Author: Amy Makice

SAVE THE DATE! August 10-12, 2018!

Bloomington Center for Connection is thrilled to announce our first annual Relational-Cultural Invitation: Bridging Differences. Friday, August 10th, we welcome our keynote speaker, Maureen Walker. Maureen joins us from the Center for Relational Growth. Maureen’s work includes helping people bridge cultural differences such as race, religion, gender and other social status markers. Maureen’s past talks have included Transforming Community through Disruptive Empathy, Getting to the Truth about Race, It’s Not About Checking a Box: Confronting […]

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Assuming Positive Intent

One of many things I love about my work is that I’m regularly challenged on ideas that I’ve held close for years. Sometimes this results in a recommitment to the foundational philosophy of Relational-Cultural Theory. Other times something we’ve used for years gets changed. A few months ago, we were consulting at a school and I mentioned Ross Greene‘s idea of assumption-free living, described in his new book, Raising Human Beings. “How does that work,” […]

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adult and child sliding on playground

Problem-Solving and RCT

At the Bloomington Center for Connection, we apply the lens of Relational-Cultural Theory to all of our interventions, from community-building groups to family therapy. One intervention we use frequently is Collaborative and Proactive Solutions, or CPS. There are lots of packaged discipline programs for schools and parents, many of them with clever rewards charts, or even cringe-worthy consequences. The most commonly advised discipline technique is “time-out,” which is, at its most basic, a disconnection. Withdrawal […]

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Connecting This Week!

Hey friends, it’s cold out there, but we’ve got a warm building and fun activities to help connect caregivers and kids. On Tuesday, join us for Claytime with Connie, and on Wednesday we have our Music time! Both are open to caregivers and their children, with Claytime being more appropriate for older preschoolers who are less likely to eat the clay. Come on in and warm up.

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Holiday Survival Guide

It’s that time of year. We get over-scheduled, over fed, over-tired, over-stimulated, and pretty soon, we’re over the holidays entirely. We get together with people we don’t see very often, people who may or may not appreciate our kiddos’ needs and eccentricities. We lose track of routines and rituals that help keep our lives sane. Here are a few tips to make it a little easier: 1. Trim your to-do list. You might have a day […]

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Emotional Labor and #MeToo

Emotional labor was already on my mind when the tsunami of #MeToo happened. Emotional labor—keeping relationships mended, nurturing families and friendships, clearing the way for the daily demands of life to move easily—is socialized into women from an early age and devalued by a patriarchal society. Shining light on this invisible work is one of the essential lenses used in Relational-Cultural thinking.  How do these two things intersect? One day into #MeToo, a friend of […]

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child in front of sweet shop

Assuming Pro-social Intent

One of the key pieces of positive discipline is the idea of assuming positive intent. This means that no matter how your child behaves, you set your default interpretation to something positive.

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Power Struggles with a 4-year-old

Here’s the thing about power struggles: once they’ve started, you’ve lost. The only cure is prevention. You can’t prevent all of them, but you can reduce the likelihood that they will happen.

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adult and child sliding on playground

Coddling or cooperating?

Some kids do fine with broad choices, but all children need to learn to make decisions on their own, and the safest place to do that is with you.

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