Today, I wanted to share with you a list of some of Amazon's award winning toys that build executive functioning skills, in particular emotional regulation skills. I've had such a great response to my blog post highlighting 3 popular executive functioning activities, that I thought you might be wanting some more as we head into the holiday season. I'm planning to share several posts over the  next several weeks that will help you as you begin your holiday shopping. 

First up is the area of emotional regulation skills. This is such an important area of executive functioning.  Learning to control and manage your emotions is so important not only for making friends but also for overall success in life as well as long term mental health. 

If you're looking for toys, books and activities that can help build emotional regulation skills look no further than the list below. 

Have you used any of these? I'd love to know your thoughts in the comments if you have. Better yet...do you have a suggestion that I didn't put on the list? Please share that too. 

 Stay tuned for my next post that will showcase toys, books and activities that can help strengthen memory skills. 

*disclaimer: there are affiliate links within this post. Affiliate links allow me to continue to provide free information, tools and resources and help our site. Thank you for supporting us! 

Parenting is hard. We so want to "do it right" that we sometimes travel down the very unhealthy road of over parenting which without a doubt does the exact opposite of what we want for our kids. Over parenting can lead to incapable kids and adults. Sadly, there are even reports that state how over parenting contributes to mental health issues for our kids as they enter young adulthood and beyond. 

The good news, is that there is still time for you to parent your child in a way that helps them develop skills to be capable at every level of their lives and future adulthood. 

This post isn't about making anyone feel bad about how they've been parenting. Most of the parents who fall into over parenting do it out of love and caring but are so blinded by it, that they can't see how it can completely backfire. This post is also not about guilt. It's about empowering you to recognize when things you're doing may not be creating the result you want... capable kids. 

For this post I'm going to speak about two parenting styles that, research has shown over and over again, are not helpful to kids. If you see yourself in these styles, please just take a step back, take a breath and resist the urge to beat yourself up. Consider it.  Remember, when you know better, you do better. 

In the book How to Raise An Adult: Break Free From The Over Parenting Trap and Prepare Your Kid For Success, author Julie Lythcott-Haims talks about two over-parenting styles: the concierge parent and the enforcer. {all examples below are derived/inspired from Lythcott-Haims' book}.

You might be the concierge parent if you:

• have called the boarding school/dorm staff about your child not getting enough to eat
• take your child to school even though the bus comes within a block of your home because they don't like riding the bus
• complete your child's Science Fair Project for them because you want them to place and not be disappointed
• rent a place near the college or boarding school "just in case" your child may need something
• you have a regular schedule of going to the school to do the laundry of your child or they bring it to your rented home/apartment near campus so you can do it/they can do it there
• you found your recent college graduate their first apartment 
• written or emailed a professor, dean or teacher to discuss why your child did something they did {failed a test, did poorly on an assignment etc..}
• spoken FOR your child during an interview for college or boarding school
• called to remind your {high school, boarding school or college} student about tests, assignments or to wake them up each day
• proofread your high school or college aged aged students' reports and assignments AND made edits as necessary 
• complete your high schooler's homework

You might be the enforcer parent if you:

• have emailed, called or written a school administrator because your child didn't get what you felt they deserved {award, student council etc..}
• second guess, and voice it to your child, every other authority figure's decision 
• have completed registration for you college aged student's classes
• have submitted your child's application to a college or a job without their knowledge or approval
• called a company to negotiate a pay raise or position of employment for your child
• attended a career/job fair FOR your child to gather potential leads
• have taken over a coaching position of your child's team even though you weren't asked to do so

Notice any of these characteristics in your parenting style? If you do, please continue to explore your over parenting tendencies and learn ways to wean yourself away from them so your child will be ready to take on the world as a capable, well adjusted adult when the time comes.

Here are three things you can do today: 

(1) Join the Growing Grit™ Community on Facebook where you'll get to brainstorm, learn and get support from a tribe of parents and professionals {including college professors} who are trying to help kids {and their parents} grow into capable adults. 

(2) Subscribe to our newsletter and get parenting tips. Get it delivered to your inbox by subscribing to the newsletter. 

(3) Read the book: How to Raise An Adult: Break Free From The Over Parenting Trap and Prepare Your Kid For Success,

(4) You can also take a listen to Julie Lythcott Haimes' Ted Talk: How to Raise Successful Kids Without OverParenting.




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Hey guys, in my quest to live out my #onelittleword2016 of INTENTIONAL I'm planning to begin a new habit of a Sunday night routine. We know from research that most people experience some sort of "Sunday Night Blues" at the thought of the impending work/school week. All of the feel good, Easy Like Sunday Morning {for those too young to get this reference click here...it's one of my favorites} vibes are quickly dashed when we begin to recall all of the things we set aside from the previous week. 

There ARE things we can do to lessen the melancholy and stress of Sunday nights and I'd like to help YOU while also working on it myself. Whether you are a parent, professional or student...I'd like to invite you to join me for a Sunday night routine tip. It's simple. Once you join, each Sunday for four consecutive Sundays,  I'll send out a tip/reminder for us all to work on while we build our Sunday night routine.

That's it! 

I hope you'll join me so we can support one another on forming this new habit together. Strength in numbers, right? Just click below to join me. 

​I'm curious. Do you already have a Sunday night routine? Please share in the comments. I'd love to know what you do to start your week off right. 

When my daughter was in elementary school {she is now a teen}, I remember approaching her third grade teacher with concerns about Attention Deficit Disorder. Because my daughter was a good student, very quiet and not falling out of her chair... her teacher, someone I really respected as an educator, looked at me like I had three heads because I had uttered the ADD word. I was flabbergasted that someone who was so gifted and respected as an educator could be so unaware of the common signs of Inattentive ADD. My experience was unfortunately the same response that many parents get when they approach teachers  with attention concerns {without hyperactivity}. This is especially common for parents of girls who exhibit symptoms. 

If you feel like there are possible signs of inattentive ADD with your child {especially your daughter} this post will help you learn some of the most common symptoms associated with this type of ADD.  

1. Trouble getting started on tasks-Students with inattentive ADD just can't seem to motivate themselves to begin things. If you find yourself repeating and repeating and repeating yourself  {AKA...nagging} about EVERYTHING your child needs to do, your child may be struggling with the executive functioning skill of task initiation. They simply can't "see" how to get started with a task and so they don't. Yes, getting started on school work seems simple to you, but something as simple as completing a worksheet involves many steps. This task has multiple steps: getting the worksheet from the backpack, finding a pencil, sitting down to actually do the worksheet and finally putting it back into the backpack. 
2. Trouble sticking with a task to completion-Students with inattentive ADD, once they get started on a task, will often abandon the task or project after a short time. They have trouble with the executive functioning skill of sustained attention.  Why? There can be several reasons but one of the most common is that they simply get distracted by something else. It is difficult for them to filter out sensory stimuli to focus in on the task at hand for a long period of time. 
3. Disorganized-Students with Inattentive ADD are often the kids that have papers overflowing from their backpack, forget to turn in completed homework, forget to bring books home and more! For some, especially girls, it may not be as noticeable at first. My daughter was able to keep her papers "neat" {she put all papers in her folder} but did not take the time to put her papers into the correct place in the folders/binders.. 
4.  Anxiety-. Often these students know that they are internally disorganized  {from past experiences} and fear they will forget something or misplace something. They remember the unpleasant consequences and so anxiety becomes part of the cycle. This was very true for my daughter. She walked around in an almost constant state of fear because she had forgotten something once and was deeply embarrassed that she had to call home.  These students often know they are having difficulty but don't know how to express it and so the anxiety takes hold. 

When I noticed that my daughter was struggling with these symptoms, I began to use strategies that would help her develop her executive functioning skills and find success.  One of my favorite resources, at that time, was Impact ADHD. Because Elaine and Diane are parents to children who struggle with executive functioning skills, they were able to create tools for parents and students that REALLY work. It was through their training programs and very informative newsletter I was able to find ways to tweak my parenting that immediately lessened the stress for both my daughter and I.

Your assignment this week: Click the button below to sign up for the Impact ADHD FREE Webinar: From Chaos to Calm on January 27th! 

​Remember that I always love to hear from you in the comments. Tell me, have you noticed the above symptoms in your child or yourself? How did you handle it? 

Do you remember what it was like to return to school after the holiday break? The dread. The anxiety. I remember it well...just kidding, I LOVED school and always looked forward to returning to school because it meant I got new school supplies! I'm still that way. For many students however, the winter/spring semester can be a hard one. They are consumed with negative thoughts which doesn't lend itself well to a successful return to school/new semester. 

This blog post will show you five tools that will help your student better manage their life. Tools that are not only super fun to use but also a great way to easily begin new habits that will last a lifetime.  
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Aren't these a fun set of tools? I simply adore them because if tools aren't fun and easy to use...students won't use them. I have yet to have a student fail to use at least one of these on a regular basis. 

Your assignment this week: Tell me in the comments about a tool that you will purchase for your student(s}. Don't have one? Tell me which one the above tools you like and will purchase for yourself. 

​Jennifer

Remember to join my newsletter if you want even more ideas like these!


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**This post contains affiliate links.  

Pounding heart.
Sweaty palms.
Weight on your chest. 
MIND goes BLANK.

Sound familiar? Anxiety for many students is the reason for their underperformance. It's understandable  with all of the pressures to get into "THE" college, participate in just the "right" activities, have the "best" grades while also handling a job. Stress and anxiety for students are at all time highs and research shows us that they lack the tools to manage. 

In my Academic Life Coaching practice, helping students manage their anxiety is a large part of what I do. When we begin to tease out WHY they are struggling with assignments, tests, beginning projects, managing time, anxiety is the culprit lurking in the shadows like a dark mist they don't even know is there. It infiltrates their thoughts and their ability to breathe properly which is catastrophic.

Here is an easy, discrete tool that I recommend for students dealing with not only test anxiety but overall performance anxiety.  

Breath is life.  Take some time to focus on your breathing, not just during stressful times, but throughout your day. Be mindful of your breath. Over time, your breathing will remain in a calm  zone even during stressful times. 

What works for you when you are stressed during a test or performance? I'd love to know. Shoot me an email or comment on this post. 

Jennifer


*****If you're looking for more easy ways to help manage stress and perform at your personal best, check out my ​ ​time management tools for students, online course.