Emotionally Healthy Families Archives

Emotionally Healthy Families

We’re learning how to create a resilient, emotionally healthy family culture. Here you’ll find honest parenting stories and ideas for developing emotional safety in your family. We’re letting go of perfect, we’re forgiving ourselves over and over and we’re growing together.

Glad you’re here!

I am not psychologist or therapist, I am a mom who has studied and implemented ideas I’ve found on family systems, emotional well-being and connection for the sake of my own family, and I am a parenting mentor who has worked with other families helping them create more connection and positive communication in their own families. The perspectives shared here on Bounce Back Parenting come from my own experiences and studies.

I do my best to share honestly about the unexpected challenges, fears frustrations we’ve faced in our family, and many readers share in the comments as well. Knowing you are not alone is validating and comforting.

A few of my influences in regards to parenting and family include:
(These are Amazon affiliate links).

Mindset by Carol Dweck Ph.D.
Mindsight by Dan Siegel M.D.
Connection Parenting by Pam Leo
Taking the War Out of Our Words by Sharon Strand Ellison

What does it mean to be a resilient family?
First, we may need to change perspective here. A resilient family isn’t a fixed state of being, something you either are or are not. Family resilience is something we can grow over time by cultivating family processes and capabilities that allow us to cope with difficulties, learn from challenges, and solve problems together.
“Resilience can be defined as the capacity to rebound from adversity strengthened and more resourceful.” “What distinguishes healthy families is not the absence of problems or suffering but rather their coping and problem solving abilities.”
~Froma Walsh
Some of the topics I talk about here on Bounce Back Parenting that helps you develop greater resilience in your family include:

Practicing Presence: Trying to find a bit more mindfulness and bit less judgement in ourselves so that we increase the ability to pause and respond rather than simply reacting.
Strengths-Based Perspective: Empowering our children and ourselves. Developing a growth mindset in our families.
Open Communication: Improving the clarity of our communication through better listening, and deepening our understanding of our own communication habits and needs.
Emotional Health: Learning more about healthy experience and expression of emotions in ourselves and others.
Flexible Routines – Simplifying daily routines of family life to increase your ability to bounce back when the inevitable disruptions occur.

Here are a few of readers favorite posts on these topics, and of course you can find more in my other categories on connecting with kids, dealing with anger, and taking care of yourself.

May 8

Emotional Well-being for Parents Series Kick-off

Emotions are a crucial part of our lives, yet are not taught in schools nor many families. They are more often repressed, avoided, numbed, fixed and generally misunderstood. Many of our biggest parenting challenges come from our difficulties working with our and our kids emotions. Thankfully, we [...]Continue Reading

Apr 29

Relationship Repair: Six Ways to Rebuild Connection with Kids and Teens

Stress can take a serious toll on our relationships. We can get into a painful cycle of rupture and reaction that feels impossible to get out of. Is repair even possible at this point? YES. Best selling author Rachel Macy Stafford tells us how. This post contains affiliate links and I may be [...]Continue Reading

Apr 22

7 Things Upset Kids Want But May Not Tell You

This post contains affiliate links and I may receive compensation for qualifying purchases. Sometimes I'm at a loss as to what to say when my kids are upset. They both seem to need me and be pushing me away at the same time. That's where the work of adolescent psychiatrist, Dr. Ashley Miller, and [...]Continue Reading

Mar 12

3 Steps for Parents to Handle Ongoing Anxiety During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Uncertainty is stressful, and the Coronavirus/COVID-19 definitely has a lot of us uncertain and stressed. Maybe it shows up as the urge to keep updating your feed, endlessly scrolling. Or you might find yourself almost "nesting" if that's something you're familiar with from pregnancy - trying to [...]Continue Reading

Mar 11

3 Steps to Help Kids Handle Anxiety About Coronavirus

With the world in the grips of a novel Coronavirus pandemic it's a little hard to stay in a calm headspace, so I decided I wanted to take this chance to talk about how we can handle the stress that's bubbling up. First I'll go through how you can talk with kids about anxiety they may have, then in a [...]Continue Reading

Mar 5

Ironing Tasks Kids Can Do

Believe it or not, ironing with kids around can be productive and even entertaining if you color it up just right. Additionally, it teaches a useful life skill and allows kids to enjoy the responsibility of using a real 'grown up' tool. Young children love to help and contribute… and we spot a [...]Continue Reading