Therapeutic parenting

Sep 212 min read

NVR parenting - warm and firm

Deciding where to set our expectations for our children can be tricky when there's trauma, disabilities, and other things going on like...

Sep 121 min read

If the only tool we have is a hammer...

If the only tool you have is a hammer, it's tempting to treat every problem as though it were a nail. A quote often attributed to Abraham...

Sep 102 min read

Two things can be true

Those of us parenting children who’ve experienced relational trauma can sometimes struggle to decide how to respond to behaviours that...

Sep 31 min read

You are delightful

When children are experienced as delightful, when that’s communicated through words & actions, children experience themselves as...

Aug 272 min read

Alice's Umbrella

Human beings learn by experience - things going well and things going not so well. It’s tempting to feel as though we need to say...

Aug 212 min read

Things I manage not to say

Children’s brains are wired differently to adult brains. The bits of the brain that help us manage our emotions and impulses, reflect on...

Aug 192 min read

Say yes to the feelings

This right here is the key to therapeutic parenting - saying yes to the feelings (or ideas, or thoughts, or wishes, or drives) while also...

Aug 121 min read

Look beyond behaviour

What a beautiful illustration by Hazel Mead. Reminding us to always to consider what's going on underneath the surface, to look beyond...

Aug 51 min read

Everyone's doing their best

This statement can really help to shift our nervous system state when we’re struggling with children’s behaviour. I think there are few,...

Jul 132 min read

The NVR map

One of the really good things about NVR is that it provides something of a map for those times where we might be in survival mode. Most...

Jun 141 min read

Creating the conditions for felt safety

I love this but… Yes - and no. Let’s keep the measure of success to things we can control. Children with significant levels of trauma,...

Apr 81 min read

Tolerating big feelings

If there’s one thing children provide parents with it’s the opportunity for growth. Plenty of growth. Especially if we're parenting...