Mindful Moments Blog

What Can I Do When I Feel Triggered By My Kids?

Mindful Moments Blog

What Can I Do When I Feel Triggered By My Kids?

by Ashley Patek on Dec 15 2021
Why do we feel triggered when our kids do that thing they do, and what tools do we have to keep us from meeting their immaturity with our own? Here are 3 preventive tips and 4 tools for in the heat of the moment. 
Why Do My Kids Trigger Me?

Mindful Moments Blog

Why Do My Kids Trigger Me?

by Ashley Patek on Dec 13 2021
What is a trigger, why do we have them and why are we so dang triggered by our kids?!
3 Steps For Managing Parenting Stress This Holiday Season

Mindful Moments Blog

3 Steps For Managing Parenting Stress This Holiday Season

by Ashley Patek on Dec 13 2021
Parenting during the holidays feels tough because it is tough. Here are 3 tips to get you through with less stress and more joy. 
Santa's 'Naughty List' Has Been Canceled This Holiday Season

Mindful Moments Blog

Santa's 'Naughty List' Has Been Canceled This Holiday Season

by Ashley Patek on Dec 06 2021
The holiday season is meant to be a magical time, but often it is used as leverage to control a child’s behavior. We have a real opportunity to rewrite the narrative. Here's how.
I Didn't Make My Kids Sit On Santa's Lap And They Are Better For It

Mindful Moments Blog

I Didn't Make My Kids Sit On Santa's Lap And They Are Better For It

by Ashley Patek on Nov 29 2021
Children are wired to seek approval from their caregivers because it is how they are designed to survive. How we respond as parents to our children’s intuition and their bids to voice their consent greatly impacts their ability to speak their truth, set boundaries, and trust who they are. Read more. 
Is My Child Too Old To Use A Calming Space?

Mindful Moments Blog

Is My Child Too Old To Use A Calming Space?

by Ashley Patek on Nov 08 2021
How do you use a Calming Space with kids beyond the toddler stage? Here are 5 tips.
Why Being A Perfect Parent Is Too Much

Mindful Moments Blog

Why Being A Perfect Parent Is Too Much

by Guest Author on Nov 02 2021
In the face of her daughter's meltdowns, this mama strived to be perfect by suppressing her own emotions. What she learned is that abandoning herself was a trauma response to her own childhood, and that what she and her daughter both needed was this ...
Rewriting the Narrative On Terrible Twos and Tyrannical Threes

Mindful Moments Blog

Rewriting the Narrative On Terrible Twos and Tyrannical Threes

by Rebecca Eanes on Oct 25 2021
The majority of the “problem behavior” that we see in children is because we are looking through a distorted lens. Tantrums are a developmentally normal emotional release when the child’s brain feels flooded with big feelings. Punishing a tantrum cannot make a brain develop faster, but there are things parents can do.
Parenting: Control Isn't The Goal. Here's What Is.

Mindful Moments Blog

Parenting: Control Isn't The Goal

by Rebecca Eanes on Oct 20 2021
Nothing makes you feel like a failure quite like having a child you can’t control. Until you realize control isn’t the goal. Control starts to slip away as children grow, and you either have to up the ante to maintain that illusion of control or you have to accept the fact that you really don’t have control at all.
Breaking Multi-Generational Shame Cycles

Mindful Moments Blog

Breaking Multi-Generational Shame Cycles

by Ashley Patek on Oct 18 2021
No one is born ashamed. It is a learned, self-conscious emotion. And, often, it is multi-generational. If we aren't aware of our own tendencies to shame, we won't notice when they get triggered. We'll just act them out onto our children, passing shame down to the next generation. This is how we break the cycle. 
Why Being a Sensitive Parent is a Good Thing

Mindful Moments Blog

Why Being a Sensitive Parent is a Good Thing

by Rebecca Eanes on Oct 14 2021
I am a highly sensitive parent, and here is why it is a good thing. Plus 5 sanity-saving tips for fellow parents who are sensitive, too.
Time-Ins Decrease Meltdowns

Mindful Moments Blog

Time-Ins Decrease Meltdowns

by Ashley Patek on Sep 28 2021
How can Time-Ins decrease meltdowns in our home?
I'm Too Stressed To Handle My Child's Meltdowns

Mindful Moments Blog

I'm Too Stressed To Handle My Child's Meltdowns

by Suzanne Tucker on Sep 14 2021
My own emotional capacity is on E, and it makes it super hard to be emotionally available for my child during his big emotions. What do I do?
We Don't Do Equal In This House

Mindful Moments Blog

End Sibling Rivalry And Bring Peace Into Your Home

by Ashley Patek on Aug 24 2021
Siblings are natural competitors for attachment, bidding for our love and attention. Here's 3 Parenting Do's and Don'ts when it comes to sibling relationships. 
Post-Pandemic Schools Need More Than Academics

Mindful Moments Blog

Post-Pandemic Schools Need More Than Academics

by Traci Esposito on Jul 22 2021
Post-pandemic children have a lot to adjust to. And there is no cookie-cutter response because the mental health of our children is not one-dimensional. There is a spectrum of feelings and emotional stress taking a seat in the classroom this year. Here are some tools for nurturing social-emotional learning (SEL). 
Until The Last

Mindful Moments Blog

Until The Last

by Ashley Patek on Jul 08 2021
A poem about savoring the little moments of parenting. "No one prepared me for the hardest part of parenting … letting go. Parenting is the longest, most gradual break-up. A story that grows in chapters, filled with firsts that turn into lasts."
3 Ways Parenting Can Heal Your Childhood Wounds

Mindful Moments Blog

3 Ways Parenting Can Heal Your Childhood Wounds

by Guest Author on Jul 07 2021
When our own childhood contained stress and trauma, the developmentally-appropriate behaviors of our children can be a big trigger. Here are 3 ways to heal your childhood wounds through parenting. 
Attachment is Not a Reward; It’s a Lifeline

Mindful Moments Blog

Attachment is Not a Reward. It’s a Lifeline.

by Guest Author on Jun 08 2021
In using a time-in, my boys learned valuable skills they would never have learned by sitting in a corner. Did this produce perfect children? No. But this did produce securely attached children who no longer had to make desperate bids for the attachment they so instinctively desired. Read more. 
Healing From A Childhood You Don't Remember

Mindful Moments Blog

Healing From A Childhood You Don't Remember

by Ashley Patek on Jun 02 2021
While we may not remember our childhood with our mind and verbal words, our body keeps the score and stores the information it receives from our formative years, namely which parts of us to grow and which to shrink. These downloads show up as patterns in adulthood and in our parenting. Read more. 
I Can't Remember My Childhood, And Here's Why

Mindful Moments Blog

Why Can't I Remember My Childhood? Here’s Why

by Ashley Patek on Apr 21 2021
Stress and trauma suppress and actually shrink the part of the brain responsible for emotional regulation and memory, making it hard for us to recall our youth. As we teach and guide our children and nurture their emotional intelligence, we regenerate our hippocampus so we can remember, feel and share, too.