Positive Discipline Parenting Blog

Sproutable's Positive Discipline blog.

Real tips. Real talk. Read & grow.

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Catch Us at the Library

I’ve been nannying for about eight years now, and though kids & families may change, one very consistent part of my nanny routine is visiting the library.  I recently found myself considering what’s still so[...]

By Danielle Taylor

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Catch Us at the Library

I’ve been nannying for about eight years now, and though kids & families may change, one very consistent part of my nanny routine is visiting the library. I recently found myself considering what’s still so engaging to me and my nanny kids about the library after literally hundreds of visits. Why are libraries so helpful in supporting young children?

By Danielle Taylor

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Moving from praise to encouragement

I’ve been soaking up everything I can about Positive Discipline for the last five years or so, and most of it has come fairly easily to me. It takes patience, intention, consistency, and effort, but most of the tools and strategies have always “clicked” for me. That being said, I am still, every day, working on moving from praise to encouragement with my nanny kids. This has been so challenging for me!

By Danielle Taylor

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Getting comfortable with messy play

I’ve been working with kids for over 15 years, and I’ve cleaned up a fair share of messes in that time. I wasn’t someone who initially leaned into messy play because it can be gross, stressful, overwhelming, and because I could always come up with something else that’s fun to do instead. However, the longer I’ve been doing this, the more I’ve gotten not only comfortable, but actually have started enjoying, inviting, celebrating, and really leaning into messy play time! Here’s my why, my how, and some tips I’ve learned along the way.

By Danielle Taylor

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A Day as a Positive Discipline Nanny

Being a Positive Discipline nanny truly makes my job so much smoother & more enjoyable! I often say that after being trained in Positive Discipline, I feel like I’m playing on easy mode. This is the true story of how I saw Positive Discipline showing up for me and my nanny kiddos on what had the potential to be a pretty awful Monday.

By Danielle Taylor

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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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Making Dinner Together

When I teach my parenting class, whether it is the start of a 7-week series, or a parent ed talk at a preschool, I always start the same way. Imagine your child is now 25…what are the life skills you hope they have? The list looks similar across the board, things like compassionate, happy, responsible, […]

By Alanna Beebe

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Want to Raise Happy Kids? Teach Gratitude.

Ask any parent what they want for their children and they will likely say, “I just want her to be happy.” It is what we strive for within our own lives, and what we anguish over for our children. It guides education decisions, discipline, and even shopping. Lately there has been a surge of books, documentaries, and research that lay out the “guide” to happiness, with a common theme arising again and again: gratitude.

By Julietta Skoog

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Positive Discipline Family Meetings

On more than one occasion, you will find my husband rescuing somebody from a seemingly crazy person. That crazy person would be me. It is HARD. Whenever I get into a casual conversation about parenting I find myself wanting to offer what to me, has been the biggest game-changer and secret sauce of the last […]

By Julietta Skoog

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My Life with Boobs

I’m two weeks into this whole parenting thing, and so far, it’s unbelievably amazing. Thanks to the hormones allowing me to function on 2-hour increments (or sometimes 1 hr) of sleep, I’m coping pretty well. Here are my sleep-deprived and total overshare musings on how my body has changed thus far after having a baby. When I was pregnant, […]

By Alanna Beebe

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Military Families

It is humbling to think about the thousands of families who are not only struggling with the day-to-day challenges of parenting, but also the added layers and burden of having a partner gone (and an uncertainty of return); plus being uprooted and transferred every few years. I am in awe. Recently, I had a conversation with a new mom whose husband is active in the military. They have a 17 month old and she was sharing how hard it is to maintain the “memory” of his dad when their child is so young.

By Julietta Skoog

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