Parenting

Today's blog post is from Corie Washow of Elemental Counseling.

As a step-parent to 2 young adult children, a therapist to countless parents and several teens, and a person who was once a teenager myself, I am very clear that adolescence can be painful, overwhelming, confusing, and amazing--for both parents and teens.  I know and appreciate a lot of the developmental and cultural reasons for the turmoil and growth that can characterize this time.  But I had no idea how much the human journey …

“Play is a child’s work. 

It is through imaginative play that children process and integrate the social and cultural information they experience. The social learning that happens during play lays the foundation for social communication and emotional regulation skills that become important for getting and keeping a job, and maintaining close healthy relationships throughout life.

The imaginative games that children play equip them to read and intuit the feelings of others, laying the groundwork…

When did some of us stop listening to our body’s inherent and innate wisdom? When did we start feeling like strangers to nature? It usually starts early on in life when someone told us that we weren’t capable of something, that we would get in trouble if we didn’t listen to what we were told, that we would get hurt doing something, what to like, what to dislike, what to believe, that we should be scared, that life is scary and people shouldn’t be trusted.

And then what happened? Over time, perh…

Veggie chili has been our most recent hit, so we decided to share our recipe…