In our last Newsletter, I wrote about the power of appreciation and how the expression of it verbally or just in our thoughts, can be a form of blessing or karakia to our children and teens. In this newsletter, I am going to further explore appreciation from a different perspective to…
Have you ever noticed that when you hold a tiny flower in your hand and feel so much appreciation for its colour and form your heart is filled with joy? The same happens when we look at our child’s face during the day and when they are sleeping at night…
One of the fastest ways of achieving this is to constantly be checking our mobile phone, answering txts and emails and scrolling for other information which we feel is important for us. Now I’m not against this wonderful technology. What would we do without it? We use it constantly and…
From feelings of anger and distress to restored relationships and calmer and more positive behaviour This is a brief account of how seven angry parents journeyed together over 10 consecutive weeks to recreate and restore their heart connection with their angry, very disruptive and defiant teens and also to attempt…
We all want to trust our adolescent to make wise decisions about their life, their choice of subjects at school, their friends and their future. We want to trust them to have a good attitude and always try to do the right thing. To find ways to get on well…
It is very important that we positively connect with our children by acknowledging them in a loving and supportive way. In fact, we are encouraged by New Zealand research to even work consistently towards increasing our positive comments or positive acknowledgements. (1) Notice the word ‘connecting’ in the examples of…
When I was parenting my children this whole idea of learning how to calm down when I was feeling angry, frustrated, annoyed and upset never really occurred to me. I remember clearly that it was their fault that I was annoyed with them and frequently told them so. I told…
For us as parents of nearly teenagers, the very thought of this strikes the very dept of our parenting heart. We worry about what will we do if our teen rebels. How will we cope? If our child is already a rebelling teen we tend to feel desperate and often…
Christmas holidays are a great time for the family to spend more time together. A great conversational game which helps children and adults to access and strengthen their empathic ability is the “If I were that person” game. You may like to follow the rules of the game below and…
The heart connection is the loving, supportive, emotional connection in the heart of the child for their parent and the same feelings in the heart of the parent for their child. This is an aspect of what is called bonding or attachment. However, the loving heart connection is what is…