Don Neufeld, Social Worker/Therapist

11/03/2025

11/02/2025

10/24/2025

Discipline isn’t about punishment, it’s about teaching lessons through love and understanding. When we choose love over fear, we nurture our children's emotional growth and trust. Let’s guide them with patience, not pain. How do you teach discipline with empathy? 💖🌸

10/24/2025

Words Worth Holding Onto is a gentle collection of quotes, reminders and affirmations for children and young people navigating big feelings. Sometimes, the right words at the right time can make all the difference.

This week's topic:
The Child Brain Explained: How the Upstairs & Downstairs Brain Shape Behaviour, a Toolkit for Parents & Educators - available for only £3.75 until 3 November 2025
Electronic download available at link in comments ⬇️

10/23/2025

If it breaks their spirit, it’s not discipline — it’s punishment. And there’s a difference.

Discipline is meant to guide, not to shame. At its core, it should centre a child, not scatter them. It should bring clarity, not confusion; connection, not disconnection.

True discipline grounds a child in safety, structure, and self-awareness. It says: I’m here. I see you. I’m helping you find your way.

Punishment, on the other hand, shames and frightens. It silences curiosity, replaces learning with fear, and severs the very connection that makes growth possible.

Because correction without connection isn’t guidance — it’s fear in disguise. And fear may control behaviour in the moment, but it never cultivates understanding. It teaches compliance, not conscience; silence, not self-awareness.

Many of us were taught that discipline and punishment were the same — that control was the way to teach respect. But fear doesn’t build respect; it builds distance.

Our children don’t learn better when they’re afraid of us — they learn better when they feel safe with us.

So before we call it discipline, we have to ask:
Did it teach?
Did it connect?
Did it leave their dignity intact?

Because when correction becomes connection, discipline transforms from something we do to a child into something we build with them.

Let’s choose tools that build trust, not tear it down.
Let’s raise children who know boundaries — not because they’ve been broken by them, but because they’ve been held by them. ❤️

10/22/2025

10/15/2025

Children don’t misbehave to annoy us; they misbehave to express feelings they can’t articulate yet. As parents, it’s crucial to recognize that misbehaving is often a sign of unmet emotional needs, and our understanding can make all the difference in how we respond. 💔🗣

10/14/2025

Words have power. They can heal, uplift, and inspire—but they can also wound. When we criticize those we love, especially our children, we may unknowingly erode their self-love. Words matter, and the way we communicate shapes the way others see themselves.

As parents, caregivers, and leaders, it’s crucial to build with words, to encourage, uplift, and guide with compassion. Our children’s hearts are like sponges—they absorb not only the words we say but the tone, the energy, and the intention behind them. Let’s pause and think about the impact we are leaving with each conversation. How can you use your words today to lift up those around you, especially the young ones? 💔💬

10/12/2025

10/11/2025

Spanking is not okay.

It doesn’t teach discipline.
It doesn’t build respect.
It doesn’t create self-control.

What spanking really teaches a child is that:

Love can hurt.

Power wins over understanding.

Fear is the way to control behavior.

Children don’t learn how to do better when they are spanked. They learn how to hide, how to lie, how to protect themselves from pain. They may obey out of fear in the moment, but inside, trust is broken and connection is lost.

Our children need guidance, not fear.
They need correction, not humiliation.
They need parents who show them how to manage big emotions, not parents who lose control of their own.

When we choose patience over anger, conversation over punishment, connection over control—we raise children who feel safe enough to grow, secure enough to trust, and strong enough to face the world with love, not fear.

Spanking doesn’t make better kids.
But your example, your consistency, and your love—those do.
✍️parenting

10/11/2025

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/16yDASbDpH/