Parenting
Is That Negative Self-talk or an Internalized Parental Voice?
Has Your Internalized Parental Voice (IPV) Made a Negative Impact on Your Life? Self-talk is healthy if it is positive, but what if this inner voice seems to criticize you? Self-talk is fine if it leads to a better version of yourself but what if it gives you the feeling that you’re never really good…
Read MoreInvoluntary Emotional Abuse Causes Victims
Healthy Sense of Self’s mission is to reduce child abuse by making parents aware of what can go wrong when they are too self-absorbed. The reasons why a child, a person, would be physically abused may seem very different from those of emotional abuse but the big why’s for this destructive parental behavior may be…
Read MoreDear Parents, do you help your child shape their self-story?
Most parents intuitively know that children need to feel good about themselves to be happy and to progress in life – the same applies to adults – but practically speaking, how does this work? What do we need to be doing or saying to our children to ensure that they grow up to be happy…
Read MoreDoes human happiness depend on filtering out the negative things in life?
“You drop a glass while making breakfast. You get stuck in traffic on your way to work. Your boss yells at you for being late. Congratulations! You’re having a bad morning. It happens to everyone, at one time or another. But how we react to the bad things in life reveals a lot about our…
Read MoreHolidays Are Supposed to Be Joyful Times, Right?
I don’t know about you, but I always look forward to holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas. I love the food, the music, the peacefulness of the picture-perfection in ads, movies, and images of the Season, the coziness, and safety of family coming together, like circling the wagons in the old days. Most of us are…
Read MoreMolly Ringwald: Living life by her own design and wise beyond her years.
“We all know someone who’s been in therapy for years, who is tuned into their every slightest motivation, impulse, and emotion, and yet who at the same time remains painfully oblivious (or uninterested in) how other people are feeling. Raising a child who is emotionally aware, yet not destined to become an egotist, takes finesse,…
Read MoreEmpty Nest
Goodbyes are not my forte although I don’t find it all that terrible to leave a place. What is difficult is leaving my two daughters with their own lives in a big city like New York. I remember my own journey when I was in my thirties, but now as their mother, it is a…
Read MoreThought of the Day: Parents as first teachers
Our parents are our first teachers whether they do so actively or passively. Depending on their emotional intelligence and motivations for becoming a parent, we may not naturally develop a sense of our self, or embrace the idea that it is our birthright to live a life as we choose.
Read MoreDoes Strict Parenting Cause Children to Act Out Later in Life?
When the news broke that Josh Duggar sexual abused his sisters and used the Ashley Madison site, we, like many, were surprised and left with many questions. Why did a man who grew up in a family with such conservative values end up behaving in this outlandish way? Could it be that strict parenting causes children to…
Read More6 Tips For Sending Kids Back to School Stress-Free
The end of August means two things: pumpkin spice lattes are back at Starbucks, and kids are heading back to the classroom. The latter of the two tends to be just a little more stressful. The process can be made easier with just a touch of preparation, however. To help make your family’s transition as smooth as possible,…
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