For many children and parents the transition from summer routines back to school is a difficult one. Any time of transition can be hard for children, but transitioning back to school is especially challenging given the level of anxiety most children feel towards social situations, performance and separation from parents. Here are some of our tips for helping anxious children cope with returning to school: Sean’s Tips 1)        Take care of the basics Sleep schedules often change between summer vacation and the school year. Remaining as consistent as possible with sleep schedules can make a huge difference for children that experience anxiety. Sleep routines are set by an internal clock in our brains, referred to as a circadian rhythms by nerds like us, and this patterned firing of neurons takes time to catch up to the

“I love her so much that I’m terrified of something bad happening to her. I think the stress of that means I don’t really enjoy my time with her all that much. I’m sure she knows I love her though- because I’m the one who’s always there...” “Well sure I know you love me but I have so much pressure and I just feel it even more when I’m with you-it’s so much that I don’t even enjoy being with you anymore.” I’ve heard thousands of similar exchanges to this in my work with children and families over the years. This common scenario reminds me a bit of the mythological symbol of the Ouroboros- or the snake eating its own tail. Symbolically it tends to refer to infinity or a wholeness, or gestalt. I think it could also represent self-destruction in the pursuit of perceived needs. Were the snake to look up it may realize that the goal of being fed should be secondary to not destroying itself. Of course in the myth there is no destruction- just weird, mesmerizing, infinite tail eatin

Reading with our children is one of the most beneficial activities we can do to promote positive development. Reading itself opens up a unique door to information and self-awareness unlike other forms of media. It promotes self-regulation, concentration, imagination and mindfulness. When we read with our children we build our relationship, strengthen the attachment bonds that are the potting soil of emotional health, and communicate love and worth to our children. In this series of blog posts I want to share some of the books I have come across that I think are best situated to maximize these goals. The Heart in the Bottle I chose Oliver Jeffers “The Heart in the Bottle” as the first book to share and discuss in this blog series for one simple reason- I think it is the bestest children’s book ever written. I have used this book in my office for years now with children of all ages- including reading it to teenagers who typically begin the book with an annoyed sigh and end