children

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Disney Pixar's Inside Out Challenges All Of Us To Feel

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Disney Pixar's Inside Out Challenges All Of Us To Feel

Outside of my office door I hear a little voice talking to her daddy saying, “This one is joy, then disgust, yuk! And that one’s anger.r”  I know this little one does not like to talk about her feelings, but today she is excited and certain, describing the characters from the new Disney Pixar movie Inside Out.  I am overwhelmed with gratitude hearing her use emotional language and thrilled that director Pete Docter and Disney Pixar have taken on the task of bringing to life the amazing world of feelings and the workings of the mind.  As a mental health professional, the debut of this movie has been on the top of my to do list since I saw the trailer.  I am happy to say...

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Finding Motherhood at the LAX Underpass

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Finding Motherhood at the LAX Underpass

There’s an underpass at LAX going north on Sepulveda Blvd, and  it’s pretty amazing since sometimes a plane is taxiing right on top of you.  I was born a mother traveling through that underpass sometime in 2005.  My daughter had been born maybe 3 months before; the timing is now vague.  However, I remember crying as I drove to yet another audition (yes I used to be an actor) worried that I had left my preemie alone with a baby sitter I barely knew.

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When Divorce Happens to Young Children

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When Divorce Happens to Young Children

Little ones under five years of age have a way of expressing their emotional worlds that is paradoxically simple and intricate.  When it comes to their experience of divorce and their parents’ separation, they express their internal worlds in ways that all parents separating or divorcing need to keep in mind.