Your child learns how to manage her feelings from you. If your HSC isn’t managing herself, naming her own emotions, or calming herself down, there is a missing link in how you are teaching & leading in your home, ESPECIALLY if daily meltdowns are happening in your home.

HSCs do not learn to generalize the skill of managing emotions from any other professional or environment but from their parent. 

Without daily focus on communicating emotions safely, and learning how to do this independently as a child, your HSC will learn to require others to make her feel better.

This means she will be a boat untethered in a storm as a teen. Wishing for her friends to tell her what to do, but worrying about how she will look if she asks them what to do.

...Wallowing in internal sorrow, and fearful of what others think. 

...Experiencing continued anxiety at best, debilitating depression at worst.

As a young adult she will turn from wishing for direction and emotional support to...

When your HSC is showing signs of atypical behavior, how do you know it’s related to their personality or to a mental health issue that should be addressed by a professional?

Parents often wonder what the difference is: anxiety that is treatable by a mental health disorder, and the Highly Sensitive Personality trait that has led to behavior problems that is more effectively addressed by a change in parenting?

Today I want to talk about what to do to prevent these behaviors from starting in the first place.

Because without the foundation, you won’t be able to tell what is more concerning, and how to decide how to seek professional guidance.

1. When you’re parenting an HSC, it’s important to evaluate your environment: What routine do you have set up that supports your HSC for success? Are you requiring your child to suck it up and deal more often than supporting their intense emotions? 
2. What are your expectations in parenting? Are you consistent with rules,...

Watch this video to learn the #1 skill your Highly Sensitive Child needs to learn as soon as possible. 

Check out this video to learn the 3 Biggest Mistakes most parents make when Validating their HSC. 

Check out this video to learn about the three biggest costs in raising a Highly Sensitive Child. 

Join me for another look at research on HSCs, as I discuss why your child's rollercoaster of emotions is not an accurate signal of progress.

Join me as I discuss why your parenting approach matters more than your child's coping skills "toolbox".

Watch this video if you're interested in learning what to focus on first when you're stuck with your spouse on figuring out what to do to get on the same page.

When your child is struggling to control their temper, and throws, kicks or yells, it’s hard to know how to stop the cycle. It doesn’t seem like it should be, but when your efforts to teach your child to stop hitting because it hurts others fall on deaf ears, or creates another outburst, it’s easy to get frustrated and feel lost.

Especially when your child’s second meltdown is because your kiddo is defending their choice to hit… or full of shame, embarrassment and regret about needing to behave differently.  

You wrack your brain on how to teach your child without recreating the meltdown. You know your sensitive kiddo needs to learn to control his body, but you don’t want to teach him at the expense of his self-esteem. 

...But conventional wisdom teaches you to use guilt…

 It may not be your first tool in your toolbox, but if you’re set up in this cycle of trying to teach, creating consequences for the aggressive...

I’m going to speak controversially, so buckle up. I spoke to a parent the other day who loved her child with all her heart, but was so stuck in the hustle of her day-to-day routine that she appeared to be parenting as if it was a hobby.

You know what I mean: looking at pretty Pinterest lists about great ways to teach your child how to have high self-esteem, beautiful pictures of behavior charts that claim to teach responsibility and family values, and lists of “calming oils” that are going to instantly help her child feel less overwhelmed.

But the fact was, she wasn’t putting half of this free advice into practice in her home. Her child was still struggling. Her marriage was still strained, and she felt like a crap parent.

To put it bluntly, she’s treating her role of parent like a hobby.

Now, please know, I’m not here to place blame or shame, it’s important to note that this is common for parents of Highly Sensitive Kids who just...