Tag Archives: parenting

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.

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

Question: Hi Nicole. I follow you on Twitter and wanted to ask, how did you know it was time to start your kids on medication? I understand if it is too personal to share but just interested in your experience.

Actively Listening to Your Child

Can we talk for a moment about listening?
As Americans, when we have conversations, we’re conditioned to do something that psychologists call “reloading” while the other person is talking. This means that instead of truly listening to our conversation partner, we’re preparing what we will say next. (Don’t worry. The other person is doing it to you too. You’re not a total narcissist.)

On Bed Time Meltdowns

“Dear God, just get me to bed time.” What parent hasn’t uttered those words at least one (billion?) times?

For me, bed time is not my favorite time of day. Not at all. We have very serious power struggles at bed time. My 4-year-old, in particular, is a master at making the getting-to-bed process as painful as possible.

Mental Health Tools: Dogs Are a Spirited Kid’s Best Friend

Occasionally, I’ll share some of the therapeutic tools that my kids and I use to help control their mental health symptoms. Today’s tool is snuggling our dogs.

One of the symptoms of my son’s mental illness is that he his anxiety often turns to rage. He feels anxious, he convinces himself that a problem is unsolvable, he spirals out of control, and rages.