Positive Discipline Parenting Blog
Sproutable's Positive Discipline blog.
Real tips. Real talk. Read & grow.
Latest post
Feelings, the First Foreign Language I Learned as a Parent
I was visiting a friend last week and we got to talking about Family Meetings (spend more than an hour with me and this family meeting thing is likely to come up). He rolled his[...]By Julietta Skoog
Views 
Calming Tantrums
Ah, the tantrum. This is a sharp trigger for adults. The last straw that ultimately makes US display our own grown-up version of a tantrum. Tantrums are burned in my memory like a scrapbook. The one on the way to sign the mortgage papers (no reschedule there), or the one in front of 25 parents I teach, or the one in the restaurant on vacation (I think my tantrum in reaction was bigger than hers).By Julietta Skoog
Views 
How to Talk to Kids about Social Distancing
We can’t expect young children to truly understand what social distancing looks like in public spaces. Just like any skill, we have to break it down into small steps and meet them where they are developmentally. It’s important to understand that the ability to inhibit our actions actually comes from a very high-level brain function […]By Julietta Skoog
Views 
Solutions: The Antidote to Consequences, Punishment and Rewards
One of my favorite classes in my counseling graduate program was Group Therapy. I loved reading Irvin Yalom’s big thick book that described all the stages a group goes through, then actually getting to participate in the experience and watching how it played out. In essence, every group starts out with some sort of orientation […]By Julietta Skoog
Views 
3 Secrets to Parenthood Prep
Why “winging it” is no longer a parenting plan Humans are complex. Human relationships are complex. Human brains are complex. Yet, the traditional parenthood prep doesn’t include reading up on human development or social neuroscience. Normally (and if you Google you will see what I mean), all the parenthood prep is about what you need […]By Alanna Beebe
Views 
My Kids Don’t Listen
It is infuriating to parents that their kids “won’t listen” and they report they have “tried everything.” I offer the reframe that very likely they ARE listening. They have heard you, but what you really mean is they aren’t obeying. Ironically, when we make the next list, which is life skills you want for your children when they are 25, blindly obeying is nowhere on it. Nor is doing what you’re told without question, or being passively compliant. If you don’t want it when they are all grown up, then you don’t get to have it when they are little. It doesn’t magically disappear.By Julietta Skoog
Views 
Growing Big Sisters
I was preparing for three babies, really. Not triplets, although many people asked, but one baby and two big sisters (who will always be my babies). I took the big sister preparation this time with somewhat of a strategy - before baby and right after.By Julietta Skoog
Views