by Bonnie Harris | Sep 5, 2025 | Anger Management, Anxiety, Bullying, Communication, Confident Parents, education, Empathy, Everyday living, Everyday Parenting, Mental Health, Newsletter, Teens
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...
by Bonnie Harris | Jul 30, 2025 | Coaching & Counseling, Communication, Confident Parents, Everyday living, Everyday Parenting, Expectations, Generational Trauma
At Connective Parenting, we refer to connection a lot. It’s more than a feel-good buzzword. It’s the foundation of a healthy, respectful parent-child relationship, and the key to positive behavior change. When parents ask, “How do I get my child to listen?” or “Why...
by Bonnie Harris | Jul 9, 2024 | Coaching & Counseling, Confident Parents, Discipline, Everyday Parenting, Expectations, Teens
How do you think your kids experience you? Do they expect loving, positive attention and trust or criticism and judgement? Or no attention at all until they cause a problem? Watch yourself and see what they respond to. Whenever you yell, threaten, punish, or use that...
by Bonnie Harris | Jan 24, 2024 | Empathy, Everyday Parenting, Expectations, Questions and Answers
Q. I have two daughters, 12 and 10. We have a wonderful, respectful, open relationship. The older is very much an introvert, like me and my husband. She works hard academically, achieves well, and has a mind that races along a million miles per hour. She is always up...
by Bonnie Harris | Nov 15, 2023 | Activities, Empathy, Questions and Answers
Here’s a parenting question I get often: Should I condemn or condone quitting an activity? I was fortunate enough to have this exact conversation with Jen Zamzow, PhD for her Good Housekeeping article “It’s Okay to Let Kids Quit Things.” And...
