Becoming Peaceful - Certified Peaceful Parenting Coach

11/28/2025

This is fantastic!

If you’ve ever found yourself mid-lecture, wondering how you got there — you’re not alone.
In the heat of the moment, it’s easy to slip into long explanations, over-talking, and trying to get a child to understand right now.

But here’s the truth: children don’t learn from lectures.
They learn from reflection — and reflection only happens when both adult and child feel safe, calm, and connected.

Guiding a child through reflection can actually help you deregulate too.
It slows the moment down, reduces the pressure to “fix it immediately,” and shifts the focus from frustration to understanding.

You start to see the why behind their reactions — the feelings, needs, and overwhelm that drove the behaviour.
And when the adult feels calmer, the child’s nervous system follows.

If you’d like structured reflection prompts, co-regulation strategies, and guides for tricky moments, they’re all inside my Managing Big Feelings Toolkit. Find it via the link in comments below ⬇️ or via Linktree Shop in Bio.

Follow for more on reflection, consequences, and brain-based parenting this week.

11/26/2025

I know things are tough for so many of us these days. I also know we feel good when we give to others. As we have for the past few years, we have adopted a family that would otherwise not have a Christmas.

This year we have a family with 2 parents and 5 kids! As a result of red tape, the mother didn't receive the paid family leave she was supposed to get as she cared for her dying grandmother.

It always amazes and humbles me how I take certain things for granted like not needing help to buy socks & underwear for my kiddo.

Just like a mom, she put a rice cooker and a carpet cleaner on her wish list.

I know so many of us are struggling right now and there are many folks asking you to contribute to so many worthy causes. But perhaps, you've cared for a dying family member and remember the toll it it took on you. I would love to work together to clear their wish list.

If you feel led to help us support this family, you can make purchases via this link and the items will be sent directly to them. Link in the comments.

(P.S. I know Amazon is problematic but this was the easiest option for this struggling family.)

11/02/2025

Here’s some empathy in action thanks to a client who shared a win! This is such a beautiful example of transitioning out of a really fun experience which you can apply to any situation where leaving is hard.

“On Friday, when Halloween was wrapping up, my son (age 4) was very sad, and the crying began. I walked him into the kitchen, said “I’m here for you” and waited a moment. I tried really hard not to say “Well, we get to come back another time” (solution before feeling).. Then I said “You’re really sad trick or treating is over. It’s such a bummer when something so fun is over” and we left in some tears, but no extreme emotional outburst. “It’s okay to feel sad” was met with some chuckles by the elders, as expected, and we made it to the car. He strapped himself in and stopped crying. Then he looked at me and said “I wish there was a magic button and we could start this whole Halloween over.” I said, “Me too baby” and we drove away talking about how much we had and what kind of magical machines we could make to rewind time.”

10/31/2025

This amazing infographic from MindLaunchers is what we really need for today. All people, children and adults, have executive function strengths and challenges. If you have learning differences or ADHD, etc, you will find you struggle more with these skills.

Days like today place a lot of demands on children and adults. Expectations are high. Lots of plans are happening. School aged kids may be feeling nervous or worried about wearing their costume to school. What will other kids say or do? Schedules are often thrown off. Extra parties or staying up late!

Let’s all show each other extra grace, empathy, love, and patience. Holidays are amazing but also require extra support and flexibility for all of us.

10/23/2025

This is what it's like in our house in the morning when our 13 year old with ADHD is "getting ready for school right now, I swear!"

Watching a carbon copy of myself navigate the world is a wild, hilarious, and humbling adventure.

09/30/2025

My mother died unexpectedly just five months after my father died suddenly. It's complicated. Read more at the link in the comments.

💕

09/04/2025

I'm so thrilled to share this wonderful upcoming opportunity with my friend and colleague !

08/24/2025

My teen challenged me to ride the snake on the carousel today for "exposure therapy" since I am terrified of them.

Our kids are internalizing what we teach them all the time.

Anxiety is no joke. If your kids are struggling with it, you're not alone. Reach out.

07/30/2025

When our young teen hasn’t had camp this summer, I’ve been writing them a “honey do list” for the day. We strive for a balance of important tasks to accomplish working towards a larger goal, things that bring them joy, time outside, rest, and their daily contributions to the family.

They have ADHD so breaking up non-preferred tasks with mini rewards are super helpful to keep them on track and motivated although this approach works for all kinds of brains.

This morning, when they asked me about their list, I said I think you should put your own list together today. They did a fantastic job.

kids do well when they can, and if they aren’t doing well, they need more support.

Sometimes the support can be as simple as a structured list like this.

Have you ever tried something like this?

06/09/2025

Hey parents! Are your kids out of school yet? What is working, and what isn’t?

Thanks for the funny

06/07/2025

Is there anything more humbling than parenting?

I don’t think so.

Raising humans is hard on the best of days, but it’s been especially hard since my dad died. I am trying to navigate grief, untangle the logistical nightmare of his state, work full-time, run a business, and parenting an almost teenager at the end of 7th grade.

I haven’t been offering myself as much grace as I would offer anyone reading this.

So that’s where I’m starting. I am doing a great job.

So are you. And you. And you.

I wrote something on applying The Four Agreements to parenting yesterday morning and then proceeded to break everyone one of them by the afternoon.

And you know what?

That’s okay. Turns out I’m very human after all.

Sending us all a big hug.

🥰

Link in comments!

06/03/2025

If you are unsure about how to handle discussions about sexuality and gender with your children or grandchildren, I've offered some practical suggestions here...

https://becomingpeaceful.substack.com/p/nurturing-everyone-affirming-parenting