Our lives need a balance of ritual and novelty.  Rituals are important for comfort, safety, and a sense of routine and predictability.  Novelty stimulates, invigorates and is just fun.  Aren’t we lucky summer provides the opportunity for both needs to be met?  Teachers need the ritual aspect of yearly summers to afford them a break from the normal school routine. They also need the high...

Do you feel it?  Summer is on the horizon, and accordingly, the winds of change are ushering in all manner of challenging behaviors.  We expect this when dealing with kids, as their developing brains are still learning how to cope with change. Adults, however, have moved past the learning stage and are into the life-choice habit stage of behaving. Unfortunately, when some adults are confronted...

Since we celebrate moms today, it seems like a good time to reflect on motherly instincts and how they manifest through various behaviors: Moms who… …return home to fetch projects, costumes, or lunches children forgot …tie shoes, zip jackets, unpack backpacks, or carry their children to class …get defensive when confronted about their children’s behavior …have difficulty setting boundaries...

From what I’ve been told and come to believe, laughter is the best medicine.  And if that is the case, I have a very strong immune system thanks to the talent of one lady I watched on TV every Sunday evening when I was younger.  She turned 90 years-old this week and had a special commemorating the event.  Happy Birthday, Carol Burnett. As I watched the show, it dawned on me that I’ve been...

You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone.  I believe that’s the phrase.  Actually, we might be aware of what we have, but that doesn’t make the loss any easier.  Phrased differently, absence helps us appreciate presence.  A trivial example of this is me realizing how thankful I am for the warm weather of spring in Central Texas after having just returned from work in Nebraska where it was...

Did the Easter bunny hop by your house this morning? All this Easter talk today made me think about two of my boys who had difficulty with “hopping” issues when they were younger. Our fourth son had difficulty paying attention. He’d regularly “hop” from one thought to a completely different one without skipping a beat. Our second child struggled when he had to remaining still. With his...

Some topics are hard to deal with – which is why a mom approached me.  Their family pet of many years was nearing the end of his life and she wanted advice on how to tell their young child.  After providing general thoughts, my main suggestion was the same as when I talk to parents about discussing a divorce, accident, sickness or other unfortunate event with kids.  “Most importantly,”...

I’m not sure if the occurrence is as evident elsewhere, but at least in central Texas, the weather has been crazy. Temperatures jump from highs to lows, with the sun shining one minute, and wind and hail warnings flashing across our screens the next. And from what I can tell, the extreme weather conditions are accompanying extreme behaviors, none of which are limited to the school setting....

We don’t know what we don’t know; that’s my current behavioral mantra. It hit me on several occasions this week when confronted with challenging behaviors. Each time I had to pause before impulsively reacting – and remind myself that behaviors often have silent backstories. There were about 20 people waiting for their orders to be filled at the Starbucks in one of the airports I passed...

Community matters.  It’s true.  We all have a need to belong, and when we are part of a group, we are afforded this sense of connection.  Beyond an education, this is what a classroom or school community can offer.  And group affiliation can go a long way in contributing to healthy development. I felt the impact of community firsthand as I spent the last few days in Canada at the Greater...