Clearing the Path
How a Long Recess Creates Strong Humans
Free play, extended recess, and open-ended materials create the conditions for children to build the essential skills needed for healthy adulthood.
Cracked Open
When your child refuses to fit the mold, it can feel like failure. It might be the most important invitation you'll ever receive. On embracing your child for who they are — and what it asks of you.
Playful by Cas Holman
… After recently listening to Holman’s book, narrated in a delightfully playful way, I found myself feeling inspired to bring more play into my own life. I am moving, thinking, working, and parenting a little differently, and hopefully for the better. I am finding more ways to bring a playful energy into my interactions with others, and those moments feel more connected and more fulfilling.
Holding Families in the Grey
When there is no right answer, families don't need more information. They need someone to hold them in their grief and sorrow. On what that kind of support actually requires.
Raising Kids in the Age of AI
AI can tell you to use cold air for croup at 2am. What it can't do is sit with you when your teenager is falling apart and you need to stay present. On the limits of AI in parenting — and what no tool can replace.
The Questions AI Gets Right — And the Ones It Can't Touch
When a therapeutic program placement fails, the child rarely thinks the program was wrong. He thinks he failed. Again. On the real cost of the wrong fit — and what it takes to get it right.
What the Algorithm Can't See
AI can search. It can synthesize. But there are things about therapeutic program placement it cannot know — not because the information hasn't been written yet, but because it can't be. A therapeutic educational consultant explains why.
When Your Kid Struggles With Mental Health: Widen Their Circle of Helping Adults
When neurodivergent, ADHD, autistic, anxious, or depressed teens and failure‑to‑launch young adults need more than parents can give, widening the circle of caring adults becomes an act of love, not failure.
"Your Children Are Not Your Children": Why Your Neurodivergent Kid Is Not a Problem to Fix
Parents of neurodivergent kids don’t need another ‘fix your child’ lecture, they need a new story. This post weaves Gibran, Temple Grandin, and three generations of ‘different’ in my family to show how letting go of rigid expectations, embracing alternative paths, and explicitly teaching life and work skills (including through volunteering) can help autistic and ADHD teens build meaningful, AI‑resilient futures where their strengths are the point, not the problem.
ADHD, Autism, and Addiction: How Screens, Gaming, and THC Hook Neurodivergent Teens
This blog explains how modern screens, gaming, substances, and online gambling uniquely affect neurodivergent teens with ADHD and autism, why these behaviors are often survival strategies rather than “bad choices,” and practical steps parents can take when outpatient care is not enough.
Online Gambling: A New Risk for Teens, and How the Right Therapy Can Help
Learn why online gambling is rising among teens and young adults, why neurodivergent kids are especially vulnerable, and how targeted therapy and support can help.
How ADHD and Autism Support Shape a Child’s Self Worth
Three Generations of ADHD with Autistic Traits: What Our Help Taught Us
From undiagnosed ADHD to IEPs and meds at age four, see how three generations of one family reveal the hidden messages kids absorb about support, and how to change the script.
Don’t Compete: How Letting Go of Time, Attention, and Status Protects Your Child
Learn why competing for time, attention, or status in co-parenting hurts kids, and how letting go of competition creates stability after divorce.
Reflections on Gratitude as 2025 Ends!
As 2025 ends, we reflect on the practice of gratitude and all that we’ve been grateful for in this past year.
Spread Kindness this holiday season: It’s a Protective Factor for You and Your Kid
This holiday season, consider giving your children something more lasting than another toy or gadget … the gift of kindness as a practice, a skill, a way of moving through the world. Acts of kindness are contagious, impacting the giver, the receiver, and the observer, and will improve your mental and physical health, too.