Humans Were Not Built To Parent Alone

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Every parent experiences the shift that happens upon embarking on this journey, no matter how you came to this, your life has changed dramatically.  The human you are trying to raise has stolen your time, space, sleep and heart, and the effort it takes to balance all of the pieces of your life and theirs can feel incredibly weighty.

Despite the weightiness of this job, you want only the best for your child, and want to protect them from the dangers around them.  They are your heart and your want to prepare them for their lives ahead in a way that feels aligned with your values, and still keeps them on track for dealing with what's ahead. 

Sometimes our own pasts don't prepare us well for how to do this for our own children, and we struggle with how to not repeat the things that harmed us.  Even with all the books we've read, and advice we've received, the reality of dealing with a child in the moment can overwhelm even the most learned of parent.  If we are parenting with a partner, their family of origin issues also comes into the picture, and now we have a complex web of how to keep our parenting goals aligned with our values.

Neurodivergent, neruo spicy, twice exceptional, 2e, difficult, explosive, spirited, anxious, driven, stubborn...We all have observed how our child comes into this world already wired as who they are.  It's true that our child's environment has a huge role in who they become, but there is no "one" way to parent any one child because of the uniqueness of each child.  What many of us find is that what works for one child is the antithesis of what works for another. There are many things that stay true for all children, the need for love, safety, consistency with flexibility, community, boundaries, etc. But how we define some of these differ for each child.

After more than 30 years in this field and raising 2 challenging kiddos, I have a passion for helping parents through this journey of parenting.  I have changed my views as I have grown and learned, because I have stayed conscious to the difference between theory and reality.  With my own kids, I banged my head against the "should work" too many times, only to wake up and look at what my own kiddo is telling me.  Therefore, I don't adhere to a fancy sparkly new book title of parenting. I have brought together the ideas from several different people to guide me, mixed with the uniqueness of each family and child as I guide families. Click here for the books that have helped guide my work.

Twice Exceptional Parenting, I also playfully call Gandhi Kwon Do parenting, is the art of balancing Zen and strength in parenting, I use this lighthearted name because so often we, as parents, struggle to find that middle spot between the extremes.  How to achieve this is multifold.  In our sessions, we will be exploring the following:

• Collaborative and Proactive Solutions approach to managing child (and adult ;-) ) behavior problem areas.
• Emotional regulation techniques for adults and kids and the role the amygdala plays in hijacking our Zen.
• How each parent was raised and parented and how that plays a role in current parenting struggles, identifying the hijacker.
• Each child's uniqueness and struggles at home, school, socially, and in the world.
• Managing accommodations at home and school and how to communicate with the school effectively and proactively.

In order for our sessions to be the most helpful, it is best to have all parents present at our sessions, however you define parent in your family. However, it is also most successful if all parents who participate are in agreement that learning and growing themselves is the best way to help their child.

Contact me for more information about Twice Exceptional Parenting.