Boundaries, Family Rules, & Strong-Willed Children… Oh My!

Boundaries, Family Rules, & Strong-Willed Children… Oh My!

Annoyed, angry, surrounded by chaos? Rachel Norman of A Mother Far from Home and I recorded an in-depth call on boundaries while she was training to become an Authorized Language of Listening® Coach. We cover it all in the video in Rachel's post, reprinted here from her blog with permission.   Recently we moved into a new house (to us). About a week or two into living there I found...

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The Running Leap—Not Just for Kids

The Running Leap—Not Just for Kids

Instead of seeing your life as one step forward, two steps back, and feeling frustrated most of the time, what if you knew the two steps back were also moving you forward? That's how a running leap works — you have to back up a few steps in order to succeed with the leap.  Knowing that gives you a powerful tool — a new way to see and manage the actions you take after you hit what feels like...

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Fostering Resiliency after a Soul-Crushing Event

Fostering Resiliency after a Soul-Crushing Event

Disappointments can be hard to handle, especially if they are your child's. It's even harder if you have the automatic urge to protect him or her from disappointment and make things all better. Here is a masterful and touching example written by Rachel Macy Stafford of what happens when you use Language of Listening® coaching skills to follow the child's lead instead.  I didn’t know my...

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Motivation Formula—Part 2: When Kids Don’t Care About a Clean Room

Motivation Formula—Part 2: When Kids Don’t Care About a Clean Room

  Self-motivation is natural and automatic, unless you've been taught that it's "making yourself do something you don't want to do."  In my previous post, Motivation Formula & How to Use It—Part I, I explained what self-motivation actually is and how it works. My simple formula for self-motivation is: Want + Possible = Action  A reader tested this out and had a couple of questions...

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Motivation Formula & How to Use It – Part 1

Motivation Formula & How to Use It – Part 1

When my daughter Betsy was in middle school, she told me through a flood of tears that she was sure she had no self-motivation. She couldn't make herself do things she didn't want to do. Yep, that's the message I'd inadvertently been sending: making yourself do things you don't want to do IS self-motivation. Of course, I was applying it to myself as well, and it led to a lot of anger and...

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The Perfect Response to “I want…”

The Perfect Response to “I want…”

"Being heard is more than a basic human need. It's the key to connecting with our inner greatness and unleashing our full potential."—Sandy Blackard You will often hear me say that what you like and what you love is who you are at any moment. What you want comes from there and determines the right level of challenge for your growth. What you want not only guides you on your path, but it is...

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