Posts by blogEPantley

Home is Not School: Quarantine with Kids

Are you quarantined with your children? Worried about schoolwork, but struggling with it? This is a unique and challenging time. Children are suddenly at home during the school year with no specific end in sight. There is a gap in their education, but you are NOT a teacher, and this is NOT homeschooling, and no one is expecting you to finish up the year’s lessons as if class was still in process. This is filling a temporary gap in your child’s formal education during an emotional upheaval. All the kids will get back on track when school resumes.

What to Do When Siblings Fight

When our children fight, it not only grates on our nerves, it tugs on our hearts. We want them to love each other, and we want them to build life-long friendships. When they quarrel it seems this will never happen. In reality, most siblings fight with each other, and it is not a measure of their love or their friendship. It’s the normal development of social and relationship skills. The majority of sibling battles are not destructive to the relationship between the children. All this considered, there are ways to reduce the number of fights, and the severity of them, as well.

Is Your Child’s Behavior a Sign of Poor Sleep?

If your child is not regularly getting adequate daily sleep, they may be “chronically overtired” — and poor sleep will directly affect their daytime behavior, learning and growth.

Your child may not seem tired, because overtired children don’t always act tired — at least not in the ways we expect.

Does Your Child Have Separation Anxiety – or is it Something Else?

Separation anxiety, while difficult, is often a normal part of development. There are many ways to help your child cope with separation anxiety; however, there could be deeper emotions and traits impacting your child’s behavior that may not actually be based on separation issues. Coming up with a plan to help your child through this time means that you need to consider why they are struggling.

What Should I Say When My Child is Hurt or Scared?

“Don’t cry, you’re okay.” “Everything will be fine.” “You have nothing to worry about.” These are such natural adult responses! But your child is very likely thinking: “But it DOES hurt!” “I AM worried!” “It’s NOT okay!”

Children, like adults, do feel what they feel; telling them that they don’t just confuses and frustrates them, but doesn’t make the feeling go away. In fact, the child will feel misunderstood and lonely in her fear, pain or worry. In addition, when it comes to physical pain, every human being has a different tolerance level. What “doesn’t hurt” for one person may indeed hurt another. It’s impossible to judge another person’s pain—physical or emotional.