wake of last week’s horrific mass shooting in Las Vegas, this article on how to talk to your kids about a tragic event in the news is brought to you by CHOC Children’s. 

When tragic events happen in the news it is sometimes hard to know how to handle conversations about it with our children. How much information should we give? How do we answer specific questions? How does this vary with a child’s age?

Which is why I was so grateful to have the opportunity to speak with Dr. Nicole Vincent, PhD, a licensed psychologist at CHOC Children’s to get her advice to share with you today… 

Getting Beyond the One Word Answer

This article is brought to you by CHOC Children’s pediatric psychologist Dr. Carlos Konishi Ph.D on conversation starters for kids and advice on how parents can encourage communication beyond the one word answer. Getting kids to share more can be a challenge at times, especially for parents of teenagers. His information on how to get kids to open up gave me so many “AHA!” moments during my interview I actually had to apologize for saying “TOTALLY!”  so many times after he said something that struck a chord. I was like an 80’s teenager myself. Totally.

conversation starters for kids

One word answers.

Ugh.

How was your day?

Fine.

Good.

Okay.

What did you do?

Not much.

The process of trying to get more information out of your child can be painful at times, like pulling teeth. So how do you get beyond the one word answer?

Here is Dr. Konishi’s insightful advice… be ready to say TOTALLY yourself…

Sleep Help for Kids

Sleep Meditations for Kids 

sleep meditations for kids

The end of the day is an exhausting time for everyone, especially moms, so there are few things more frustrating than bedtime struggles with kids. If I am being honest, there have been more times than I can even count when I have screamed to myself in my head, “Just go the BLANK to SLEEP!!!!” when bedtime shenanigans have prolonged the process more than I can tolerate.

The past year, in addition to the typical “do anything possible to prolong the bedtime routine”, my oldest daughter was also having a lot of problems going to sleep….

What Will Your Kid’s Friends Remember About You?

My mom was diagnosed in August with pancreatic cancer.  You can read about it here and here. In times like this, having a support system and people rallying around you is not a luxury, it’s a necessity. In the spirit of having another place for people to share their support, my sister and I started… Continue reading What Will Your Kid’s Friends Remember About You?

Halftime

I was on Facebook yesterday and saw a friend’s post of her baby girl’s nursery, her first baby, who is due any day now.  It took me back to early June, 9 years ago, when I was anxiously awaiting the arrival of my first baby girl.

This baby turns 9 today.

Our-Sweetheart

I read this post titled, To My Daughter, At Halftime, not too long ago and it hit me right in the heart because I could relate so much. Today I have a daughter at the halftime of her childhood.

I needed Kleenex. Not because I’m sad she’s….