Coaching practices for Lawrence Cohen Playful Parenting

Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Lawrence Cohen Playful Parenting, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.

Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?

• Even when I sit down to play with my kid I catch myself steering it
• There’s a window every day
• My kid is full of wild physical energy and I tend to shut down the wrestling and chasing because I’m afraid it’ll spin out of control
• I praise my kid constantly
• I careen between cracking down like a drill sergeant and then feeling guilty and just letting everything slide, and my kid never knows which version of me they’re getting

Practices that may help

1. Special Time (Lawrence Cohen — Playful Parenting)
   Special time is a structured daily or near-daily practice of ten to twenty minutes of fully child-directed, uninterrupted one-on-one play, drawn from Lawrence Cohen's Playful Parenting framework. It fills the child’s attachment "cup," reduces bids for attention through misbehavior, and builds the relationship reserve that makes limits and teaching more effective. Clinical and observational evidence consistently supports child-directed play as a relationship and behavior intervention.
2. Follow the child’s lead completely during special time
   Let the child decide what you do, how long you stay, and when you move on.
   Special Time (Lawrence Cohen — Playful Parenting)
3. Use special time to fill the connection cup before problems escalate
   A proactive ten-minute connection recharge can prevent an afternoon of battles.
   Special Time (Lawrence Cohen — Playful Parenting)
4. Engage in safe rough-and-tumble play
   Wrestling, chasing, and physical silliness build the regulation capacity that calm activities cannot.
   Special Time (Lawrence Cohen — Playful Parenting)
5. Sportscast what you see rather than directing
   Narrate the play without evaluation, question, or instruction.
   Special Time (Lawrence Cohen — Playful Parenting)
6. Provide warmth and structure simultaneously
   Children need to know they are loved and to know what is expected — these work together, not against each other.
   Authoritative Parenting (Diana Baumrind)
7. Cultivate a "yes brain": curiosity, courage, and resilience over reactivity
   Respond to the child’s world with curiosity and openness rather than threat and control.
   The Whole-Brain Child (Siegel & Bryson)
8. Say yes to bids for connection before enforcing limits
   A child’s capacity to accept limits depends on how connected they feel to the person setting them.
   Authoritative Parenting (Diana Baumrind)
9. Use play to re-establish connection after conflict or separation
   Playful physical contact after a difficult moment re-welds the relationship faster than discussion.
   Special Time (Lawrence Cohen — Playful Parenting)
10. Take time for training — teach the skill, not just the rule
    Children misbehave partly because they don’t know how to do the right thing — teach the skill when everyone is calm.
    Positive Discipline (Jane Nelsen)

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