Roots & Wings Mental Health Fitness for Families
Building Roots for Wings to Unfold
Category: Relational Parenting
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Why Big Feelings Aren’t Bad Behaviour Understanding Emotional Outbursts Through a Developmental Lens As children, we didn’t have control over our emotional experiences. Many of us were taught, by well‑meaning parents—to manage, suppress, or “control” our feelings rather than understand them. These approaches weren’t rooted in harm; they reflected the limited understanding we had about…
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For decades, the “cry it out” (CIO) method clinicalized controlled crying. It has been sold to exhausted parents as a necessary rite of passage. The promise is simple: endure a few nights of heartbreak, and you will be rewarded with a child who “self-soothes.” As an early years educator with over 20 years of experience,…
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Why Regulation/Peace/Chill Zones Support the Whole Child Many child caregivers and educators present time-out as a behaviour management strategy, an approach believed to teach children self-control by removing them from the situation. When we pause and view this practice through a developmental, relational, and regulation-based lens, a different truth emerges: isolation does not teach regulation.…