Kaitlyn Mac Geoghegan Educational Psychologist

Two of my absolute favourite tools for children — share this with your little one tonight 🐉🦉

🐉 Dragon Breathing
Breathe in... hold... breathe out like a dragon! Repeat 3 times.
Then ask: "How do you feel now — calm, better, or still upset?" That simple check-in builds self-awareness and gives children language for their inner world.

🦉 5 Senses Grounding (5-4-3-2-1)
When a child feels overwhelmed or anxious, bring them back to the present moment:
👁 5 things I can SEE
👂 4 things I can HEAR
✋ 3 things I can TOUCH
👃 2 things I can SMELL
👅 1 thing I can TASTE

This is called a grounding exercise and it works because it interrupts the anxious thought spiral and anchors the nervous system in the present — which is always safe.

These work for adults too. Don't be embarrassed to dragon breathe alongside your child. They'll love it — and your nervous system will thank you.

Try it together tonight 💚

Understanding your nervous system state — and how to help yourself

This one is for the parents doing the deeper work. 🌿

Understanding WHERE your nervous system is — and what it actually needs — changes everything about how you respond. To stress. To your partner. To your children.

There are three main states:

⚓ Fight / Flight — anxious, scared, irritated, frustrated, reactive. Your sympathetic nervous system is activated. You need to RELEASE stress energy. Think: shaking, journalling, movement, emotional freedom technique.

🪨 Dorsal vagal (shutdown) — hopeless, numb, exhausted, disconnected. Your system has gone into collapse. You need to MOBILISE gently. Think: very small movements, gentle breathwork, connecting with a pet or person.

🌀 Freeze — "wired but tired," burnt out, chronically fatigued, stunned. You need to SIGNAL SAFETY. Think: weighted blanket, warmth, soft music, Havening technique.

And when you're IN your Window of Tolerance — regulated, responding (not reacting), open, self-aware — THAT is when you can truly co-regulate your child.

The goal is not to fix these states. It's to notice them, name them, and gently move through them.

Which state do you find yourself in most often? 💬

Save this one. Screenshot it. Put it on your fridge. 🐾

These are some of my favourite quick regulation tools — and yes, they work for adults just as well as they do for kids.

When your child (or YOU) is triggered, flooded, or about to tip over the edge — logic and talking WON'T work yet. The brain needs to feel safe before it can think. So we go body-first:

🌬 Long exhale breathing — inhale normally, exhale longer. This signals your nervous system to settle.

🙌 Slow arm shaking — let your arms hang loose and shake from the wrists. It literally helps discharge built-up stress energy from the body.

🧱 Wall push — palms flat on the wall, push firmly for 10 seconds. Releases held tension safely.

👣 Seated foot press — press your feet into the floor, hold, release slowly. Grounds and steadies.

🎵 Hum on exhale — inhale, then hum as you breathe out. That vibration calms the vagus nerve and the whole nervous system.

🤷 Shoulder roll and drop — lift, roll back, let them drop. Softens all that upper body tension we carry.

Try one with your child today. Better yet — do it together. That's co-regulation in action.

Which one will you try first? 👇

Regulating yourself IS parenting your child!

Working on YOUR nervous system is not a luxury. It is not self-indulgent. It is one of the most powerful things you can do for your child.

Because co-regulation — the process by which a child's nervous system settles by borrowing safety from a regulated adult — only works when that adult has something to offer.

You cannot pour from an empty cup. And you cannot regulate a child from a dysregulated body.

"Regulating the nervous system means doing daily practices to teach the body to feel safe." Not a once-off event. Not a retreat or a workshop. Daily. Small. Consistent.

And when we teach ourselves that it's safe to feel tired, nervous, uncertain — that discomfort doesn't mean danger — we give our children permission to feel those things too. Without spiralling.

This week I want to challenge you to pick ONE daily practice. Breathwork. A walk without your phone. A moment of stillness before you respond instead of react.

Not because you're broken. Because you deserve to feel safe in your own body. And your children need you to.

"Your nervous system doesn't know the danger is over."

This might be one of the most important sentences I share with families.

Even when life feels stable. Even when you *know* nothing is wrong. Your body might still be scanning, bracing, waiting. And if that's you as a parent — your child's body is picking it up.

The signs of a nervous system stuck in survival mode often don't look like anxiety. They look like:
• Always tired, but can't rest
• Overthinking everything
• Feeling numb or shut down
• People-pleasing
• Can't slow down

Sound familiar? In children, these patterns show up as school avoidance, emotional explosions, poor sleep, difficulty with transitions, and a constant need for reassurance.

The good news? The nervous system can heal. But it heals slowly, gently, and with repetition — not with pressure or force.

That's what we're working on together.

Do you ever wonder why your child goes from zero to ten in seconds? Or why YOU do? 🧠

This is what nervous system dysregulation actually looks like — and I see these signs every single day in the children and families I work with.

A racing heart. Hypervigilance. Catastrophising. Extreme procrastination. Rage. Difficulty focusing. These aren't character flaws. They're not "bad behaviour." They are a nervous system that has learned it needs to stay on high alert to survive.

Here's the thing: before we can help our children regulate, we need to understand what's actually happening in their bodies — and in ours.

Because nervous systems co-regulate. Your child's body is constantly taking cues from yours.

This week I'm starting a series on nervous system regulation — what it is, why it matters for learning, behaviour, sleep, confidence, and connection — and most importantly, what we can actually DO about it.

Save this post. Share it with a parent or teacher who needs to hear this.

And tell me below — which of these signs do you recognise in your child? In yourself? 👇

Every time your child practises, they are building a “brain bridge.”

Learning something new can feel hard at first — because the brain is forming new connections. It’s like trying to cross a deep gap with no bridge.

The first attempts take effort. They feel slow, frustrating, and uncomfortable.

But with repetition, the brain strengthens those connections —
and the “bridge” becomes stronger and easier to cross.

This is neuroplasticity in action.

As parents, the goal isn’t to rush the process —
it’s to encourage practice, patience, and persistence.

• “Keep going — your brain is building.”
• “It will get easier with practice.”
• “You’re strengthening your brain.”

Because every time they try again,
they’re not just learning the skill —
they’re rewiring their brain to make it easier next time.

What if mistakes are actually part of success?

So many everyday things were invented by mistake — which is a powerful reminder for our children: being wrong is not something to fear.

When children feel ashamed of mistakes, they start to avoid trying.
But when mistakes are normalised, they become willing to take risks, learn, and grow.

This is how neuroplasticity works — the brain learns through errors, not in spite of them.

As parents, we can shift the message:
• “Mistakes help your brain grow.”
• “What did you learn from that?”
• “Let’s try again.”

Less shame. More curiosity. More growth.

Because confident learners aren’t the ones who get it right all the time —
they’re the ones who are not afraid to get it wrong.