Supportive adults such as parents, caregivers, and teachers have an important role in communicating with children and providing them with support to help them manage their responses to COVID-19. The Substance Abused Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) recently released their talking tips to help parents and other supportive adults to communicate effectively with children and…
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More than ever, there is a need to have important conversations and make important decisions with family members concerning changes to routine and other life adjustments. At the same time, one or more family members may be experiencing elevated levels of stress on a given day. Talk about a recipe for potential conflict! If you…
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Social distancing can cause feelings of isolation, even if you are surrounded by others living in the same home as you. This is why it is important to stay connected with friends and family living outside of the home and to maintain those relationships during these unprecedented times. And honestly, “social distancing” should really be…
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Teaching media literacy to our children is always important, but it’s especially important during a time when interpreting accurate information is key for health and safety as well as reducing anxiety. In just three minutes, you can show your child the 5 Cs of Critical Consuming:
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Today we will be talking about how to teach kids to interact with someone who has an illness or an injury. First, we must understand the power of empathy. Remember this previous post with Brene Brown’s explanation on what empathy is? She explains empathy as feeling the connection with someone. In other words, empathy is…
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We can teach our children at a very young age to respect others’ body autonomy and space by paying attention to their body language. For example, we can make teachable moments when we point out to young children “see how Wyatt covers his face and frowns when you splash water on him? That tells us…
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Did you know that anger is actually a normal human emotion? It’s no secret, we all get angry every now and then and that’s okay. It is normal to feel anger. What is not okay is trying to avoid the feeling of anger and not be able to manage or communicate it to others in…
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Ever heard of the phrase “listen with your eyes and ears?” When it comes to communication, we listen with our ears for verbal cues and we listen with our eyes for nonverbal cues such as physical appearance. Communication helps us develop meaningful relationships with others but being able to better understand the other person’s nonverbal…
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Stephen Covey’s famous book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, includes today’s communication technique. The Win-Win mentality is habit number four, and is also included in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens. This mentality is useful in nearly all facets of life from helping your child navigate friend conflict to negotiating at work.…
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According to the Family Communication Patterns Theory, there are four different types of family communication patterns: consensual, pluralistic, protective, and laissez-faire. These patterns differ in their level of conversation and conformity so wherever your family is at on the spectrum, your family’s communication style will fall in one of the four patterns of communication. Take…
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