Health and Parenting Blog

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: The Lies We Tell Ourselves

Under normal circumstances, people behave in certain ways based upon their thoughts and beliefs. For example, you, as a parent, might believe that your kids must eat vegetables in order to be healthy, so you require them to eat vegetables every night with dinner.

But what happens when some event or circumstance comes along that conflicts with those thoughts, beliefs, or behaviors?

There’s a term in psychology called “cognitive dissonance.” You’ve probably heard it floated every now and again. In case you’re unfamiliar with its definition, here it is:

Diagnosis: Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Conduct Disorder, and DMDD. What’s the Difference?

If you are the parent of a behaviorally challenging child, you may have seen therapists, psychiatrists, or other mental health providers looking for answers to your child’s behavior problems. I’ve been there.

Many kids, including mine, have difficult, oppositional, and explosive behaviors. These can range from milder behaviors–like refusing to acknowledge authority, disobeying rules, or arguing with parents and teachers–to more serious problems like destroying property and violence.

Five Ways to Build Resilience During Mental Health Month

Some links on this site are affiliate links. If you click an affiliate link and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission. I thank you for your support.

May is mental health month, and since anxiety and stress levels are so high, I asked world-renowned resilience expert Andrew Shatte, Ph.D. to offer us some resilience tips. Dr. Shatte is the Chief Science Officer at meQuilibrium and the founder and President of Phoenix Life Academy, a company that specializes in measuring and training in resilience. He is a fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Center for Executive Education, a former professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, and currently serves as a research professor in the College of Medicine at the University of Arizona. Dr. Shatté has published prolifically in peer-reviewed journals and is the co-author of
The Resilience Factor: 7 Keys to Finding Your Inner Strength and Overcoming Life’s Hurdles.

Parenting During Quarantine

I wrote this answer in response to another mom’s post in one of my parenting groups. I thought it might be useful to others, so I’m sharing it here.

This mom is having trouble getting her child to comply with any directives at all, including school work, hygiene, meals, and bedtime. Here’s what I wrote:

Quarantine Diary: Family with mental health problems and the CoronaVirus shutdowns

As you all probably know, I am parenting three children with mental health problems. There are a total of seven people and two dogs in my house right now.

We are blessed in many ways. For example, our house has plenty of space. Almost everyone has their own bedroom, except for the two youngest boys. We have a back yard with a swing set and a slide, as well as a great climbing tree in the front yard. Our neighborhood is safe for walking, and our neighbors are all doing a great job with social distancing. In addition, my husband and I are both able to do our jobs from home, so we haven’t lost income like so many others have. We are so very grateful for all of this.

Round Up: How to Work From Home When the Kids Are Off School

I’ve been working from home while homeschooling my kids for three years, and in that time I’ve developed a few home-management and parenting skills that help me get both work and school tasks done effectively.

Since the novel CoronaVirus (COVID-19) has shutdown schools and forced many parents to work from home, I’ve written a few articles with tips on how to homeschool and work at the same time. I’m linking to my articles below, as well as several others that I believe might help other parents as we deal with this public health crisis.

How Could Motherhood Possibly Be This Hard? (Parenting Kids with Mental Health Problems)

Dear long-time readers: You may recognize this blog post from my old blog, nicoleroder.com. From time to time, I will re-share old blog posts here. If you’ve read it before, feel free to just scroll by. (Or stick around and enjoy it all over again!)

I wrote this particular blog post in 2017. Back then, I didn’t have the best handle on treating my kids’ mental illnesses. It’s not exactly easy now, but at least the kids are taking prescription medications along with their therapy. That helps a lot.

Love in a Time of CoronaVirus

Like just about everyone else in the world, I am stuck in my home with my family. We plan to use this time to unplug, rest, and re-connect as a family. What follows is my quarantine diary.

Round-Up: How to Talk to Your Kids About CoronaVirus (COVID-19)

A lot of the news about the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) sounds scary. It’s also confusing and changes rapidly. Understandably, your kids might have some questions. Below, you’ll find a round-up of articles that contain good advice for answering those questions, easing some of your children’s (and your!) anxiety about the virus, and keeping your family safe and healthy.

How to Know When It’s Time to Think About Psychiatric Medications for Your Kids

Hey friends! Recently, I got a question from one of my Twitter followers about psychiatric medications for children. Since this is a pretty common question among moms of children with mental illness, I thought others might want to read my answer as well.

I’ve edited the question to protect the writer’s privacy.