by Keller, Ph.D., LCMHCS, RPT-S | Apr 7, 2020 | Emotional Regulation & Wellness, Play Therapy
When my husband deployed to Afghanistan a couple of years ago, we had a rough idea of how long he would be gone. I made a chain of 220 paper rings. At the end of each day, my four boys and I broke one of the paper rings off. This helped my younger children visualize...
by Keller, Ph.D., LCMHCS, RPT-S | Mar 27, 2020 | Community Building, Emotional Regulation & Wellness, Parenting, Play Therapy, Wonder
I am not homeschooling my children. I am schooling them from home. Not only that, but I am also getting my children through the first crisis in their lives, a global crisis. I am a mother first. My children are human beings first. I am balancing getting them through...
by Keller, Ph.D., LCMHCS, RPT-S | Mar 21, 2020 | Emotional Regulation & Wellness, Parenting
Follow a mother and her 6-year-old son as they explore their emotions amid the coronavirus outbreak. This is a fictional story based on my experiences with my son. He usually explores his feelings at night after I read to him. Lately, he has been exploring feelings of...
by Keller, Ph.D., LCMHCS, RPT-S | Apr 13, 2019 | Emotional Regulation & Wellness, Parenting
Some of my favorite childhood memories were formed outdoors. Whether playing on my own or with a group of kids. Often times, my dad and I would go on nature walks. Sometimes we skipped rocks or set paper boats to sail, or simply raced sticks in the current. At the...
by Keller, Ph.D., LCMHCS, RPT-S | Feb 9, 2019 | Emotional Regulation & Wellness, Parenting
It can be hard on parents and caretakers to be with children as they feel and deal with disappointment and other difficult emotions. Their feelings stir up our difficult emotions. We may want to alleviate their negative feelings or ours by rescuing them rather than...
by Keller, Ph.D., LCMHCS, RPT-S | Jun 3, 2018 | Emotional Regulation & Wellness, Parenting
Parenting is hard: Even tantrums offer teachable moments for toddlers … when we keep our cool My two-year-old son just finished what felt like an hour-long tantrum right before falling asleep for the night. I’m not sure exactly how long it lasted. I prefer...
