Big feelings are a normal part of childhood. Frustration, sadness, anger, excitement, disappointment. For many children, emotions show up quickly and intensely, often before they have the skills to explain what is happening inside. When that happens, behavior becomes communication. Crying, yelling, shutting down, or refusing are not signs that a child is being difficult. They are signs that something feels hard in that moment. Understanding starts with noticing that connectio

Understanding Emotional Needs in Positive Parenting Your child throws their plate across the table. Or refuses to get dressed for the third morning in a row. Or hits their sibling over a toy. Your first instinct? Address the behavior. Stop the throwing. Enforce consequences. Make it clear that's not acceptable. But here's what positive parenting asks you to do first: look underneath the behavior to the emotion driving it. Because that plate didn't fly across the table because