The Social Glue - Utilizing Oxytocin to Strengthen Connection
Posted: March 14, 2024
Oxytocin is best known as the “love chemical” and is released when we feel love. And while it is generally associated with the parent-child bond and more in-depth relationships, it is also significant in overall human connections. With all the stress and pressures of the world today, many children go through life feeling that they need to get better and better, which never seems to be enough. What they need, however, is to develop a healthy oxytocin response, which comes from feeling affection and attachment. This can come from the way important adults in their lives interact with them daily.
Whole-Brain Parenting - Engaging the Brain for Optimal Development
Posted: March 07, 2024
On any given day, we may experience moments of high emotion in reaction to an event, or we find ourselves trying to control everyone and everything around us. Either way, our mental well-being is in danger, especially if we find ourselves stuck in either scenario for long. It can be difficult for children to get unstuck without some help from a parent or other adult. To give children the support they need when faced with this, parents must have a basic understanding of their child’s brain development. By incorporating this knowledge into interactions, parents can support children in learning and growing through a whole-brain approach.
Tackling Challenges: Why Martial Arts Is the Solution
Posted: February 27, 2024
Tackling Challenges: Why Martial Arts Is the Solution
Quick Ways to Calm an Emotional Flood
Posted: June 29, 2023
As we know, children can lose control of their emotions for various reasons, and the behaviors we witness are generally unplanned. And since anxiety can look like defiance, adults often respond in counterproductive ways. When children are stressed, the amygdala, in the downstairs brain, is triggered, and the “fight or flight” response takes over. This hijacking of the brain makes it hard for children to be reached through conversation resulting in a disruption in the current environment. Implementing rapid resets can calm children and get their brains back “online.”
When children are out of the zone, and their “lid is flipped,” the sympathetic nervous system has been fully activated, and they don’t recognize what is happening. The reactions we see are based on each child’s current developmental stage, communication skills, and emotional competency. Also, some children have an anxious type temperament and are more likely to react in a stronger way.
Luckily, the body has a natural reset button in the parasympathetic nervous system called the vagus nerve. This nerve runs from the brain stem, through the face, to the thorax and abdomen. When it’s stimulated, it sends a message to the brain that it can relax and the body calms down. When children experience a flood of emotions resulting from stress, the vagus nerve has to be activated to get children back to a teachable mindset. Then, and only then, can we begin to engage them in a logical, age-appropriate discussion of the situation and make a plan for next time.
Addressing Social Awareness and Support
Posted: June 22, 2023
“Beep, beep, beep,” the alarm clock rings, summoning the whole family to rise from their night of deep slumber. Time to greet the new day!
Winters chill still in the air, I look out from my frosty window to see the birds dancing from treetop to ground to sky. Behind me, the sudden, rapid pitter patter of my boys’ feet approach. I brace for the morning tackle in 3-2-1 … Snuggle Fest! Showering them both in a sea of kisses and hugs, I find both sets of their baby blue eyes meeting mine in the moment to share our good morning, “I love you!”
From “Snuggle Fest” to breakfast time and the rest of our daily morning routine combined, there is an intentional flow and mindfulness I surround my kids in well before they ever set foot outside the door. Because while I do certainly guide, nurture and support my kids in their interactions beyond the comfort of our home, I’m not always by their side physically, in the moments when some of their most difficult challenges arise in the social setting.