Tell Me About Your Kids Bonnie Harris

Can you believe that Bonnie and Adam have created 150 episodes of “Tell Me About Your Kids” over the last 3 years?! In this episode, they reflect on the experience, as well as what they’ve both come to understand about Connective Parenting and the universal struggles of parenthood. From punishment to being friends with your kids, to loving but sometimes not liking them, to wondering how life would be if we’d never had them, to the effects of generational trauma, Bonnie and Adam touch on ...

When little kids fight and hurt each other, it’s all a parent can do not to grab, yell, blame and ultimately shame the hitter. Lee and Andre are learning how to hold their 3-year-old hitter accountable without all that. Instead, Celine learns the natural consequences of her behavior (a lost opportunity with blame) and how to develop her brain to think ahead—as long as Lee and Andre can alter their mindset and therefore their automatic reactions. The key to raising responsible, respectful peop...

There is nothing more urgent for parents today than what their children are or will be doing on social media. Fears run rampant and get in the way of effective communication with children. Devorah Heitner, Ph.D. author of the best seller “Screenwise”, talks with me about our children’s public lives online that she explores extensively in her upcoming book, “Growing Up in Public: Coming of Age in a Digital World”. We cover everything from “sharenting” to sexting to surveillance apps at home an...

Hannah grew as a person and a parent when she learned the hard way to payattention to her daughter’s experience and not compare it to her own. What 13 yearold Josie has learned to be comfortable with is all new territory for Hannah. In hereager attempt to prove her support for her daughter, she was actually taking care ofherself instead. Listen in for first-hand evidence of the power of mutual respect andstrong boundaries from the early years on so that the inevitable hard stuff is not sohard...

Even when connection is strong with her two boys, 14 and 6, screens pose problems for Anne. Her intentions are on track to support the boys’ self-regulation skills but when agreements are broken and sleep is lost, worries take over and tempers rise. Two entirely different temperaments require different expectations. The expectations for her Harmony Child can easily rise and create more pressure than Anne realizes. Choices and boundaries—understanding whose problem is whose—will help the self-...

When past learned behaviors pop up and derail connection with her two children, Ellie’s default is to blame herself. She feels so discouraged when they won’t do as she asks. Why can’t I get this right is what echoes in her head until she starts stressing and yelling to get them to do it right. Just by understanding where her thinking comes from is the beginning of de-fusing that button that gets pushed so she can have the connection she wants. She is so close. Bonnie Harris, MS.Ed., dire...