Positive Discipline Parenting Blog
Sproutable's Positive Discipline blog.
Real tips. Real talk. Read & grow.
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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.[...]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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Shifting from Worst Case Scenario to Trusting the Process With Our Teens
I say this a lot, but this season of parenting is messy. The terrain of adolescence is rough. It is the nature of the path, it is the nature of the season. Even when we are practicing our tools and setting up agreements and doing family meetings, it's still a rough season. I always get excited when I get to say that to people because I think there's a certain level of relief when you're reminded, "Hey, this isn’t necessarily you not being enough, this isn’t necessarily your kids having issues. This is the terrain. This is how adolescence feels." Granted, you might think, "Yeah, but this doesn’t look like what’s going on at my neighbor’s or my sister doesn’t seem to be having these issues with her teens." It’s all relative. It’s hard and every single thing that happens, including the challenges that show up with our teens, are an opportunity for us to… learn, to grow, to expand, and to get curious.By Casey O'Roarty
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When your teenager shuts you out
Parenting teens can sometimes feel like a constant balancing act. One moment, you might feel close to your child, only to be met with resistance, frustration, or distance in the next. This was exactly what one parent shared recently. Their 13-year-old daughter, while generally a good kid, was shutting them out—silent treatments, ignored texts, and […]By Casey O'Roarty
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Winning Cooperation or Winning a Power Struggle?
In Positive Discipline, we talk about “winning cooperation” from the children we work with. Why would we spend our time & extra effort on “winning cooperation” over just fostering obedience? Why do you want to win cooperation instead of winning the power struggle?By Danielle Taylor
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When Kids Say Really Mean Things to Nannies
Nothing can prepare you for that first time a nanny charge says hurtful things to you. You would think it gets easier but it never does. You are human after all, with feelings too. It is so hard to imagine that even at 3, 4 or 5 years old that vitriol will come out of […]By Julietta Skoog
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Turning nap strike into genius hour
By the age of 3, your child has approached many amazing milestones. They are scootering, potty training, running, hopping, even coloring and telling jokes and stories. With all this development comes a price- nap strike! It is common for children around the age of 3 (usually right before) to “drop the nap.” Don’t be fooled! […]By Julietta Skoog
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Promoting Flexibility in Children
Something we’re always coming back to in Positive Discipline are the long-term goals and the traits we hope to see in the kiddos we care for once they reach adulthood. One life skill that I choose to focus on is being flexible. I’m not always the most flexible person in the room, and on occasion, I can miss out on something fun because I wasn’t being flexible enough. The good news for me, though, is that working with children gives me lots of opportunities to model, practice, and grow my own flexibility muscles.By Danielle Taylor
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