Our Safe Place
One of the most important learning spaces in our home is the Safe Place, which we learned about from Conscious Discipline, founded by Dr. Becky Bailey. This is a place for our children to go when they are feeling upset to process their feelings, calm, and problem solve. We have been using the Safe Place for six years now; our oldest is twelve and still sometimes goes to the Safe Place. The children chose two locations for our Safe Places: one in the living room behind a chair and one in the dining room. The children work through the five phases when they are there: I am, I calm, I feel, I choose, and I solve. When they were younger, we spent most of the time one of our children was in the Safe Place with them. Now, less. Example Use with Younger Child My child is writing in a book she's making but she is frustrated with the way her handwriting looks. She shouts and throws her pencil. I take a few deep breaths to be calm before I talk to her. Throw...