Respectful Parenting
How to be the best parent you can be by connecting with your child and holding your boundaries respectfully.
On the Blog...
How to Stop Your Toddler Hitting: A Respectful Parent's Guide
Toddlers are tiny. Their emotions are not. When they don’t know what to do with those huge, uncomfortable feelings, they often explode outwards. Hitting, kicking, biting, grabbing. It’s all communication,...
Your child isn't being naughty. They're doing their best.
If you’ve ever been at the end of your rope thinking, “Why are they doing this to me?” you’re not alone. I’ve thought it too. Even though I know all...
Why I Still Stay in the Room Until My Kids Fall Asleep
Before we get into it, here’s a quick caveat: I’m not a sleep consultant. I don’t write custom sleep plans or promise miracle fixes. I’m a speech and language therapist,...
Calm Down Corners - not for every child
Do this instead ⬇️Struggling with your child’s calm-down corner? It might be because it’s not meeting their sensory needs. Every child is unique, and their sensory preferences play a big...
Why can't they just listen?
Do this ⬇️Though it FEELS like it in the moment, your child isn't trying to wind you up.Just because they CAN put on their shoes doesn't mean they have all...
Play Fighting to help kids calm down after school
Why we fight ⬇️If you have a toddler who’s full of energy and emotion - look no further than play fighting. There are SO MANY benefits.After school and preschool my...
3 Signs your child is struggling but can't tell you
Watch & Listen ⬇️Kids don't have the words or the maturity to express to us with words that they're having a hard time.They SHOW us that with their actions, play...
My kid pushed another kid
NOT NAUGHTY ⬇️⬇️Our kids KNOW that pushing, shoving and hitting are ‘bad’ behaviours. They most often don’t WANT to hurt someone else, but it’s the FASTEST way to communicate in...
Breaking the Emotional Blackmail
Control it ⬇️Children don’t control our emotions. We do!What one adult may react to or be triggered by, another adult may not. That’s because we’ve all had different experiences, upbringings...
Supporting Siblings to play together
Yes - they fight.But instead of expecting any different from two infants with underdeveloped and impulsive brains, I’m actively supporting them to learn to play together by joining in.Here’s some...
My kids are fighting over a toy - What we can say
A script! ⬇️The way you speak to your kids is EVERYTHING and it can mean the difference between everything working out and everyone having a meltdown!I find that this fun...
Taking Breaks Outdoors
We were losing it ⬇️Sometimes it feels like a military operation trying to get kids outside or to do anything but we do A LOT of it because we see...
Help! My toddler won't stop throwing toys
“stop throwing” doesn’t work. Here’s what does.Our kids need to learn how to throw and they obviously want to practice this skill. We just often don’t like to see it...
Avoid tantrums at the park
This works 👇Preschoolers don’t understand time. “5 more minutes” means nothing when you have no concept of a minute, so no wonder kids get frustrated when suddenly they’re pulled from...
What to do when your child won't stop misbehaving
This really works ⬇️We've all fallen into this pattern:Our kids are constantly pushing our buttons by misbehaving and arguing and our tone becomes clipped and annoyed. We snap more, we...
Parental Preference
We're in this stage.It's tiring but it'll pass. Check out the strategies here and head to the Zazi hub at zazi.co.nz to easily search all of my posts on behaviour,...
Can't control our kids but we can manage their environment and control ourselves
It all went wrong.We truly can't control our kids.We CAN control ourselves and we CAN manage the environment.I'm NOT saying we should take away all of a child's accountability for...
The Parenting Trap we all fall in to
Play the long game.👌Keep your responses short. You don't even have to say anything at the start (or if you're struggling to regulate yourself) - just stay quiet and be...
Should we punish a child when they have a tantrum?
Expect tantrums.We can't expect children to have the self control and executive functioning skills to stop and think "hang on, last time I had a tantrum it didn't feel fun...
What to do when you're triggered by your child's behaviour
You're not alone.It's no mean feat coping with a child's many outbursts and tantrums. Remember their brains are very underdeveloped and they need to be taught how to manage their...
