One of our favorite interventions to teach parents, and kids and teens, was created by me and is called The Three Step Approach. You can read tons more about it here, and in my book, When Anxiety Makes You Angry. But today, we’re doing a video walk through!

Learn more about anxiety counseling in St. Louis with art therapist Erin Kirkpatrick.

When your child is angry, anxious, or easily overwhelmed, you do your best to support your child - and it’s important to get the support you need too!

Today, as part of our Helping Professionals Interview Series, we are excited to share our interview with Stacy McCann, MSW, LCSW. Stacy guides parents to better understand how their own unique histories effect their parenting and how to use that knowledge to strengthen their relationships with their kids.

I work closely with parents of kids as young as 4, and I often have parents ask me if their expectations are too high. Should I expect my 5 year old to help with chores? Should my four year old know not to do that? Each child is different, and you will end up shaping your expectations around your children as they grow and develop. But below are a few unrealistic expectations for children that I've seen or heard in my practice:

How differently does anxiety manifest itself in girls versus boys? What accounts for such differences?

This May, I hosted a #HealthAMA ("ask me anything") allowing people to ask me any questions on temper tantrums and anger management for kids. You can find all the questions right here, and this summer I've pulled a few to expand on.

Gender differences in anger.

Based on my experience, I often see more boys with anxiety brought in for "anger management" than girls

Learn more about us and why we think Compassionate Counseling St. Louis is awesome!

As a parent, it’s so easy to get overwhelmed when your child is melting down. Today’s guided meditation is designed to help you build some emotional resiliency so you can COPE.

Here we are, a month into the new school year, and you're going through the homework struggle. Again.

You were hoping this year would be different. You worked so hard, collaborating with your child's teacher, and finally had a good system... by April. But now it seems like it's back tracked. And it kind of feels hopeless. You wonder if your kid is every going to get their act together when it comes to doing their homework.

What do you do?

You have a lot of needs to meet as a parent.

You want your child to be fed, but fed the best version of homemade, organic, local and nutritious meals - and oh yeah, you have your own food blog to document this and help other families.

You want your child to have self-esteem, and you want that self-esteem built at a prestigious private school, which doesn’t come cheap. But you have to give your child every opportunity that you can!

You want your child to have friends, but the right friends - friends who are also considering top colleges, or looking at the peace corps, and you want your kid to be influenced by these very driven peers.

You set your child up for as much success as you can…

So what to you do when they still have anxiety, and it feels like your fault?

Learn more about using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy with anxious or angry kids and teens!

After 6 years of supporting anxious kids, teens, college students, and their parents, we check in with Kelsey about providing therapy in St. Louis!

The final week of our winter break series is here! Join us as we dive into family traditions, forgiveness and gratitude!

Here’s your recap of all of our instagram posts for this week, all tidied up for you in one easy to find spot (and if you want to see this on insta, follow us over there @CounselingWithKelsey!)

Tip #10: Celebrate Family Traditions

You know what we love about the holiday season? All of the family traditions! Spending time with your kids and making memories can be just as fun and exciting for you as it is for them.

Whether it’s matching pjs, a pancake breakfast, or watching the same holiday movies every year, every tradition is special.

And, it's always an option to add to your family tradition repertoire. Ask your kids for suggestions for new traditions and maybe those will become fast favorites. What matters most is the time you’re spending together and the family bonding that the holiday season brings!

Winter Break! Has it started for you yet? Here are some suggestions of ways to tweak your plan and make sure that you’re comfortable dealing with the unexpected.

Here’s your recap of all of our instagram posts for this week, all tidied up for you in one easy to find spot (and if you want to see this on insta, follow us over there @CounselingWithKelsey!)

Tip 7: Set Clear Expectations

Winter break is here! Or for some families, just around the corner. Now that we're actually in it, it's a great time to review and re-set clear expectations for your kids.

Talk with them about what the liked or didn't like about winter break last year.

Re-evaluate your plan and your schedule of events.

Preemptively talk with your co-parent about how you'll handle meltdowns, fights, arguments, or anxiety outbursts in the different settings you'll be in.

Go through examples of logical consequences (you don't have a crystal ball, but you do know that types of challenges your kids normally face) and help your child come up with a plan for how to avoid the things that normally get them in trouble

And while yes, we may be doing a lot of warning, it's important to feel prepared so that you can set up winter break to be a fun time for everyone (or at least to have pockets of fun moments!)

Tip 8: Option to Opt Out

Hey, friends! Do you and your kids have a million things to do? Well, as a head's up - you always have the option to opt out. ALWAYS.

Welcome to week 2 of our 12 tips for winter break series! We’re here giving you our top tips for managing winter break at home with the kids. This week is all about emotional support - what to do and how to do it so that you don’t feel 100% overwhelmed.

Here’s your recap of all of our instagram posts for this week, all tidied up for you in one easy to find spot (and if you want to see this on insta, follow us over there @CounselingWithKelsey!)

Tip 4: Create Some Space to Chill Out

Relaxing is kind of hard to do as a parent - you need to be on top of everything. But over winter break, there are so many great opportunities to just take it down a notch and chill out. And when you take the time to relax (and take care of yourself), you’ll feel so much more ready to be calm for your kids.

As a parent you have a million things on your to do list already, so I hate to add one more… But maybe it helps to view this more as an opportunity instead of a demand! When we’re calm, our kids are easier to calm.

Even better - if you are stressed, and you take the time to acknowledge that to your children and demonstrate how you're planning to calm down, you are DIRECTLY SHOWING THEM what to do when they feel overwhelmed, too. Model what you want them to do! It'll be a huge help - we promise.

Tip 5: Relax

Ok, ok, you hear all the time from us that you need to relax. But how do you do it? Come up with your own totally customizable relaxation plan! Choose one strategy from each of the categories below and boom, you've got your plan. Let's walk you through it: