Braxton Strorm, LCSW, owns his own private practice, Calm the Storm LLC in Henderson, NV. Through his practice, he has found that effective treatment for children includes coupling interventions with parents. Braxton has established an eight week parenting course based on research by Dr. Dan Siegel and his book, The Whole Brain Child. In addition to his professional experience, Braxton grew up within the foster care and relative placement systems, which led to being adopted at the age of nine by his aunt and uncle. This experience has created a passion that Braxton has in empowering children and parents or caregivers to make meaningful connections and thrive in their relationships.
“It’s hard to face the idea that we need to change as it is for everyone. It just so happens that with parents, it impacts their children quite a bit.”
Challenges with Connecting With Children
Braxton discussed the challenges parents face in connecting with their children, particularly in moments of strong emotion. He outlined a set of skills, including understanding and naming emotions, engaging rather than enraging, being active and making changes, and narrating experiences to help children understand their own feelings and actions. Jessica shared her experience with her youngest child, who often struggles with behavior and memory. Braxton suggested that in situations like these, parents tend to correct rather than connect, and advised Jessica to ask her son about his reasons for hiding under the table, encouraging empathetic understanding and teamwork to improve the situation.
Parenting Skills and Coaching
Parental involvement and connection is key to your child’s success. Putting new parenting skills into practice can challenging, which is why having a coach or expert, like Braxton, can be beneficial. Positive changes take time and consistency, and that it’s common for parents to start and stop implementing new strategies due to unrealistic expectations of immediate results. Braxton has found success in using effective tools including workbooks for parents, which aims to help them understand their own parenting style.
Parent-Teen Connection Prioritized
Braxton emphasizes the importance of parent-teenager connections, highlighting that children across the lifespan desire to be heard, seen, and valued. He suggests parents shift from rules-based parenting to principle-based parenting, encouraging teenagers to make decisions in line with their personal values.
Parenting and Accountability: A Powerful Combination
Braxton has found profound impacts when parents can say sorry and demonstrate a willingness to learn from their mistakes when handling their children.
The Whole-Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Steps to Nurture Your Child’s Developing Mind by Daniel Siegel, M.D. and Tina Payne Bryson, Ph.D.
- Connect and Redirect: Surfing Emotional Waves
- Name It to Tame It: Telling Stories to Calm Big Emotions
- Engage, Don’t Enrage: Appealing to the Upstairs Brain
- Use It or Lose It: Exercising the Upstairs Brain
- Move It or Lose It: Moving the Body to Avoid Losing the Mind
- Use the Remote of the Mind: Replaying Memories
- Remembering to Remember: Making Recollection a Part of
- Let the Clouds of Emotion Roll By: Teaching That Feelings Come and Go
- SIFT: Paying Attention to What’s Going On Inside
- Exercise Mindsight: Getting Back to the Hub
- Increase the Family Fun Factor: Making a Point to Enjoy Each Other
- Connection Through Conflict: Teach Kids to Argue with a “We” in Mind
Get in Touch with Braxton Storm from Calm The Storm, LLC.
