The MicroStep Minute
Parent Resources
Improve your parenting in just a few minutes with easy action steps backed by brain science and simplified for busy parents.
Accepting Is Not Agreeing
Learning to accept your child’s perspective—without needing to agree—builds emotional safety, trust, and deeper connection.
Do Your Eyes Light Up?
Learn how a simple moment—like letting your face light up when your child enters the room—can boost connection, build emotional safety, and strengthen your parent-child relationship.
The Who Needs What Moment
Feel like you need your kid to behave so you can feel better? That’s your cue to pause. In “The Who Needs What Moment,” learn how naming your need and inviting your child into the solution builds trust, not tension.
Say It Straight
When we’re vague with our kids, we create confusion and pushback. This post explores why clear, direct communication—delivered with warmth and follow-through—is one of the most powerful tools in parenting. Saying what you mean (and meaning it) builds trust, accountability, and emotional safety.
How to Help Kids Feel Seen (Even in Chaos)
This post explores how small, intentional moments of acknowledgment—like drying a child’s rubber duck—can meet a child’s deep emotional need to feel seen. When kids feel noticed, their behavior improves, trust grows, and connection deepens.
Listening Without Judgement
This post unpacks how listening with acceptance—not correction—helps kids feel safe, understood, and more likely to open up. It’s not about agreement; it’s about presence, trust, and staying in the conversation.
Breaking the Judgment Cycle
In tough moments, it’s easy to judge our child’s emotions instead of accepting them. But judgment shuts kids down—while curiosity and compassion help them feel seen, safe, and truly loved. This post explores how shifting from correction to connection builds emotional resilience and trust, even in the messiest moments.
Unlock Your Parenting Power
Understand the difference between emotions and behavior and use that understanding to help your kids behave better.
Resetting Rewires
When parenting feels off-track, you don’t need a total overhaul—you need a reset. This post explores how even a small moment of repair can rewire connection, build trust, and shift the emotional tone at home. It's never too late to start over.
Nobody Likes Feeling Ignored
Parents ask me all the time, “Why would I empathize if a child is screaming, telling us we are awful, refusing to put on their shoes, or not.
Connecting Even When You Can't
So many moms come to me and ask, "Why won't my daughter share more with me?" Very often, it’s not about catching her at the perfect moment.
Reflections on the U.S. Surgeon General’s Report Parenting Under Pressure
Parenting today is harder than ever—and the U.S. Surgeon General’s report confirms it. This post reflects on the rising stress parents face and offers a powerful reminder: you don’t have to do more, you just have to feel less alone. Small moments of connection and support matter more than we think.
“Yes, and”—A Surprising Strategy for Your Kids
Saying “Yes, and…” helps kids feel heard and sets a boundary—without conflict. This post introduces a simple improv-inspired strategy that validates your child’s perspective while guiding behavior with calm, connection, and clarity.
5 Clues to Help You Understand Your Child’s Behavior
Kids’ behavior is often a clue, not just a challenge. This post shares 5 common signals to help parents look beneath the surface, understand what their child’s behavior is really communicating, and respond with clarity and connection.
Letting Go of the Perfect Mom Ideal Dismantling Perfectionism
Chasing perfect parenting leaves moms exhausted and disconnected. This post encourages letting go of unrealistic expectations and embracing real, messy moments — because your kids don’t need a perfect mom, they just need you.
Stop and Smell the Candy Canes
The holidays can feel overwhelming, but small moments of presence matter more than perfection. This post invites parents to slow down, savor connection, and let go of doing it all—because joy lives in the little things.
Parenting Resolutions: Small Acts, Big Impact
Big parenting changes rarely stick — but small, consistent actions can have a huge impact. This post shows how tiny shifts in how you show up every day matter more than grand resolutions. Little moments create lasting connection.
The Ten Minute Moment: One Secret to Happier Kids (and Parents!)
Just ten minutes of focused, one-on-one time can boost your child’s confidence, reduce meltdowns, and strengthen your bond. It’s not about quantity—it’s about presence. One small moment, done consistently, can change everything.
What Really Shapes Our Kids Isn’t What You Think
We celebrate the milestones—first steps, birthdays, championships—but what if it’s the quieter, in-between moments that shape our children the most? In this post, parenting speaker and author Mary Willcox Smith explores the powerful difference between events we remember and the emotionally significant moments that actually shape our kids’ confidence, resilience, and mental health. A must-read for parents, teachers, and anyone supporting children’s emotional growth.