Positive Discipline Parenting Blog
Sproutable's Positive Discipline blog.
Real tips. Real talk. Read & grow.
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Homework Battles: The 5 Step Reset
Semenay Erdoğan from Unsplash Do you dread the after school show down? When you ask whether they have any homework while preparing for battle? Or maybe it is after the sports and activities in the[...]By Julietta Skoog
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How to Be a Homework Helper Kids Actually Want Around
What is the best approach to helping kids with homework? I’d like to start this post by publicly apologizing for assigning entirely too much homework to my elementary students in the early 2010s. My intentions were good! I thought kids needed the extra practice, admin expected to see homework, and surely parents liked knowing what […]By Danielle Taylor
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From Sharing Struggles to Super Skills: Navigating Playdates with Ease
If we have learned anything from this last year, it is that little kids love playing with other little kids! At one point my 3 year old, so sick of only her sisters to play with, said through sobbing tears, “I just need friends my size!” They are socially wired and thrive through interactions with other little […]By Julietta Skoog
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Positive Discipline for Teenagers: Mistakes & Motivation
Welcome back to our Positive Discipline for Teenagers series! I’m continuing this deep dive into the book Positive Discipline for Teenagers by Jane Nelsen and Lynn Lott, in tandem with the Joyful Courage podcast. This week, we’re diving into chapters 4, 5, and 6 — these pack a powerful mindset shift. We’re talking about mistakes […]By Casey O'Roarty
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Take Time for Training
One Positive Discipline tool that’s been especially meaningful in my work as a nanny is Take Time for Training. In short, this is simply teaching children something, often a practical life skill, before we expect them to do it themselves. Dr. Jane Nelsen breaks this down into four steps: Makes sense to me! We simply […]By Danielle Taylor
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Your Kids Are Not Manipulating You
Parenting can be a challenging journey, often pushing us to our limits. It’s easy to fall into old patterns of control—like shouting or giving demands—especially when things get tough. But what if there was a way to foster connection and understanding, rather than frustration? The answer lies in curiosity. Let’s explore this idea of kids […]By Casey O'Roarty
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Protecting & Supporting Your Child Through Divorce
Divorce can feel like the ground is shifting beneath you. It’s emotional, exhausting, and full of unknowns. And if you’re a parent, you’re not just navigating your own storm—you’re trying to protect your kids from being swept up in it, too. Supporting your children through divorce is incredibly hard. You’re not alone. This is hard—I’m […]By Alanna Beebe
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What Your Nervous System is Trying to Tell You
When you are going through divorce or co-parenting struggles with your ex, it’s exhausting. Your nervous system may be stuck in survival mode. Here are tools to calm your nervous system from this panic state. Let me guess… You open an email from your co-parent, and before you’ve even finished the first sentence, your heart is […]By Guest
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Feelings, the First Foreign Language I Learned as a Parent
How will we practice? How are we going to teach them to name their feelings, express themselves clearly and assertively, and not internalize or explode their stress or negative emotions? When our children are scared, mad, or so sad, their irrational brain has taken over and is only able to yell, “Fight! Run away! Freeze!” We can guide our children into their “rational” brain by helping them feel safe and understood, while teaching them to name and express their feelings in positive ways.By Julietta Skoog
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Healing Happens in Community: Why Group Support Actually Works
There’s something a lot of people don’t realize until they’re in the middle of a divorce or trying to co-parent with someone difficult: it’s weirdly lonely. Even if you’ve got friends or family around, it’s hard to talk about what’s really going on. People either don’t get it, try to fix it, or maybe even […]By Guest
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Summer Car Kit for Nannies
My school-aged nanny kiddos and I spend tons of time outside during summer break. We live in Seattle, so we’ve got to soak up the sun while we can! As I was recently restocking the back of my car for my tenth summer nannying (what?!), I figured I’d share some of my must-haves for anyone […]By Danielle Taylor
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