Category Archives: Everyday Parenting

How Family Connection Builds Strong Communities

Every one of us begins life in a community — our family. It’s the first place we learn who we are, how to express ourselves, and how to connect with others. Before we ever step into a classroom or make a friend, our families teach us what love, trust, and belonging feel like.

That first community shapes how we see the world. When we build relationships on empathy, curiosity, and understanding, we grow up feeling secure in who we are. If you subscribe to this newsletter you already believe in the power of family connection and know that children carry these lessons into the wider circles of life — friendships, schools, workplaces, and, eventually, their own families.

And just as families influence communities, a strong community can give families the support they need to thrive too. Connection, it turns out, flows both ways.

Family: The First Circle of Connection

We often say that connection is the foundation of growth. It starts at home, in everyday moments that teach children how to relate to others.

Think of a parent who chooses Read more…

Can You Have Empathy and Still Be The Authority?

Parenting often feels like walking a tightrope between love and limits — nurturing your child’s emotions while guiding their behavior. Sometimes, all the empathy in the world doesn’t seem to help, leaving parents unsure how to stay connected while leading with confidence.

The good news: empathy and authority are not opposites but partners for long-term resilience.

Balancing Empathy with Authority

First, let’s understand our terms:

Empathy is understanding and sharing another’s feelings. In parenting, it’s tuning into your child’s experience without judgment. Connecting first makes guidance more effective.
Authority is leadership rooted in mutual respect. Calm, confident limits help children feel safe.
Discipline is guidance that teaches children the impact of their actions.
Punishment is about control. It can create fear, mistrust, and resentment, often leading children to hide or lie to avoid trouble.

Too much empathy without authority can leave children loved but uncertain who’s in charge. Too much authority without empathy may lead to compliance out of fear, not trust. The balance is what helps our kids feel safe and guided.

Focusing on the discipline Read more…

When Our Emotions Boil Over—and What to Do About It

You know that moment: your child shouts “No!” or bursts into tears over something small, and suddenly you feel a rush of heat in your chest. Your voice gets sharper, your patience evaporates, and before you know it, you’re reacting in a way that surprises even you.

That’s what it feels like when our emotions boil over. But why? Why does something cause me to react and not my partner? Why is one developmental stage harder to manage? Why can I have complete compassion for one child and judgment over another, in the same situation?

Parenting is full of love, but it also pokes at the tender spots we carry on from our own childhoods. Some stages of childhood are almost tailor-made to stir up old memories and feelings (ask any parent of a 14 year old).

The good news: these moments aren’t just explosions waiting to happen. They’re opportunities for understanding ourselves and for healing.

Why Kids Can Feel Like Emotional Landmines

Children naturally pass through stages that challenge us in different ways. They nudge our old sore spots, Read more…

The Truth About Middle School: Why Ages 11–15 Feel So Turbulent

If you’ve ever sat across from your middle schooler, bewildered by their mood swings, sharp comments, or sudden silence, you are not alone. Most parents, myself included, describe these years as some of the most challenging in raising children. And most kids, if you ask them, will tell you that middle school just sucks. I have been through this process twice so far, and echo that sentiment as I browse through literature, advice, and research on how to support and get through this natural, but torturing phase of development.

However, as with everything, nature has a plan and there’s a reason for even this miserable phase. Between ages 11 and 15, children are going through one of the most intense periods of growth since infancy. Their bodies, brains, and social worlds are in constant upheaval, which makes everyday life feel like a rollercoaster—sometimes thrilling, sometimes terrifying, and often confusing—almost always hard. Understanding what’s happening inside your child’s brain, body, and heart can help you navigate these years with more patience, compassion, and connection.

The Social Earthquake

One of the Read more…

Just Listen: The Simple Art That Gets Your Kids Talking, Feeling Heard, and Wanting to Connect

Just Listen…

Parenting advice can feel like an endless to-do list—set boundaries, keep routines, encourage independence, be present, watch for red flags—it’s easy to forget one of the simplest, most powerful tools we have for connection: listening.

Not listening while mentally composing your reply. Not listening while scanning your phone. Not listening only to figure out what to fix.

Just. Listening.

I’m guilty of this myself. It’s hard to shift from guiding your small child through problem solving to simply witnessing, silently, your older child work through a challenge on their own. This is what we all strive to achieve with our kids, so why is it so hard to watch it happen? I can tell you. It is slow, fraught with errors, and has more consequences then we (the protectors) can handle.

However, slowing down enough to truly hear our children—without judgment, agenda, or interruption— gives them a gift that builds trust, confidence, and openness. Over time, this simple act invites them to share more, not less. It’s one of the quiet superpowers in Connective Parenting.

Why Listening

What Connection Is—And What It Isn’t

Connection is the invisible but powerful bond between you and your child. It’s made up of trust, emotional safety, and mutual respect. It’s what lets your child feel seen, heard, and valued—not just when things are going well, but especially when things are hard.

Connection is not permissiveness, spoiling, or over-accommodating. It’s not about giving in to demands or never setting limits. It’s about how you hold those limits—with empathy, clarity, and respect for your child’s experience.

Connection doesn’t mean you agree with Read more…

When Good Parenting Intentions Get in the Way of Connection

We, parents, want to “do it all well.” We want to be good parents, make the right choices, and give our kids the best. That’s a beautiful thing. It shows how deeply we care about their well-being and future. But sometimes, our desire to “get it right” can actually make things harder—for us and for our kids.

When we focus too much on doing it right, we can slip into habits that hurt connection and shrink their ability to be in the world as whole, independent people. We might become overprotective, stuck in rigid ideas about what’s “right,” or blind to feedback that could help us grow. These habits aren’t on purpose. They come from love and fear. But they can close us off from the very connection we want to build with our kids.

The “Good Parent” Trap

Being a “good parent” is a lot of pressure. There are endless books, blogs, videos, and experts giving advice on the next tip or trick. Every parent Tik-Tok influencer has a “Five Things That Make Your Child Successful” video. Add to Read more…

A Connective Parent’s Response: In Honor of the 10-Year Anniversary of the Viral Blog Post “The Letter Your Teenager Can’t Write You” by Gretchen Schmelzer

A brief excerpt from “The Letter Your Teenager Can’t Write You” by Gretchen Schmelzer, originally posted on June 23, 2015:

Dear Parent:

This is the letter I wish I could write.

This fight we are in right now. I need it. I need this fight. I can’t tell you this because I don’t have the language for it and it wouldn’t make sense anyway. But I need this fight.

I desperately need you to hold the other end of the rope. To hang on tightly while I thrash on the other end—while I find the handholds and footholds in this new world I feel like I am in.

I used to know who I was, who you were, who we were. But right now I don’t. Right now I am looking for my edges and I can sometimes only find them when I am pulling on you.

Read the full letter.

This is what we would say to that teen:

Dear Teenager,

I got your letter. Even if you can’t say the words out loud, even if it comes Read more…

Connection Is Not Political—It’s Foundational

Have you ever found yourself trying to explain why you don’t use punishment, only to be told you’re “just letting your kid get away with it”? It’s a common misunderstanding—and one that has little to do with parenting realities and everything to do with cultural noise. Let us explain what is at the base of our reasoning.

Our work is not led by politics or social trends. It is led by what we know—through decades of research in child development, sociology, trauma-informed care, and family systems. We are guided by science, evidence, and lived experience. We are rooted in the belief that strong relationships between children and caregivers are not just beneficial—they are essential.

At Connective Parenting, we hold this truth at the core of everything we teach: Connection is a fundamental human need. It is not a political position. It is not up for debate. It is the heartbeat of secure attachment, emotional safety, healthy families, and thriving communities.

We stand firmly in support of practices that build resilience, emotional intelligence, and healthy lifelong patterns for both parents and Read more…

When Parenting Advice Doesn’t Work for Your Neurodivergent Brain or Theirs

You’ve probably seen it—another TikTok about the five missed signs of ADHD or an Instagram reel celebrating autism as a superpower. Conversations about neurodivergence are more visible than ever, and has even become a hot-button talking point in political circles. Experts, influencers, and practitioners are offering everything from behavioral strategies to nutrition tips to help families “manage” differently-wired brains.

But here’s what often gets left out: neurodivergent minds aren’t new.

Long before labels, many of the traits we now associate with ADHD, autism, sensory processing differences, and more were simply part of the human landscape. In fact, they were assets in earlier eras—essential for survival, creativity, and innovation. So, when did we lose this perspective?

The rise of industrialization brought with it a drive for standardization and the “good worker” mentality. Diverse minds began to be seen as problems to fix, impediments to productivity, and opinions that got in the way of industrial flow. Instead of seeing differences in thought that expand our ability to problem solve, think critically, and create new things, we have taken these thought makers, doers, Read more…