Hand in Hand Parenting: The Podcast

  Sleep. It's up there with eating and tantrums as a stress-causing subject for parents. And isn't there just so many ideas, action plans and tools for change online or offered by well-meaning grandparents, caregivers, friends? We bet you could even ask your pizza delivery guy and he'd even share his opinion about how parents should go about getting their kids to sleep. Wow! That's a lot of pressu...

To celebrate the year since the Hand in Hand Parenting podcast launched - and the treat it's been connecting with a quarter of a million parents all over the globe - Abigail and Elle ring in their one year anniversary with a reprisal of their first episode - handling the Halloween horrors. That's right - from costume fears and trick or treat overwhelm to sugar highs and candy battles, this episode...

Changes in routine or surroundings often trigger separation anxiety, and as parents, we often see it play out at daycare or school drop-off. And it's really no secret why. We rush to get out on time, we have our never-ending running to-do list chattering, and on top of that we see other children run off happily to meet friends while our own tearful child clings to our legs crying, and all in front...

Have you ever? Watched as your child did something and then i mmediately blame someone else? Heard, "I have no homework," from your child and then discovered it stuffed at the bottom of her school bag? Had a parent come to you and congratulate you on your new car / your child's new triumph in soccer or trombone / or to wish you well on an upcoming trip - none of which you know anything about? This...

Are you shy of disappointing your kids? Over the last few episodes, Abigail and Elle have been decoding emotional projects - in part one we looked at noticing behaviors which signal an emotional project, and in part two we spoke about when and how to work on an emotional project using the Hand in Hand tools. Why it's OK to Disappoint Our Kids For the last part in this series, we're taking a look a...

This week we define how deep-rooted fears cause emotional projects, and how parents experience them as well as children.   000004F3 000004F3 00010357 00010357 00166F5E 00166F5E 00007B8A 00007B8A 00001729 00001729

To share, or not to share, is that the question? So many parents in our parent groups and The Parent Club  come to us with questions about sharing, it's a subject that we knew we had to cover! Why is sharing such a hot-topic conversation? Well, sharing brings on big feelings for parents and children and there are so many differing thoughts and views on how to handle sharing.  And sharing can feel...

How can we help children towards building a positive self-identity? An "I Can!" attitude? This week Abigail shares the life-changing moment she cracked her tens times tables at 8-years-old, and how this win led to a paradigm shift in mindset - between what she thought she could do and what she could actually do. A sense of accomplishment and winning can spur a sense of interest, self-directed lear...

Have you ever woken up in the morning and vowed to yourself that you are going to make it A GREAT DAY? And then, 10 minutes later, your kids are bickering over who got the best bowl, homework is missing, and you can't find your purse? And it's like, seriously?!! What happened? And it continues like that, on a downward spiral, all through the day. Worrying about getting to school on time, sniping a...

Abigail responds to a mom who has difficulties answering her young daughter's questions - most likely because it feels like answering will confirm her child's worst suspicions! And Elle admits finding some of her kid's simple questions difficult - especially when they ask her if she's leaving for work. Even when she's half out the door, she admits, she doesn't want to 'fess up and just tell them s...

Summer is winding down for Abigail and Elle. That means it's almost time for their kids to head back to school! So this week the hosts ask: How do YOU feel? That's also the first step Abigail and Elle outline in a four-point plan for getting back smoothly into the school routine. Join us for a Back to School Connection Plan We hear a lot about how difficult life is for our children going back to s...

A lot of parents ask us about our tool for parents, the Listening Partnership, about how they should run and what they should sound like, so this week on the podcast Elle and Abigail give a demonstration of the tool. New to Listening Partnerships? What Are They Anyway and How Do They Help Parents De-stress? Listen Partnerships are one of Hand in Hand's five parenting tools and is the only tool to...

This week we're replaying a wonderful podcast we recorded on sibling rivalry with Evie Granville of Modern Manners for Moms and Dads . Join us as we decode what's driving the behaviors between Evie's two children, and share with here how to approach Sibling Rivalry from a Hand in Hand approach. On this special guest podcast, you'll learn: What to do when your kids won't share How to handle aggress...

Imagine this. Your kids are on a playdate. Everything is fine. There are a few giggles. Some stomping. The next minute? The kids are laughing manically, and the house is so trashed it looks like it has seconds until it falls down around you. The kids have gone wild. What To Do When The Kids Go Wild! This episode on the Hand in Hand Parenting Podcast we're talking about those moments kids seem to l...

Am I doing ok in parenting? Am I failing in this thing that matters so much? Did I mess this whole thing up? If you come in search of answers in parenting and you find an approach that speaks to you, do you feel a higher pressure to "succeed" - in the approach and in your parenting? So many of us ask this! And, from reading your thoughtful posts and comments, we see many of us worry that we are fa...

Have you noticed that sometimes your child just becomes rigid? Say he is building a tower and decides the next block for the tower "has to be" the red block. The one after "has to be" blue? Or, he wants the cars all lined up the "exact same way" Or she cannot allow any cups on a table while she is coloring? This week we're looking at the times a children's behavior becomes rigid and what's at the...

How did you feel when you found the Hand in Hand Parenting approach? Most of us feel a sense of relief when we try one of the tools and have a positive outcome. We read the blog posts, listen to the podcast. Try a few more tools. We see changes. That's exciting! Things feel pretty good. You can't wait to tell the people you love most that you have found a breakthrough in your parenting. Except, wh...

The title of this podcast is Celebrate Your Microwins: Learning to Let Your Kids Win a Little When You Set Limits But what's a microwin? Although this sounds like a good piece of business advice, the art of the microwin is a nuance of Hand in Hand's Setting Limits tool, and can make the tool even richer when you set limits with your kids. Taking Setting Limits to New Heights Hand in Hand comes fro...

Packing Schedules Meltdowns New foods, new people, new places, new things Traveling with kids brings a whole suitcase full of the unexpected! It's easy to forget how special traveling with kids can be, amid the chaos and confusion of going away, so much so it can feel easier to say "we'll just stay at home." Yet it's these times away that can prove so special. They can really come to shape a famil...

No matter how well we try and prepare for parenting, this role does lots to point out what feel like failings. We might not be able to comfort our kids as we imagined we would, we might find ourselves yelling, or stressed and in moments of complete overwhelm. This happens to all of us from time to time. Even child therapists, teachers and nannies and child carers can find themselves lost in handli...

Has anyone ever told you what an angel your child was? A school teacher, a parent after a playdate? And you thought? Huh??? An angel? Certainly not at home! This week on the Podcast we are chatting about why our children can be hard to deal with at home even when he or she is seen as an angel outside. Why the screaming, defiance and tantrums? Why the backtalk, squabbling, and drama? Why is all thi...

How much attention does your child need? Have you ever heard the phrase "You can't pour from an empty cup?" When we spend time with our children, do Special Time, listen and care for them, we naturally fill their cups with warmth and love. When a child has a full cup of your warmth and attention, they are less clingy. They are connected and confident. Attention-seeking kids have "Leaky Cups" Excep...

Tickling seems like a good, reliable route to laughter and fun, so why might we suggest rethinking it? Today on the podcast the Elle and Abigail talk about Hand in Hand's approach to tickling and how they tackled it in their own families. Elle remembers the good and the bad of tickling in her house when she was a child and Abigail recounts times her sons begged her to tickle them, and how they fou...

Today Elle and Abigail are talking to New York Times bestselling author, neuro-biologist and family counselor Michael Gurian. We're talking boys, girls and their differences, and raising boys and girls so each thrives. All over the world boys in schools are failing and girls are succeeding, why? Why Boys Need Special Attention On the podcast today, Michael sheds some light. Known as "the people's...

This week Elle and Abigail are telling their birth stories... Now, why would they want to do that? Birth can engulf us with emotions that linger way beyond the time our children are babies, but we rarely have an opportunity to talk about the feelings we had. And what we felt then, how it shaped up to our friends' experiences or our own expectations, can often linger and impact how we find parentin...