Articles

Sometimes, working through a specific behavioral challenge with our child can be utterly exhausting.  Most of the time, a behavior plan only requires one person to actively be implementing at any given point. Develop a system where you can ask for help from your partner, co-parent, family or friends…

If one of our main purposes in life is to teach our children by helping them learn things, then we better learn the best way to do that; right? To start, there is a huge difference between helping your child and doing for your child. One action encourages independence whereas the other action encourages dependance.…

The reality is that kids are bound to witness their parents disagree, argue, and maybe even fight.  For children, parents are models of adulthood, relationships, communication and more. So, we would like to argue (no pun intended!) that it’s actually incredibly beneficial to allow our children to observe healthy argument and disagreement…

Our parental instinct is to protect our children and help them to succeed. But, if we don’t allow our children to fail – to do something on their own, the wrong way – then we rob them of the opportunity to learn how to do it better next time. It’s not winning or losing, like everyone says. It’s winning or learning… 

If you notice your child engaging in a higher frequency of inappropriate attention seeking behavior, let that be a cue for you to provide more attention at other times. We firmly believe that there is no such thing as a “bad kid,” but rather that our kids do bad things to communicate what they need from us.  It’s our job to tune in and listen…

If you establish a healthy house rule, and that boundary never shifts regardless of how you are feeling, then your child will come to understand and follow the rules more easily.  As a result, you can fall back on implementing your boundaries rather than allowing your emotions to take over…

Let's talk about rules!Are they important?  They SURE are!  Our society is governed by rules - so it's important to start helping our young childr...

It’s always going to be difficult to tackle some of the issues that our children are struggling with. Oftentimes, addressing those issues can seem overwhelming, and easier to push down the road to tackle later, when “things slow down.” However, those issues will continue to get worse if we don’t address them...

Many of the parents we have worked with were resigned to the issues their children exhibited because, “That’s just how they were born.” And though there is a LOT that our children come from the womb with, there is also a LOT that we can do to help address the problem behaviors and shape our children to be the best versions of themselves…

In the behavior world, we often talk about strategies that are proactive (things we can do to create an environment that promotes success) and reactive (what we do after a behavior occurs). The proactive strategies often get neglected, but they are sometimes just as important – if not more. FREE DOWNLOAD available!

Bribes are typically resorted to out of desperation when your child’s behavior has already deteriorated. A bribe can sometimes improve your child's behavior in the moment, but they come with negative long-term effects. Using reinforcers effectively can SIGNIFICANTLY improve your child’s behavior…

It’s natural for parents to pay attention when their children misbehave. When your child pulls his brother’s hair, you must pay attention in order to address the problem. However, when you child picks up a book and quietly reads to himself, you silently cheer to yourself and continue making dinner or doing work…