Positive Discipline Parenting Blog

Sproutable's Positive Discipline blog.

Real tips. Real talk. Read & grow.

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Fostering Independence and Growth in Teens

Parenting teens can often feel like walking a tightrope—balancing between offering freedom and providing enough structure. With the whirlwind of emotional ups and downs, academic pressures, and growing independence, it can be tough to know[...]

By Casey O'Roarty

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Fostering Independence and Growth in Teens

Parenting teens can often feel like walking a tightrope—balancing between offering freedom and providing enough structure. With the whirlwind of emotional ups and downs, academic pressures, and growing independence, it can be tough to know when to step in and when to step back. But with the right strategies, you can navigate these years with […]

By Casey O'Roarty

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Screentime Guidelines for the School Year

Summer has wrapped and our kiddos are likely far out of their school routine. Here are some Positive Discipline tips to (mostly) avoid power struggles, save your sanity, and keep your kiddo’s brain from getting short circuited as you transition to the new school year routine.  Get curious  Using connection and curiosity, sit down with your child […]

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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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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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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Navigating the Marijuana Conversation with Teens: A Parent’s Guide

As a parent, one of the most challenging things to navigate is the issue of marijuana use among teens. We all know that adolescence is a time of exploration, testing boundaries, and trying new things. For many teens, marijuana is one of those things they experiment with. The question is: How do we, as parents, […]

By Casey O'Roarty

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Secret Browsers and Navigating Screens with Tweens & Teens

This week, a post in the Joyful Courage for Parents of Teens Facebook group really hit home for me. A mom was grappling with her 12-year-old son, who managed to bypass his school’s tech filters by using a “fake algebra website” to access blocked sites like TikTok and Fortnite. As you can imagine, she was […]

By Casey O'Roarty

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School Break Survival Guide: Routines, Connection & Sanity-Saving Tips for Parents of K-5 Kids

I worked in schools as a school psychologist and school counselor, my husband is a teacher, and we have three children in elementary, middle and high school. So, as a family, our rhythm and calendars revolve around the school year cycle and we LIVE for the breaks!  While they of course can be fun and […]

By Julietta Skoog

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Empowering Encouragement: The Power of Trusting Your Teen’s Journey

Parenting a teen can feel like an emotional rollercoaster. As they navigate the ups and downs of adolescence, it’s easy to feel the urge to fix things, to rush them through the tough moments, and to offer solutions to their problems. But what if the best thing we can do for our teens isn’t to […]

By Casey O'Roarty

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