Eva Dwight Coaching & Consulting

Dodie and I had the privilege of training this incredible group of parents and professionals to be Certified Positive Discipline Parent Educators! This is powerful work and I am honored to know every single one of them. We had representation from the U.S., Canada, England, and Germany! What an amazing thing that technology can bring us together in this way.

If you'd like to learn about Positive Discipline, go to positivediscipline.org and positivediscipline.com.

Dodie is facilitating an online workshop for Early Childhood Educators in April; a Positive Discipline in the Classroom workshop before the Positive Discipline Conference in Coral Springs, FLA in June; and we are both facilitating a Positive Discipline in the Classroom workshop online in August. For details about all of these opportunities go to this link: evadwight.com/workshop-registration

I'm looking forward to this conversation with Madhuri Prasad of Little Leaps on March 21st. I hope you'll join us if you're the parent of a teen or tween!

Most children do not quit because they lack ability. They quit at the exact moment their brain chemistry changes. The early stage of any new activity is driven by novelty. Dopamine is high. Progress feels fast. Motivation feels effortless. Then the brain adapts. Dopamine drops. Effort rises. Improvement slows. This shift usually happens between the first few dozen hours of practice. For a developing brain, that moment feels confusing. Not dangerous. Not wrong. Just unfamiliar. When children are allowed to quit during this phase, the brain learns a powerful association. Discomfort leads to escape. Friction equals relief through avoidance. Over time, this wires the amygdala to treat challenge as something to flee rather than work through. Mastery depends on myelination. The strengthening of neural pathways through repeated, effortful practice. Myelination does not occur during novelty. It happens when boredom appears and the brain stays anyway. Children cannot evaluate long-term benefits accurately. Their prefrontal cortex is still developing. This is why parents are meant to act as borrowed executive function, not motivation managers. Commitment is not about forcing passion. It is about protecting the brain long enough for competence to emerge. Confidence follows endurance. Resilience follows structure. Freedom follows the ability to stay when things get hard. Sources Center on the developing child at Harvard University (2016) Ericsson et al. deliberate practice and expertise development (1993) Giedd adolescent brain development research (2015) Doidge the brain that changes itself (2007) Follow @parentfluence for more calm-minded parenting wisdom.

We have 6 new Positive Discipline Early Childhood Educators! This was a super-amazing group of experts to work with. Every one of them is making such a difference in the lives of young children, their parents, and their teachers & caregivers.