Early Connections Program

It benefits everyone when we regularly work to support our own regulation so that we can stay in a place that is open to compassion and problem solving, and approach challenging (stress-related) behaviours with connection rather than correction or shaming. AND, we will always have moments we are overwhelmed and just don't know what to say. Thanks to the The MEHRIT Centre, Ltd. for these great ideas on how to flip our language in a way that supports our children when they are struggling!

When addressing misbehaviour, use your to check in. Here are some great tips on how to connect versus correct. ☀️

Healthy Kids Week is here! Check out all the great activities our community has planned 🤩☀️🎈

This is a great reminder 💞

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Transitions are hard! A bit of warning and an opportunity to "close the loop" can make a huge difference.

"Our job isn’t to manage their feelings. It’s to be someone safe enough so they don’t have to manage them alone." 💕

There’s a difference between feeling responsible for our kids and being responsible to them - and it changes everything about how we show up.

When our child is upset, every instinct says fix it. Make it stop. Find the solution. But trying to take their hard feelings away often makes things harder - for them, and for us.

Their feelings belong to them.

We don’t cause all of them, and we can’t cure all of them.

But how we show up in the middle of them - that’s ours. Not to fix, not to redirect, not to make the discomfort smaller so we feel better.

Just to be there. Steady. Close. Safe.

Our job isn’t to manage their feelings. It’s to be someone safe enough so they don’t have to manage them alone.

That’s not doing less. That’s doing the thing that matters.♥️

Our perspective matters when we look at our kiddos...when we can see them as little humans who have not yet developed the skills needed to manage challenging situations and who are behaving in the only way they are able to, we can step in to support them with compassion and teaching rather than blaming and punishing. 💕

If you would like to talk more about what this can look like, reach out to chat with us about the Early Connections program! 250-554-3134 😊

"Seeing a child as ‘capable of controlling his behaviour if only he chooses to do so’ only adds to our agitation, and as a result, the child’s distress." ☀️ - Stuart Shanker & Co. [🔗 self-reg.ca]

💥Power doesn't have to mean a threat 💞

For generations, adult–child relationships were built on power ✨over✨.

Even as we’ve given kids more voice and rights, the old self-control mindset still linger, telling us we need to stay in charge at all costs.

This graphic by educator Kristin Wiens offers a wiser reframe: ✨ Power doesn’t have to be a threat.✨ It can be something we give, through understanding, safety, and stress awareness!

Our next session of Circle of Security Parenting is coming up! Text or call to sign up :)

"We often talk about attachment as if it’s something complex to figure out.
But it is built in the small, ordinary moments of everyday life.
When we pause…
when we notice…
when we reflect…
when we invite connection…
we are saying something that matters deeply: You matter to me."

Check out this great tip sheet from Deborah MacNamara on ways to collect your children 💞

Collecting is one of the simplest ways we build relationship with our kids. It’s not complicated.

To collect a child is to move toward them in a warm, friendly way— to gather their eyes, their ears, their attention or whatever works for them sensory wise — and to let them feel your interest in being with them.

We often talk about attachment as if it’s something complex to figure out.
But it is built in the small, ordinary moments of everyday life.
When we pause…
when we notice…
when we reflect…
when we invite connection…
we are saying something that matters deeply: You matter to me.

Collecting is how we warm up the relationship again and again— through the flow of the day. And when relationship is there, so much else becomes possible.

If you want a copy of the infographic see the link in the comments below.