One of our most important tasks as parents and caregivers of young children is to help them learn to understand, regulate and manage their emotions. This blog describes some of the most effective tools parents and other caregivers may employ when helping sensitive children with emotional reactivity.

Following up on my post about highly sensitive people doing hard things, I wanted to share a few more tips for parents to use when your highly sensitive child is navigating a challenge…

We may find things to be hard that non-HSP’s feel are easy, and we feel the stress of going through hard things more intensely….Therefore…we need extra self-care and self-compassion, as well as plenty of tools to face our daily challenges.

Rituals help highly sensitive children feel they are part of something larger than themselves, they help them feel like they belong to their people and community, and they help them find meaning and purpose.

Many of the highly sensitive children I work with are exceptionally vulnerable to the influence of other people. It is almost as though they are porous, to the point that they may even seem to morph into whomever they spend time with.

In my infant mental health training I learned about the concept of a “window of tolerance.” The basic idea is that we all have a range of experiences and sensations we may be able to tolerate in a given day, and that this range may shrink or expand depending on a variety of factors.

What many highly sensitive children and parents don’t realize is how important these children are for the healing that needs to take place in the world right now…

This blog discusses the Traditional Chinese Medicine view of Autumn as a season of release and connection to spirit, and how I apply this in my own life. It also offers prompts for HSP’s for healing and reflection.

Often when we first try to sit and quiet our sensitive bodies and minds, things seem to get even louder. This is because we become even more aware of our response to all that we have been taking in. We may notice physical discomfort such as buzzing in our ears, a headache, a knot in our stomach, or racing thoughts and worries…

When our highly sensitive children express stress reactions we may wonder, “Am I pushing my kid too hard?” or, “Is she just too sensitive to manage this?” As caring, well-meaning parents, we obviously don’t want to cause our children any harm…

Research has shown that natural and green environments support increased concentration and improved motor coordination in young children (Wells, 2000: NY State College of Human Ecology)…

This article in Energy Magazine shares a bit of my story, and highlights my favorite energy healing tools.

Bigger picture transitions are always influencing a highly sensitive youth’s experience of other transitions which may be less significant. Essentially the more transitions the highly sensitive child or teen is going through at any given time, the smaller their window of tolerance will be for any transition, and the more escalated any problematic symptoms or behaviors may be.

This blog discusses the intense emotions of highly sensitive children and teens, and gives parents suggestions about how to support them with their “big feelings.”

One of the more challenging experiences sensitive parents have is when we are going through a hard time and we know our sensitive, empathic children are reacting to it. You may have noticed that your empathic child acts out more, argues more or just melts down more when you are going through your own stressful time.

Listen to Carolina talk about what it’s like to be an empath and provide strategies to cope.

How are you coping with current events? Here are some of my recent self-reflections: a window into this HSP’s process!

At the root of most HSC episodes of anxiety is a feeling of being unsafe in some way. Understanding that our anxious children are feeling unsafe is an important part of helping them cope. If you understand that their body feels like it is in danger, then it follows that in order to reduce their anxiety the HSC first needs to feel safe in their body. Without this feeling of safety, no words of reassurance will really sink in and be believed.

This quick and fun video introduces the intuitive skill of psychometry for you to learn and practice! Intuition is such an important part of being an HSP and it isn’t as mysterious as people think! You can learn intuitive skills just like you learn other types of skills. Enjoy!

In my training at the Academy of Intuition Medicine®, I learned that there were 21 intuitive skills* that I could access at any given time. Some came more naturally to me than others, and some were more or less interesting to me than others, but it was exciting to know that there were so many ways I could gather intuitive information.