Blog
Thoughts from the Pond
Rupture and Repair: Reconnecting After Parenting Blowups
If you're reading this, you're probably someone who already accepts that every parent has limits. Some days the to-do list is so long that there isn't much room left to notice what's going on inside your child, let alone inside yourself. Maybe your 7-year-old comes...
Brave Conversations: Talking to Your Child About Bullying
Conversations about bullying can feel heavy, for children and parents alike. Children need safety, validation, and emotional space to process experiences of harm, exclusion, or intimidation. While bullying is never right, it is an unfortunate reality for many...
Growing Up, Growing Apart: Tween Friendships
The tween years (roughly ages 9 through 13) represent a powerful bridge between childhood and adolescence. During this time, children are growing in independence, identity, social awareness, and emotional complexity. Friendships begin to hold deeper meaning, peer...
When School Feels Hard: Supporting Disengaged Learners
When a child begins pulling away from school by refusing assignments, showing low motivation, or disengaging from learning, parents often feel worried, frustrated, or unsure how to help. From a Child-Centered Play Therapy perspective, disengagement isn’t simply...
Back to School After Break: Finding the Rhythm Again
Winter break often brings slower mornings, holiday excitement, and more time together as a family. For many children, returning to school after this change in rhythm can feel jarring. As adults, we may notice clinginess, meltdowns, irritability, resistance to...
How to Protect Your Child’s Nervous System During the Holidays
The holidays are often described as magical, exciting, the most wonderful time of the year. But, they can come with a shift in regulation. Busy schedules. Loud environments. Social pressure. Disrupted routines. Emotional undercurrents. Even joyful events can...
Winter Blues in Children: How Play Therapy Supports Emotional Wellness
As the days grow shorter and routines shift, many caregivers notice subtle changes in their children. Energy dips. Irritability is on the rise. Motivation fades. Your child may once appeared easygoing but is now suddenly tearful, withdrawn, or even emotionally...
Table Talk: Talking About Food for the Holiday Season
As the holiday season approaches, food often becomes a centerpiece of family gatherings. Warm meals shared around the table, special treats that only appear once a year, and holiday drinks that spark childhood nostalgia. However, among these holiday meal times, can...
Table Talk: The Art of Family Dinners
We currently live in a society that moves faster than ever before. Schedules collide, screens are on too late, and meals are an afterthought that are eaten between activities. This can make family dinner times feel like a luxury rather than an essential part of daily...
Friendship Foundations: Helping Kids Connect through Play
For any child, friendships are the heartbeat of childhood. For children between the ages of 3-10, friendships provide laughter, connection, and security, while also allowing your child to build skills around empathy, conflict resolution, and belonging. As a parent,...
Does My Child Need Counseling? Signs for Parents to Look For
Parenting can feel like navigating an ocean. At times, it’s calm, sometimes it's stormy, and often unpredictable. When your child begins showing signs of struggle; anger, sadness, withdrawal, or changes in behavior, it’s natural to wonder: Is this just a phase, or...
Supporting Your Child Through Grief
Grief is a deeply complex human experience. Grief is not merely an emotion. It is a complicated process of working through a culmination of seemingly contradictory emotions. When it comes to your child, grief can look and feel different from what adults expect...
A Play Therapist’s Guide to How to Stay Calm When Your Child Isn’t
Children have a way of pulling us into their storms. A meltdown at the grocery store. A sibling fight that escalates over a bag of fruit snacks, or a slammed bathroom door that can rattle even the calmest parent. As a play therapist, I often remind parents of one...
Sensory, Safe, and Seen: Play Therapy & the Neurodivergent Child
If you’re raising a neurodivergent child - whether they’re autistic, have ADHD, are gifted, or just experience the world in a unique way, you already know how much strength and creativity they bring to life. You also know the challenges your child experiences...
Play with Purpose: Essential Toys for Your At-Home Play Space
As a parent, have you ever wondered: What should I really have in our home play space? Does my child really need that new toy? On top of that, you might feel like there’s toy overload in your home. Do you feel as if your child’s play space is cluttered with toys? Do...
Beyond the Screen: Guiding Children Toward Playful Living
Seven-year-old Casey is curled up on the couch with the tablet, focused on a game. Mom calls from the kitchen, “Casey, time to turn it off. Dinner’s almost ready!” Casey doesn’t move. Shoulders tightened, eyes stayed glued to the screen. “Just one more minute!” Casey...
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back: The Waves of Child Development
Six-and-a-half year old Alex stomped into her classroom one morning, eyes narrowed and fists clenched. Not even a month ago, she had been happily playing tea time with her dolls, organizing her toys into neat rows, and chattering away about her plans to be a teacher...
Color Outside of the Lines: How Play Can Ease Perfectionism
“Did I do this right?” “Well if I try it, I’m just going to mess up.” “I’d rather not do it than mess up.” “Nothing I do is ever right!” These are all common phrases I hear from children. These are tiny voices with big pressure! Whether it's a kindergartener gripping...
Back-to-School Anxiety: A Play Therapist’s Guide
As the long days of summer dwindle and the aisle of every store fills up with crayons, folders, and lunchboxes, many children begin to feel a familiar flutter in their stomachs. The start of a new school year brings anticipation and excitement - but for some, it also...
Helping Kids Ease Back into School by Starting Early
A child-centered approach to a smoother transition Let’s talk about the back-to-school transition. You know the one… where sunscreen bottles are still half-full, bedtime is a distant memory, and your kid is absolutely certain they forgot how to do math. Even if your...
Why is My Kid Losing it Over the Wrong Color Cup?
We've all been there. You grab the blue cup, not the red one, and bam! Instant meltdown. Tears, yelling, spaghetti everywhere. You're left wondering, Is this really about the cup? Spoiler: Nope! It hardly ever is. Kids flipping out like this usually means their...
Make the Best of Summer: A Parent’s Playbook
When I was a kid, I remember the last day of school feeling like a weight lifted off my shoulders. The joy and wonder that awaited was tangible. They played the “School’s Out for Summer” song over the loud speakers as we all left for the final time that year and you...
Handling Negative Self-Talk: A Play Therapist’s Approach
If you’ve ever heard your child say something like “I’m just stupid,” or “No one likes me,” you probably felt your heart drop into your stomach. Negative self-talk is tough to hear, and even tougher for kids to carry around in their little hearts. At Lily Pad Child...
Does Play Therapy Really Work? What the Research Says
If you're a parent navigating big emotions, outbursts, or anxiety with your child, you're not alone. Sometimes, kids struggle to express themselves in words, and their feelings come out in meltdowns, withdrawal, or behaviors that leave you feeling exhausted and unsure...