Smoothly getting your 1, 2, or three-year-old toddler out the door is a combination of planning ahead, clever language, getting enough sleep, and consistent routines. To make the out-the-door transition as smooth as possible, consider the stage of development your child is in and steps to completing tasks. First, toddlers do not want to leave [...]
One of the most challenging moments with young children are during a “transition.” A transition is when you are moving from one activity to the next. Transitions often mean that your young child has to stop playing or doing something he loves to shift into naptime, mealtime, bedtime, or to go somewhere else. Reasons transitions [...]
Helping your child through a freak-out that has been caused by a compromised state includes juggling between finding a way to reduce the compromise and handling the melt-down. Being "compromised" means when a child is upset due to hunger, thirst, sleepiness, lack of rest, or overstimulation. The trick is to identify what is compromising the child and [...]
A positive parenting strategy that works well to reduce dawdling and increase cooperation is one I call the “either/or.” This is where a child is presented with a choice to make that still accomplishes the task at hand. Offering choices is a wonderful way to grow problem-solving skills; however, giving too many options can cause frustration. [...]
One of the hardest skills for any person to develop is how to stop an emotional and physical eruption from happening or how to cool ourselves down once it has. We call these explosions “tantrums” in children, but adults have these, too. I call an adult freak-out a bigtrum: big person tantrum. While reading Jamie [...]
One of the ways to connect more deeply with your child (which reduces unwanted behaviour) is to concentrate on filling what I call a child’s “ALIVE tanks.” These are imaginary tanks that hold your child’s most important needs: to feel connected, loved, important, heard and capable. Picture a child having some metaphorical tanks inside her. [...]
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.
