I did a new parenting “thing” this week, and it worked, and I’m so excited I’ve got to write something about it, and so here goes. When I thought one of the kids—specifically 7 y.o. Towser—might have done something he shouldn’t have, I sat down on the ground before I talked to him. I mean all the way down on the ground: my butt down, leaning back on my elbows, looking at the kid from below his line of site even when he sat down.







And then, we talked. We actually talked. To each other. He was upset about the thing that had happened before, the thing that had caught my attention, but even relative to that he looked down at me, opened up about what was going on, and we talked calmly.



The calmness was the of the best aspects of the whole experience. Towser and I talking didn’t add to the stress the kid was already holding inside.



Instead of trying to figure out what he should say, or what would keep him out of trouble, the kid spoke about his feelings. He spoke about what had actual…