Positive Discipline Parenting Blog

Sproutable’s Positive Discipline blog for parents and caregivers of children tweens to teens.

Real tips. Real talk. Read & grow.

Latest post

Shifting from Worst Case Scenario to Trusting the Process With Our Teens

As I write this, it’s Spring!  My favorite time of the year.  I'm also tortured by it because we have days like today that are just glorious, and then we have days like three days[...]

By Casey O'Roarty

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How to motivate teens and tweens

How do we motivate adolescents?   Sometimes it feels like nobody wants to help around the house, nobody wants to clean their room.  I know, I’ve been there!  We work and work on our relationship with our kids- it’s ongoing.  It’s a practice of connecting, creating and tweaking agreements, problem solving, checking in, and finding solutions.  […]

By Casey O'Roarty

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Tips for validating teens

I like to think of validation as a way to be human to human with my kids. I want them to have the experience of feeling seen. When we validate, it’s an opportunity to let our teens know we can handle them being in their emotions and that we have faith in them to navigate that. Validation improves relationships, deescalates conflict and intense emotions, shows we’re listening without judgment, and that we care. I also think of validation as the opening of a door: when our kids and teens feel seen and not judged, they’re so much more likely to move into a receptive, problem-solving state.

By Casey O'Roarty

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Getting out of our teen’s way

Something that keeps coming up in my class and in my own parenting is the power of the tension of life.  I’ve been thinking about how Jessica Lahey and Ned Johnson both talk about getting out of our kid’s way.  We have to get out of the way so our kids can feel the tension […]

By Casey O'Roarty

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Getting curious about the Belief Behind Behavior

A few years back I did an interview with Alison Smith. It touched on the importance of finding the need beneath the behaviors we see. I also often reference the iceberg metaphor - the idea that behavior we’re seeing is just the tip of the iceberg, and if we can go under the surface and really get to what's fueling the behavior, we can make lasting, sustainable change in our home environment.

By Casey O'Roarty

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Exploring “Is This Positive Discipline?”

A lot of parents and caregivers who read my blogs or listen to my podcast are interested in Positive Discipline philosophy but haven’t actually taken a Positive Discipline class or program. You might hear some things that inspire you, but you may be asking, “Is this Positive Discipline?” I know it can feel unclear, so I want to break it down so you know some criteria about if you’re handling things the Positive Discipline way. Know that I’m not here to judge! It’s not about being a perfect parent, it’s about sharing information and guidance to support you if you’re heading in a Positive Discipline direction in your home and with your kids.

By Casey O'Roarty

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How does firmness show up for you?  

Something that’s been coming up with my clients lately, as well as in my own life, is firmness. I was on a call this morning with other Positive Discipline trainers, and we were asked to think about the difference between authoritative parenting and authoritarian parenting, specifically around firmness.

By Casey O'Roarty

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Being present with your teen’s school discouragement

A mom in our community shared this:  “I’m struggling so much parenting my 15 year old son.  He is so negative.  He’s very smart & has friends, but he says he hates school, that the education system is stupid, homework is a waste, etc.  He is literally negative about everything, yet he won’t do anything […]

By Casey O'Roarty

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Minimizing Phone Drama with Tweens and Teens

This is a conversation that needs to happen frequently, whether you want to get it right setting up limits for a younger adolescent or if you have an older teen who’s been using devices for a while. Spoiler: screens are always an issue! When Should You Get Your Kid a Phone?

By Casey O'Roarty

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Joyful Courage & Sproutable: one space for all parents & caregivers

We began merging our backgrounds in psychology, early child development, public health, counseling, mindfulness, social emotional learning, social justice, racial equity and Positive Discipline, joining forces to go farther than either of us could do on our own. We used innovation, technology, Alanna’s idea of videos of REAL families, and an online platform to share the helpful, immediately useful and mutually-respectful tools world wide.

By Julietta Skoog

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Empowering Kids to Navigate Social Conflict

Even for those of us who don’t fall into the “helicopter” model, when we hear “the kids were mean to me today” we are so quick to slip into mama/papa bear mode, ready to make phone calls and take those mean kids D-O-W-N! This topic, of course, was fitting to some of what my own kids are going through right now (that always seems to happen, right?).  And I find my response to their experience is quick – MAKE IT STOP.  We are all so quick to project into a future of our kids being bullied, ostracized and so desperate that they don’t see any way out

By Casey O'Roarty

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