Pressley Ridge SWC Treatment Foster Care

09/24/2026

Check out this free event for adult and children clothing, toys, and other supplies! You can drop off items you no longer use and come back the next day to pick up items your children may need. All items are free!

Mark your calendars! Instead of seeing a calendar event for Oct, we made this FB page for Mom Swap so you can join it once and get updates for each coming event. So excited for our next one!

09/21/2026

The way we speak to children becomes part of the way they eventually learn to speak to themselves. When they hear encouragement, warmth, and belief in who they are over and over again, those messages slowly become part of their inner voice, especially during the moments when confidence feels shaky or life gets hard.

This does not mean constantly praising everything they do or telling them they are perfect, it means noticing who they are, naming the qualities you genuinely see, and making sure correction is not the loudest message they hear from you.

💜 Tell them you notice their kindness.
💜 Tell them you love their sense of humor.
💜 Tell them you see how hard they are trying.
💜 Tell them their ideas matter and you enjoy hearing what they think.
💜 Tell them you love being around them, not only when they are behaving perfectly or accomplishing something.

Children will hear plenty of messages from the world about what they should change, where they fall short, and how they compare to everyone else, home should also be a place where they are reminded of their strengths, their worth, and the things that make them uniquely themselves.

We can guide them, correct them, and hold boundaries while still building them up, because discipline should help children grow, not convince them that something is wrong with who they are.

The words we repeat become part of the story they learn to tell themselves, so let’s make sure that story includes, “I am loved, I am capable, I matter, and I am someone worth believing in.”

09/21/2026

09/21/2026

09/21/2026

Happy National Kinship Care Awareness Month!

Driven by a shared commitment to kinship families, fifteen team members from across Pressley Ridge states and roles came together for a two-day summit focused on learning, reflection, and innovation.

Together, they explored evolving national standards for kinship care and examined our own practices to ensure the Treatment Foster Care/Kinship Care Service Line continues to provide meaningful, responsive, and high-quality support to kinship families.

Many participants brought personal connections to kinship care—as caregivers, family members, or individuals with lived experience—adding depth, passion, and authenticity to the conversations.

As states continue to shape and define kinship care, Pressley Ridge remains dedicated to staying at the forefront of best practices, strengthening our services, and honoring the unique strengths and needs of kinship families.

09/21/2026

Apologizing to our children does not diminish our role as parents, it shows them what accountability, responsibility, and repair can look like within a healthy relationship. 💗

Children learn an enormous amount about relationships through observation and repeated experiences with the adults closest to them, including how we respond when we make mistakes, how we handle conflict, and whether we are willing to take responsibility for the impact of our own behavior.

This is why the words that come after “I’m sorry” matter. When we say, “I’m sorry I yelled, but you weren’t listening,” the apology can quickly become an explanation for why our child caused our reaction. Their behavior may absolutely need to be addressed, but we can separate accountability for our behavior from accountability for theirs.

For example, we can say, “I’m sorry I yelled at you. I was frustrated, and I should have handled that differently.” Once we have taken responsibility and repaired the connection, we can still talk about what happened, reinforce the boundary, and help our child understand what they need to do differently next time.

Research on parent-child relationships consistently points to the importance of responsive relationships, modeling, and repairing ruptures in connection. Children do not need relationships without conflict or parents who never make mistakes, they benefit from experiencing what happens after those difficult moments, especially when the adult can acknowledge what happened, take responsibility, reconnect, and move forward.

When we model that process, we’re teaching our children that accountability isn’t about shame or proving who was wrong, it’s about recognizing our impact, taking responsibility for our part, and repairing the relationship when necessary.

If we want our children to be able to say, “I was wrong, I’m sorry, and I want to make it right,” one of the most powerful ways to teach them is to let them hear us say it too. 💗

09/21/2026

💞

09/14/2026

A child who repeatedly hears “You’re not good enough,” “You always get it wrong,” or “Why can’t you be like them?” may eventually stop hearing the criticism as something they did—and start believing it is who they are.

What can parents do instead?
Correct the behaviour, not the child.
Say, “That was not the right choice,” rather than “You are careless.”

Replace comparison with encouragement.
Compare a child with their own previous effort, not with another child.

Praise effort and progress.
“You worked hard on this” can build resilience more than simply praising results.

Listen before lecturing.
Sometimes a child needs understanding before they can accept correction.

Give criticism a purpose.
Ask yourself: “Will what I am about to say help my child grow, or am I simply releasing my frustration?”

Make love unmistakable.
A child should never have to earn the right to feel worthy of love.

The goal of parenting isn't to raise children who are afraid of making mistakes.

It is to raise people who can make mistakes, learn from them, and still believe they are worthy.

09/14/2026

Remember to do things that help the little you inside feel alive. 💫
•
•
•
•