After a day racing from one career task to another, throwing food at children while driving in the van from one activity to the next, I sat down to my crock-pot dinner on a Wednesday and cracked open a bottle of wine. I could feel my shoulders relax as the glass touched my lips. At [...]
Have you had moments when something happens where you aren’t sure what to do and look for direction from someone else? Or have you made decisions in a hurry without taking the time to mull it over? Or perhaps you’ve been pulled by your emotions to react in a certain way because you’re so full [...]
When you meet Jeff and Laura Sandefer, you first notice how warm both of their smiles are. Laura in particular is someone you just want to sit beside but you’re not entirely sure why. Maybe it’s the hint of a southern lilt in her voice or that she looks at you so intently you feel [...]
Have you heard of positive and negative core beliefs before? These are the beliefs we hold of ourselves, other people, and the world based on our life experiences. These beliefs happen as a result of decisions or interpretations we make about situations we encounter. For example, when a child continually tries to build a tower, [...]
One of the most painful things to hear our children or students say is: “I’m stupid” or “I’m dumb.” Our first reaction might be to utter something to counter their statement like, “No, you’re not!” but that response may actually not be helpful. Using phrases that show our children how to address their negative core [...]
Have you heard of positive and negative core beliefs before? These are the beliefs we hold of ourselves, other people, and the world based on our life experiences. Positive and negative core beliefs happen as a result of decisions or interpretations we make about situations we encounter. For example, when a child tries to build a [...]
Do you let your kids help when you're in the kitchen? They can make a pretty big mess, but there's great lessons to be learned there for kids. In fact, the kitchen can still teach us adults a few things, too! My youngest son loves to help in the kitchen. I stared at my sister [...]
One day I just sat down on the sofa and cried — a lot — for no reason. Instead of doing what I typically do as a psychotherapist, which is to jump into solving mode to “get myself out of this,” I just allowed myself time to cry. I did this because I had faith [...]
A calm-down corner (or area as it doesn’t have to be in a corner) is a place for angry and upset children to go to engage their minds and release their anger. I used this when my children were little in place of time-out because time-out didn’t work for my sensitive son. Here, I’ll show [...]
When my three boys were two, four and five, we played a game called “Secret Teddy.” Teddy was a small, ragged stuffed bear that “mysteriously appeared” on one son’s pillow each night with a little note describing how he had been especially caring that day. (Trying to be sneaky was always challenging). I only needed [...]
Andrea Loewen Nair is a counsellor, parenting educator and international media parenting expert based in London, Ontario, Canada. Her therapy background helps parents to understand at a deeper level what to do when kids drift away, behaviour goes wild, buttons are pushed and old negative self-talk gets too loud.
Her goal is to let parents know they are not alone in their struggles and to provide practical help that makes big positive changes. Parenting can be very hard—and Andrea wants to help.
