Stepparenting

Stepparenting

How Healthy Boundaries Can Be Your Best Self-Care

Five Principles of Effective Self-Care for Foster and Bonus Parents

Parenting Techniques

How to Let Our Kids Know We See Them Clearly and Love Them Unconditionally (part 2)

Parenting Techniques

How to Let Our Kids Know We See Them Clearly and Love Them Unconditionally (part 1)

Why It's Easy to Repeat the Cycle of Trauma and How to Stop

Childhood Trauma

A Common Reason Why Your Kids May Reject You

Parenting Techniques

Why and How To Keep Our Kids Connected to Their Biological Parents

Speaking Engagements

Join Me at the Renew Retreat in Raleigh, NC

Boys Who Have Suffered Trauma May Be Less Resilient Than Girls

Embrace the Power of Being Our Child's Plan B

Parenting Techniques

How to Remain Sane When Your Adult Children Still Live at Home

Parenting Techniques

Why We Should Give Kids More Control Over Their Lives and How to Do It

Parenting Techniques

What Hobbits Can Teach Us About Being Good Mentors

Parenting Techniques

Why Raising Other People's Children Requires That We Become Good Mentors

Parenting Techniques

Three Principles for Helping Children You Don't Understand

Parenting Techniques

Does It Matter Whether Our Kids Can't or Won't Behave?

Parenting Techniques

How to Start Planning for Spring Break

More Encouraging Evidence that Positive Experiences Can Counteract Traumatic Experiences

Join Me on Mothers of Misfits Podcast

Parenting Techniques

Why and How to Help Our Children Find Groups They Enjoy

Study: Positive Childhood Experiences Can Counterbalance Adverse Ones

Parenting Techniques

How to Help Our Children Change Bad Habits

Parenting Techniques

Four Ways to Limit Parenting Stress

Parenting Techniques

Case Study: We Need Boundaries to Protect Our Entire Family

Parenting Techniques

We Need to Be Careful What We Label Child Abuse

How to Celebrate with Children of Different Faith Traditions

Lessons About the Holidays I Learned At Walt Disney World

How to Help Your New Family Adjust to the Holidays

Be Prepared for Holiday Sadness From Your Foster or Step Children

Should We Get Presents for Our Kids' Biological Parents?

Parenting Techniques

We Need to Be Grateful for Our Kids, and Let Them Know

Honoring the Unique Challenges of Military Stepfamilies

Four Tips for Decreasing Holiday Stress

Parenting Techniques

It's Important to Our Kids When We Show Up

Parenting Techniques

It's Never too Early to Start Planning for the Holidays

Parenting Techniques

What It Means To Recognize Our Children Have Agency

Parenting Techniques

How To Reduce Burnout By Letting Go of Decisions

Parenting Techniques

One Key Reason that We Burn Out as Parents

Another Reason That Step Parents Are Important

Ways to Build Resilience in Young Adults

Parenting Techniques

Why I Look for Low-Maintenance Consequences for Children

Parenting Techniques

How to Use Logical Consequences with Children

Parenting Techniques

How to Respond to "You Are Not My Parent!"

Childhood Trauma

The Trap of Blaming Other People

Parenting Techniques

Don't Forget About the Quiet No-Problem Child

Media Appearances

An International Podcast

Childhood Trauma

Insisting on Accommodations for Children With Trauma

Parenting Techniques

Why It Is Important to Build a Family Team

Media Appearances

Stories of Inspiring Joy

Parenting Techniques

Knowing that Someone Somewhere Cares About You

Parenting Techniques

More About How to Respond to "It's Not Fair"

Parenting Techniques

How to Respond to "It's Not Fair!"

Parenting Techniques

Don't Forget This Free Parenting Summit

Parenting Techniques

More Thinking About "It's Not Fair!"

Parenting Techniques

Chaos to Calm Parenting Academy

Parenting Techniques

How to Think About "It's Not Fair!"

Why Quality Time is Essential to Stepparenting

Why Sacrifice Is Crucial in Stepparenting

Parenting Techniques

Foster and Stepfathers are Uniquely Important

Media Appearances

Catch this Podcast to Learn How to Step Into Our Children's Lives

How to Be a Weekend Bonus Parent with Full-Time Step-siblings

Media Appearances

Empowering Resilience Podcast

How to Be A Weekend Bonus Parent

Media Appearances

Happy to Join "Everything Always"

Parenting Techniques

Seven Tips for Less Stressful Vacations

Parenting Techniques

Four Ways to Lessen Chaos in Your Family

Parenting Techniques

Can You Make The Necessary Commitment?

Historical Study: Children with Stepparents Lived Longer

Parenting Techniques

How to Live in Peace With Your Teenager

Foster Parenting

How To Be The Person Who Is Not Supposed To Be There

Parenting Techniques

What to Do When You Hate Mothers'/Fathers' Day

Don't Let Mothers' Day Sneak Up on You

Family Resilience Traits May Help Prevent Bullying

Parenting Techniques

How to Help Stepsiblings Get Along and Keep the Peace

Media Appearances

A Conversation about "Raising Other People's Children"

Parenting Techniques

How to Handle Different Rules for Different Homes

Parenting Techniques

Embrace the Power of "And"

Adverse Childhood Experiences

How to Respond When Our Children's Memories are Wrong

Parenting Techniques

"The Supreme Efficacy of Pity" and Kindness

Parenting Techniques

"This Task Is Appointed for You"

Parenting Techniques

Strong Commitments Require Strong Boundaries

Parenting Techniques

Making a Strong Commitment Requires That We Know Our Limits

Parenting Techniques

Our Commitments Have to Be One-Way

Parenting Techniques

Commitment is Stronger than Love

Building Resilience by Connecting to Family Stories

Parenting Techniques

How To Be The Mentor Rather Than The Villain in Your Family Story, Part 2

Parenting Techniques

How To Be The Mentor Rather Than The Villain in Your Family Story, Part 1

Parenting Techniques

Where We Fit In The Stories Our Children Tell Themselves

Parenting Techniques

The Importance of Balancing All of Our Commitments

Parenting Techniques

Why You Should Make Your Marriage Your Top Priority

Parenting Techniques

How to Set Healthy Boundaries in Your Family

Foster Parenting

Three Things Not To Worry About This Year

My Resolution for 2021: To Be More Boring

Foster Parenting

How To React When Your Children Ignore You During the Holidays

Foster Parenting

Why You Should Worry About Presents for the Other Parent

Parenting Techniques

How to Parent Children Of Different Faith Traditions

Why You Shouldn’t Worry About Teaching Gratitude

Surviving – And Thriving – During the Holidays

We Cannot Let Our Children’s Trauma Define Them

Overcoming the Self-Limiting Stories That Our Children Tell Themselves