Impactful Parent Episodes

Talking To Teenagers:  Tips for having those difficult conversations    A discussion with Cassie Eads, author of the book My Suicidal Child  Kristina:  What have been your biggest lessons learned from having a suicidal child? Cassie: The unintentional use of language.  What I mean is the accidental harm that we cause in our everyday language.  I never realized how powerful the way we say things impact our kids. Kristina: It is a big deal.  How we talk to our children affects them in ways that we don’t understand.  We have to think back to our childhood and how our parents used to talk to you.  Are you repeating the pattern? Sometimes, as parents, we run too much of a dictatorship, and that can be very harmful to our children. It is difficult to let go of control, but watching what we say...

Corona Virus COVID-19: Your Child’s Perspective and 3 Things You Can Do To Help

As a parent, if I am drinking coffee every day, and I enjoy the aroma and the experience, how am I going to turn around and tell my teen no!  You understand, as The Impactful Parent, that when we try to control too much, it does not enhance our relationship with our children.  We need to pick and choose our battles.  It is my belief that coffee should not be one of those battles.

Who are you? Remembering life before kids talks about the importance of being your unique self and not losing who you are to the busy life of the parenting world.   Who are you?  A parent? An accountant? A business owner?  No, those are things that you do. Often, we get caught up in what we do, we forget who we are.  I spent many years trying to be the best mom, wife, and teacher that I could be. I put all my energy into it because I enjoyed serving my family and my students.  The problem was when my marriage ended, and my career became increasingly more difficult,  I couldn’t recognize myself in the mirror.   This made me realize that I had focused on everyone else for so long that I lost who I was.   Stay-at-home parents fall into this same trap also because their world becomes their...

How can this be happening again?   I ask myself as I sit with my head resting in my hands.  Why is my child freaking out?   Why do they do this?  I take a deep breath and remind myself that they need me more now than they ever did as a tantrumming toddler. 

 If parents make these judgments and labels often, then the teenagers begin to pull away and the rift between parent and child begins.

No matter how hard we try to keep the house stocked with chargers, it inevitably always comes down to ONE. That one charger that starts a war between siblings and turns the fight into a suburban version of The Hunger Games.  This charger becomes a lifeline for my children and they fight over it like piranhas. 

Is your teen acting out?  Does your child seem anxious?  Maybe you feel that your child is starting to pull away from you emotionally?   Acting out, anxiety, and pulling away can be signs that your child isn’t feeling secure in their primary needs.  What are their fundamental needs? Security, Acceptance, and Power.  So before you yell at your child for the twentieth time for not listening, watch this video/read this article and consider if their behavior is stemming from their primary needs not being met.

Building resilience in children provides kids with a foundation of mental toughness so that they can rise when facing adversity and become successful adults. -The Impactful Parent “I give up.  I can’t do it,” screams my son.  He is frustrated with math homework.   These words have become too familiar in our house, now that the kids are older.  As toddlers, our children are naturally resilient in learning to walk.  As young kids, our children are still resilient in learning how to swim. But somewhere between learning how to ride a bike and taking the ACT, our children begin to accept Giving-Up up as an option.   How do we combat this mentality?  Alex Yannacone, director of education and Community Programs Director from the University of Colorado, give us 7 Tools to build resilience in...

Your child will likely feel like they have disappointed you, at some point. Yep, EVEN YOUR CHILD! It is not our intention to make our kids feel this way, but we do it all the time. How? Expectations. We expect more from our children than anyone else. “What? No, I don’t Kristina. Not me,” you might be saying. Well, I am going to challenge you on that thought.

You can be anything you want to be, but you do not have to be everything.  

She is crying.  She won’t stop.  She sobs in her pillow and grips her blankets tightly around her body to give herself a blanket-body-hug.  “What’s going on? What happened?” I ask.  “The whole assignment is ruined!  I am failing for-sure!  I might as well just give up!” she responds. 

He won’t wear anything but his soft white T-shirt!  She picks a topic, like space, and then obsesses about space for months!  He talks to me like an adult in a little person’s body!  And her soul seems as fragile as a flower because Every-Little-Thing brings on big emotions.

Getting your kids to do what you ask them starts with HOW you deliver the request and how you communicate with them! 

Kids are expensive!  Pre-baby we are warned about this, but nothing prepares you.  To make matters worse, children get more expensive with age! In the beginning, parents complain about the expense of diapers and formula.  Little do these new parents know that it is only the beginning!

It is the parent-teacher conference season and along with that comes a lot of anxiety and questions for both parents and students!   Today I will address some common questions that I get from parents about talking to teachers and preparing for conferences.

Don’t shelter them from loss. Instead, take losing as an opportunity to teach them valuable lessons.