Tag Archives: boundaries

A View from the Other Side: Creating relationships that last a lifetime

Being on the “other side” of parenting, I have a perspective I believe is important to understand. Most of you are in the thick of it, and when your day to day is mostly conducted in survival mode—”How do I get through this day? I’m so exhausted. What do you mean pay attention to how my child is feeling?”—the last thing you think about or plan for is what your relationships may be like when your children are grown.

This is a big birthday year for me. I decided what I wanted for my birthday was to spend one on one time with each of my two children—both parents of young children and very, very busy people. They both responded with “Great. Let’s do it.”

I just returned from several days on Block Island with my daughter. Earlier this year, I spent several days in Jamaica with my son. We never lacked for things to talk and laugh about. We had meaningful, heartfelt discussions that took us into deep places. And they each expressed having a wonderful time. I feel Read more…

What Dads Teach Boys About Women

It’s a hot conversation right now, one that seems silly to need to address, but here we are regardless. How do we teach boys to be respectful of girls, and whose job is it? There’s a version of this conversation that centers on rules: don’t speak to girls that way, don’t touch someone who doesn’t want to be touched, respect your mother. These are good rules to have, and rules have their place. But rules are architecture without a foundation. A person who follows rules because they are told to will look for the edges. Someone who has internalized the value of the people around them doesn’t need to be reminded.

That understanding doesn’t come from a single talk. It comes from watching. And the primary person most boys are watching, whether or not their father, stepfather, or grandfather knows it, is the other men in their lives. This isn’t new information, but we often forget that little eyes are everywhere, all the time.

Fathers carry a quiet and continuous influence simply by being present and engaged. The way a Read more…

Setting Healthy Summer Screen Boundaries

It’s summer vacation and screens are everywhere. Our children are growing up in a digital world, and summer, with its open schedule and unstructured hours, is when screen time tends to spike the most. A 2025 national survey found that nearly half of parents rely on screens every day to help manage parenting responsibilities. That’s understandable. But summer is also one of the most important windows for children’s physical growth, social development, and brain-building play. But common sense, backed by research, tells us that too much screen time can quietly erode all three.

So, let’s talk about it. This isn’t about fear or restriction. It’s about using summer intentionally so our children get what they actually need.

Why It Matters More in Summer

When school is in session, structure naturally limits screen exposure. Summer removes that structure. A major 2025 review of 46 studies found consistent links between high screen use and reduced physical activity, poorer sleep, attention difficulties, and challenges in emotional and social functioning. For children already trending toward more screen time, a long unstructured summer can accelerate Read more…

A Beautiful Sadness: The Grief of Watching Your Child Grow Away

I’ve been realizing something lately. Parenting is painful. It is not the exhaustion of infancy, or the frustration of toddlerhood, or even the eye-rolling theater of adolescence. It is the quiet, cumulative grief of watching someone you love steadily and necessarily move away from you. It’s come to me as a kind of creeping grief that doesn’t arrive all at once. It comes in waves, at thresholds that we are supposed to celebrate.

The First Letting Go: Early Childhood

Even before the dramatic departures, the letting go begins small. The first sleepover. The first time my child didn’t reach for my hand crossing the street. The tiny acts of defiance that set the stage for individualization.

Each of these micro-separations was a rehearsal. My child was practicing independence, and I was practicing release. What mattered was that I cheered their growing autonomy even as I privately felt the shift. Connection wasn’t disappearing. It was transforming. I was proud of my ability to accept my children’s growing autonomy. Their comfort in separation was a sign that I was doing parenting well. Read more…

A Letter to the Caregivers of New Graduates No One Thinks to Check On

Dear fellow loved ones of high school seniors — this one’s for you.

If you are like me, with a high school senior soon to be off on their own, this season is really exciting. It’s also quietly breaking my heart. And nobody’s talking about that enough.

Your senior barely glances up when you walk in. Their weekends are full, but none of it includes you. They’re sprinting toward a future that needs you less with every passing week. And underneath all that pride you absolutely feel, something else has moved in. Something that sits in your chest at night when the house gets quiet.

Grief, maybe. A loneliness you weren’t prepared for. A resentment you feel ashamed to even whisper, because aren’t you supposed to just be happy for them?

We are happy for them. Of course we are. But we’re also losing something. Something real, something irreplaceable, something that doesn’t have a clean name yet.

Both things are true. Both things deserve to be felt.

The Feelings Nobody Talks About

There’s a lot of cultural permission to be Read more…

Letting Go of the Perfect Holiday: Staying Connected When Expectations Rise

Every year, the holiday season arrives with its bright lights, traditions, and a quiet but powerful cultural pressure to create something magical. We can’t help but feel it in the pile of to-dos, school and family events on the calendar, the “perfect” images online, and the belief that our children’s happiness depends on our performance. Personally, I can’t tell you how much I hate that stupid Elf!

We often talk about the expectations that live inside us. The “shoulds” from our own childhoods, the pressures we absorb from family, and the internalized stories we hold about what a “good parent” looks like. During the holidays, those expectations get louder. And when they collide with the realities of real life (kids who melt down, stressed partners, finances that feel stretched, and schedules that are simply too full) the disconnect can fuel frustration and shame.

But the truth is: connection, not perfection, is what children remember.

Where Holiday Expectations Come From

Holiday stress rarely starts with the present moment. It starts with history.

Many parents find themselves recreating (or trying to fix) Read more…

How to Navigate Holiday Triggers: A Practical Parent’s Guide to Stress-Free Family Time

Big Feelings over Family Gatherings?

It’s the holidays! And family gatherings bring warmth, familiarity, and celebration, but they also stir up old stories, unspoken expectations, complicated dynamics, and emotional landmines. During the holidays, many of us find ourselves managing not only our children, but the weight of our own childhood patterns resurfacing amidst family dinners with our parents and siblings.

On this blog we often talk about how our reactions to our child’s behavior are never just about the current moment. They are connected to past experiences, unresolved emotions, and the messages we absorbed from our own family. Gatherings with relatives often bring those patterns back, often with high emotion.

Why Family Dynamics Are So Intensely Triggering

Family is wonderful, but it can be hard. I get it. Older siblings never see you as a full adult, younger siblings always feel a little immature, and parents and extended family are quick to judge your parenting style or life choices. Add food allergies and a little politics and it can become an explosive mix. Family is where we first learned what 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 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…

Recovering from a Shame Reaction: Rebuilding Connection and Healing Together

No matter how hard we try to parent without shame, there will be moments when we react in ways we regret. Maybe we snap at our child for making a mess, call them “selfish” when they refuse to share, or roll our eyes when they ask a question for the hundredth time (I have done all of these things at some point in my parenting, BTW). In those moments, shame sneaks into our words and tone, and we see the impact in our child’s face—hurt, withdrawal, or defensiveness. To be fair, parents are just as entitled to their true feelings and emotions as our children are – and sometimes children simply drive us crazy!

The good news? It’s never too late to repair. Even when you have lost your cool and reacted in old patterns all is not lost. Parents are people too. Parenting isn’t about being perfect; it’s about learning, growing, and reconnecting after mistakes. And when we take responsibility for our reactions, we teach our children that mistakes don’t define them—or us.

The First Letting Go: Early Childhood

The Feelings Nobody Talks About

Where Holiday Expectations Come From

Why Family Dynamics Are So Intensely Triggering

Balancing Empathy with Authority

Step 1: Recognizing the Shame Reaction