Rich and I have been working very hard the last year on our parenting skills. It's been tough changing our admittedly lax parenting style. Maybe lax isn't the right word, perhaps passive is a better term? We have really struggled with understanding what Noah can actually control with his behavior and what is part of his "condition." It has taken us a while, but I think what we are coming to realize is that even though he has a long list of diagnoses attached to him, ultimately he CAN control a lot of his behavior. It took us seeing others (i.e., his teacher, his karate instructor) setting firm limits and expectations, and seeing him rise to their expectations, to make us realize what wimps we were being as parents. Love really doesn't "cure" everything, and by giving him unconditional love without clear expectations as to what we expected with his behavior, we were basically allowing him to run the show.
I've been exploring parenting resources recently as we work on being more consistent and firm with Noah. I've found some interesting and useful websites, and have been following some great people on Twitter that I thought I would share with you. 
Kimberley Clayton Blaine The Go-To Mom is a national child development expert and a licensed Family and Child Therapist who specializes in working with children ages newborn to six years old. She has a new book out, Mommy Confidence: 8 Easy Steps to Reclaiming Balance, Motivation and Your Inner Diva. I haven't read the book yet, but I've spent some time on her website and have found some great stuff to help me with Kiel and the struggles of raising a toddler. Noah might be our challenging child, but I can always use help with Kiel too, especially so I don't repeat any of the mistakes I made with Noah. You can find her on Twitter as The Go To Mom
I've been receiving emails from parent coach Susan Epstein for a few months. I'm embarrassed to admit that I just started actually reading them lately and am finding some great parenting information in them to help with Noah. Her website Parenting Powers has some great tools (both for sale and free) as well as blogs written by her parenting coaches. Sign up for her emails. I think you'll find some good stuff there. I haven't bought any of her products, so I can't speak for them, but what I've found on her website has been helpful. She's also on Twitter.And of course you know I've been trying out the Total Transformation Program which I'm reviewing on my review blog. I'm way behind on my review posts though.
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Some Twitter Links:
ADHDParenting I've found some great 140 character tips here, and some good links.
5MinforSpecialNeeds
TheFamilyCoach
Let me know what parenting sites you find helpful!!
Kimberley Clayton Blaine The Go-To Mom is a national child development expert and a licensed Family and Child Therapist who specializes in working with children ages newborn to six years old. She has a new book out, Mommy Confidence: 8 Easy Steps to Reclaiming Balance, Motivation and Your Inner Diva. I haven't read the book yet, but I've spent some time on her website and have found some great stuff to help me with Kiel and the struggles of raising a toddler. Noah might be our challenging child, but I can always use help with Kiel too, especially so I don't repeat any of the mistakes I made with Noah. You can find her on Twitter as The Go To Mom
Thanks for this! I have been meaning at looking into some parenting resources for my now 1-year-old. I'll be looking into these.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I had always heard/read about how kids not only need limitations and structure, but that they actually WANT it. And never have I seen it more since Grace turned 12. She won't admit it, but there have been times where, after I set what I thought was a pretty strict limit on something, she was actually obviously relieved.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to go check out your links and resources to see what else I can find on parenting tweens. Thanks!
Laura