When there is no other parent to "hand-off" to

Laura Markham, PhD Clinical Psychologist, shares advice for single parents on the the most important things do and focus on in your life as single parent
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When there is no other parent to "hand-off" to

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So what if you're are the only parent on duty at that moment or maybe 24/7. What if you are parenting by yourself and there is more than one child and it's that or sneak time hour of day, the witching hour when everybody is tired and hungry and ready to have a meltdown. What do you do? Well, first of all you don't wait for the witching hour, you start before that. So, when you first pick up your kids, get them home, get some healthy snacks into them. Do a little rough housing, do a little giggling because giggling is a natures way of letting of anxiety and it helps your kids unload some of their fears and fierce from the day. To actually giggle them out, and they will be in a much better mood and it release oxytocin. So your children is more bonded with you and therefore most likely to do what you asked them to do, they are more cooperative. It also gives them a little resilience to be able to sit down and do their homework without fighting with each other. Because a homework, let's face it, it is an unpleasant thing. Sometime anxiety producing tasks. so a little bit of giggling and rough housing get them to a better place to tackle it. Really, when you are a single parent on the front lines prevention, prevention, prevention because by the time you get into the breakdown lane where your child is having a meltdown and your are the only parent on duty and you got another kid to tend to. You are only doing triage, there is not much you can do except call the tow truck. You are in a breakdown lane but if you remember I need to do a little preventive maintenance here. You can avoid going to the meltdowns at least so often.

Laura Markham, PhD Clinical Psychologist, shares advice for single parents on the the most important things do and focus on in your life as single parent

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Laura Markham, PhD

Clinical Psychologist

Dr. Laura Markham is the author of Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids: How to Stop Yelling and Start Connecting. She earned her PhD in Clinical Psychology from Columbia University and has worked as a parenting coach with countless parents across the English-speaking world, both in person and via phone. You can find Dr. Laura online at AhaParenting.com, the website of Aha! Moments for parents of kids from birth through the teen years, where you can sign up for her free daily inspiration email.  Dr. Laura lives in New York with her husband and her kids, who are now 17 and 21.

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