What should you do when your child is overwhelmed, melting down, refusing to cooperate, or acting like they cannot handle something you know they can do?

In part two of this conversation, Dr. Roseann Capanna-Hodge explains how parents can help kids build a more regulated nervous system before, during, and after stressful moments. She shares why parents should regulate first, connect second, and correct only after a child is calm enough to think and learn. Here's part one if you missed it. 

You’ll also learn why constantly rescuing kids from discomfort can prevent them from building stress tolerance, how to support a child without immediately fixing the problem, and why small daily regulation practices can make a big difference over time.

Dr. Roseann shares a simple 4-7-8 breathing practice parents can use throughout the day to lower stress and build greater nervous system capacity! This is just one of at least 5 solid techniques Dr. Ro shares with us, things you can implement right away at home. 

Don't forget to check out Dr. Roseann's new book, The Dysregulated Child.

Resources We Mention for Helping Your Dysregulated Child

• Dr. Roseann’s book The Dysregulated Child releases 9/22/26! Grab it now.
• Episodes on stress mastery: Can We Help Our Highly Sensitive Kids Handle Their Stress? and Stress Busting for Moms
• What Is Nervous System Work, and Why Is It Important?
• Raising Kids Who Can Do Hard Things with Dr. Kathryn Hecht
• Try the Stress Mastery Challenge for free

Check out my new book at raisinghealthyfamilies.com/pickybook!

• Kitchen Stewardship
• Raising Healthy Families 
• follow Katie on Instagram or Facebook
• Subscribe to the newsletter to get weekly updates
• YouTube shorts channel for HPH
• Find the Healthy Parenting Handbook at raisinghealthyfamilies.com/podcast

Affiliate links used here. Thanks for supporting the Healthy Parenting Handbook!

When your child is melting down, refusing to listen, shutting down, or exploding over something small, their nervous system may be overwhelmed—not ready for more words or discipline.

Dr. Roseann Capanna-Hodge, a longtime friend of mine and Raising Healthy Families, explains what happens in the brain when kids become dysregulated and why their ability to think logically can temporarily go offline. She shares how a child’s “stress cup” fills up, why parents and kids can co-regulate or co-dysregulate, and why your own nervous system is one of the most powerful parenting tools you have.

You’ll also learn why the middle of a meltdown is usually the worst time to reason with your child, how to use a simple three-second “love pause,” and why regulation needs to come before teaching, correcting, or problem-solving.

This episode gives parents practical ways to respond with fewer words, more calm, and a better understanding of what their child’s behavior may be communicating.

If this episode hits a nerve, make sure you grab a copy of Dr. Ro’s new book, The Dysregulated Child.

Resources We Mention for Helping Your Dysregulated Child

• Dr. Roseann’s book The Dysregulated Child releases 9/22/26! Grab it now.
• Preventing nervous system wounds in your child with Ann Odom
• Episodes on stress mastery: Can We Help Our Highly Sensitive Kids Handle Their Stress? and Stress Busting for Moms
• Try the Stress Mastery Challenge for free

Check out my new book at raisinghealthyfamilies.com/pickybook!

• Kitchen Stewardship
• Raising Healthy Families 
• follow Katie on Instagram or Facebook
• Subscribe to the newsletter to get weekly updates
• YouTube shorts channel for HPH
• Find the Healthy Parenting Handbook at raisinghealthyfamilies.com/podcast

Affiliate links used here. Thanks for supporting the Healthy Parenting Handbook!

In the previous episode, I talked about my first two philosophy shifts when it comes to how I feed my own kids and talk about picky eating. We dealt with the "no thank-you bite" and how/when to serve dessert. I'm truly grateful for the professionals who helped me change my thinking and my ways!

Today, we'll dive into three other mindset changes I've had when it comes to feeding kids. The first has to do with introducing foods to babies, which isn't actually a part of The Picky Eater Playbook—but it's still something to consider and an important first step for parents!

Then we will get into how our food looks (does it matter?) and briefly touch on kids who really WOULD starve themselves if they aren't served certain foods. 

You'll learn:

• why I think eczema and food sensitivities might have been caused by Paul and Leah's first foods
• what first foods I think work best for babies
• why I started rethinking "you don't taste with your eyes" and how cute foods might actually be more appealing to children
• what working with 20,000 families taught me about my stance that kids will eat eventually, they won't starve
• and why the laid-back way I wrote The Picky Eater Playbook means you will probably be able to adapt it for your family!

I'm outlining all the pre-order bonuses for you, too, so make sure to listen or watch to the end of the episode. I sure hope you'll think it's worthwhile to pre-order a copy of the book and delve into making dinnertime a more peaceful time for your whole family.

You deserve that, Mom, and so do your kids! Get out of the chicken nugget and pizza rut. It CAN be better.

Resources We Mention for Picky Eating Tips

• Pre-order The Picky Eater Playbook and get amazing pre-order bonuses!
• Nourishing first foods for babies
• More about problem feeders in my interview with Dr. Kay Toomey
• Get kids in the kitchen! Check out the Kids Cook Real Food eCourse or Teens Cook Real Food if your kids are older
• Jensen got help through my Picky Eater Playbook (P.E.P.) Club - learn more about the membership now

Check out my new book at raisinghealthyfamilies.com/pickybook!

• Kitchen Stewardship
• Raising Healthy Families 
• follow Katie on Instagram or Facebook
• Subscribe to the newsletter to get weekly updates
• YouTube shorts channel for HPH
• Find the Healthy Parenting Handbook at raisinghealthyfamilies.com/podcast

Affiliate links used here. Thanks for supporting the Healthy Parenting Handbook!

Have you ever given parenting advice with total confidence…only to learn a few years later that you had it completely wrong?

I have. 🙋‍♀️

After 21 years of feeding kids, 17 years of writing about healthy families, and a whole lot of conversations with picky eating experts, there are a few things I used to teach that I simply don’t anymore.

And I think it’s important to talk about them.

In this episode, I’m sharing some of the biggest changes I’ve made in my picky eating philosophy—and why learning more sometimes means being willing to do a complete 180. We’re digging into two especially common feeding practices: requiring kids to take a “no thank you bite” and making dessert something they have to earn by eating enough dinner.

You’ll hear:

• Why I no longer recommend requiring even one bite of a new food
• The simple phrase that can take an enormous amount of pressure off picky eaters
• Why making dessert a reward may accidentally make it even more desirable
• How our family shifted from “eat enough dinner to get dessert” to choice within boundaries
• Why there probably isn’t one perfect dessert rule that works for every child and every family

And we’re only halfway through my list!

This is Part 1 of a two-part episode. In Part 2, I’ll share the rest of the major picky eating philosophies I’ve changed my mind about, including a powerful story of one child’s transformation and more of what I’ve learned while writing The Picky Eater Playbook.

If you’ve ever wondered whether the feeding advice you’ve heard (or even followed for years!) is actually helping your child build a healthy relationship with food, this conversation is for you.

Resources We Mention for Pressure-Free Feeding

• Find all the places you can pre-order my book, The Picky Eater Playbook (and get those pre-order bonuses!)
• Jump start your learning with the No More Picky Eating Challenge
• The real cause of picky eating with Dr. Kay Toomey
• Why We Should Stop Thinking About Nutrition and Build Our Kids’ Eating Habits Instead with Feeding Expert Dina Rose, PhD
• Our real food sweets rules – are they necessary?

Check out my new book at raisinghealthyfamilies.com/pickybook!

• Kitchen Stewardship
• Raising Healthy Families 
• follow Katie on Instagram or Facebook
• Subscribe to the newsletter to get weekly updates
• YouTube shorts channel for HPH
• Find the Healthy Parenting Handbook at raisinghealthyfamilies.com/podcast

Affiliate links used here. Thanks for supporting the Healthy Parenting Handbook!

What if one of the best things you could do for an anxious, frustrated, or struggling kid is...do a little less?

I know. Every parenting instinct in us is screaming, “Help them! Fix it! Tell them it’s going to be okay!”

But Dr. Kathryn Hecht says there’s a problem with that last one: We’re not wizards. We actually don’t know that everything is going to be okay, and our kids are smart enough to know it too.

So what can we say instead?

In this episode, Dr. Hecht gives us an incredibly simple formula that combines empathy with confidence, plus a 10-second parenting rule that might be harder to practice than it sounds. We’re talking about how to help kids do hard things, tolerate frustration, become more independent, and build real confidence without throwing them into the proverbial deep end.

And I love this because we’re not talking about manufacturing scary experiences for our kids. We’re talking about the everyday stuff. Buttons. Homework. Birthday parties. Trying something new. All those little moments when we have to decide: Do I swoop in, or do I give my child a chance to discover, “Oh. I can handle this.”

If you want to raise kids who see uncertainty less as a threat and more as something they can navigate, keep listening. This one is practical enough to use today.

Resources We Mention for Raising Brave Kids

• See Dr. Kathryn’s books:
  • The Be Brave Activity Book: 100 Exposure-Based Challenges That DARE Kids to Boss Back Their Worry and Anxiety Once and for All (Amazon/Bookshop.org)
  • Releasing in February 2027 – The Can-Do Activity Book for Kids: Try Things on Your Own, Deal with Big Feelings, and Grow Confident Along the Way (Amazon/Bookshop.org)
• Watch Dr. Kathryn’s TEDx Talk, “How to raise kids who can handle hard things”
• Get your kids started learning to do hard things with #LifeSkillsNow!
• Germ theory vs. terrain theory with Dr. Catherine Clinton
• The “Worst Mom in America” on Raising Confident Kids
• Have kids anxious about eating? Start the No More Picky Eating Challenge right now and check out my forthcoming book, The Picky Eater Playbook.

Check out my new book at raisinghealthyfamilies.com/pickybook!

• Kitchen Stewardship
• Raising Healthy Families 
• follow Katie on Instagram or Facebook
• Subscribe to the newsletter to get weekly updates
• YouTube shorts channel for HPH
• Find the Healthy Parenting Handbook at raisinghealthyfamilies.com/podcast

Affiliate links used here. Thanks for supporting the Healthy Parenting Handbook!

What if one of our most loving parenting instincts is accidentally making our kids less confident?

Oof.

As parents, we’re wired to help. To reassure. To rescue. To make the crying stop in the grocery store before everyone in aisle seven starts judging us. (You know what I mean?)

But child psychologist Dr. Kathryn Hecht says kids aren’t nearly as fragile as we sometimes treat them.

In fact, they need age-appropriate challenges to build what she calls “handleability”, that deep-down belief that says: This is hard, but I can handle it.

I absolutely loved this conversation because it gets right into the practical question so many of us are wrestling with: How do we raise kids who can actually handle hard things?

We dig into:

• Why constantly removing obstacles can undermine a child’s confidence, even when we’re doing it out of love
• The fascinating idea that kids are anti-fragile, and why some stress and challenge actually help build emotional resilience
• Why “healthy kids = happy kids” is a parenting myth we may need to toss out
• How rescuing a child brings short-term relief but can create more distress long-term
• Why our kids sometimes interpret our help as evidence that they couldn’t have handled it themselves
• What “coping efficacy” or “handleability” looks like in normal family life, without turning your home into a psychology clinic
• Why exposure therapy is much less scary than it sounds, and how parents can help kids take small, voluntary steps toward something difficult
• The difference between roller-coaster scary and horror-movie scary, and why that distinction might completely change how you help an anxious or hesitant child

Dr. Hecht has this incredible ability to take clinical psychology and turn it into language that makes you think, “Ohhhh. I can actually use this with my kid.”

And I have a feeling you’ll finish this one looking at your child’s next hard moment a little differently.

Resources We Mention for Raising Resilient Kids

• See Dr. Kathryn’s books:
  • The Be Brave Activity Book: 100 Exposure-Based Challenges That DARE Kids to Boss Back Their Worry and Anxiety Once and for All (Amazon/Bookshop.org)
  • Releasing in February 2027 – The Can-Do Activity Book for Kids: Try Things on Your Own, Deal with Big Feelings, and Grow Confident Along the Way (Amazon/Bookshop.org)
• Watch Dr. Kathryn’s TEDx Talk, “How to raise kids who can handle hard things”
• How to Raise an Adult by Julie Lythcott-Haims and my interview with Julie
• Get your kids started learning to do hard things with #LifeSkillsNow!

Check out my new book at raisinghealthyfamilies.com/pickybook!

• Kitchen Stewardship
• Raising Healthy Families 
• follow Katie on Instagram or Facebook
• Subscribe to the newsletter to get weekly updates
• YouTube shorts channel for HPH
• Find the Healthy Parenting Handbook at raisinghealthyfamilies.com/podcast

Affiliate links used here. Thanks for supporting the Healthy Parenting Handbook!

“Structure” might not be the most exciting word in parenting.

In fact, if you’re anything like me, it might sound a little too much like schedules, color-coded charts, and someone who actually knows where all the matching socks are.

I am not that person.

But here’s what I’ve learned: structure isn’t about controlling our kids. It’s one of the ways we care for them.

I was recently talking with an 11-year-old who, I realized, didn’t really have a bedtime. No adult was telling him when it was time to sleep, and he was regularly falling asleep in class. That hit me hard.

Kids need choices, absolutely. But they need choices inside a fence. They need adults who create boundaries that say, “You’re safe here. I’ve got you.”

And mealtime is one of the best places to practice this.

In this episode, I’m sharing six practical habits that can make meals healthier, calmer, and far less exhausting for parents. We’ll talk about:

• Why structure can actually reduce stress for kids instead of creating more of it
• The ridiculously simple “veggies first” system that does not require you to chop carrots at 5:47 p.m. while everyone is melting down
• Three questions we use at our table to get kids talking about when they laughed, learned, and loved
• Why parents need a good poker face at the dinner table, especially with picky eaters
• How to give kids plenty of food choices while still keeping the very important boundary that you decide what gets served
• The after-dinner rule in our house that has helped my kids become people who automatically notice when there’s work to be done
• One tiny lunch-packing habit that can save you from pulling seven containers and three utensils out of the refrigerator the next morning

You do not need to implement all six ideas tomorrow. Please don’t.

Listen for the one that makes you think, “Ohhh. We need that.”

That’s probably your action step.

Resources We Mention for Mealtime Habits for Families

• The Kimball Family Chores System helps develop good habits to make getting a clean house simpler!
• You can learn how all these habits work to solve picky eating from the No More Picky Eating Challenge and also in my upcoming book, The Picky Eater Playbook!
• My interview with Deborah MacNamara about food and family connecton
• Why kids have anxiety
• Family dinner rituals for physical and mental health
• Why “veggies first”?
• A good divided vegetable tray to try
• My interview with Shannon Miller where she talks about the three L’s
• Yes, we have nights when our kids cook dinner! Here’s how to start one.

Check out my new book at raisinghealthyfamilies.com/pickybook!

• Kitchen Stewardship
• Raising Healthy Families 
• follow Katie on Instagram or Facebook
• Subscribe to the newsletter to get weekly updates
• YouTube shorts channel for HPH
• Find the Healthy Parenting Handbook at raisinghealthyfamilies.com/podcast

Affiliate links used here. Thanks for supporting the Healthy Parenting Handbook!

Have you ever looked at your kid’s schedule and thought, “How are we supposed to fit all of this in?”

School. Sports. Music practice. Homework. Clubs. Family stuff. That giant project they somehow remember at the most inconvenient possible moment.

And then we wonder why our kids feel stressed…while we’re over here acting as the family calendar, reminder system, transportation coordinator, and human push notification.

In part one of my conversation with productivity expert Megan Sumrell, we talked about time debt and why so many of us keep carrying unfinished tasks from one day into the next.

But this time I wanted to ask a different question:

Can we teach our kids to avoid that mess before they become adults?

Because I did NOT start life with excellent planning habits. Megan didn’t either. So if we can give our tweens and teens some of these skills at 12, 15, or 18 instead of making them figure it out at 35 while juggling work and kids…yes, please.

Megan shares a very practical system for helping kids actually see their time, instead of treating everything that isn’t happening right this second as some vague place called “later.”

And parents, there are some really good ideas in here for us too.

In this interview, we dig into:

• Why Megan says most kids basically have two categories of time: “now” and “not now”
• The four levels of planning that can help students manage a whole semester without Mom becoming the Chief Information Officer
• Why writing tasks in a little box labeled “Monday” might still be nothing more than a glorified to-do list
• How one teen used her calendar to make a completely logical case for getting out of family yard work (and yes, it worked!)
• What kids should do when a teacher assigns a five-week project so it doesn’t magically become a five-hour panic session the night before
• Megan’s surprisingly helpful strategy for procrastinators who look at the thing they planned to do and think, “Nope. Don’t wanna.”
• Why you may need an actual uncertainty budget for your time, just like an emergency fund for your money
• How teaching kids these skills can eventually free parents from remembering every exam, practice, deadline, and assignment for them

One idea especially made me stop and think: Megan intentionally blocks time on her calendar for problems she doesn’t even know about yet.

Because something always comes up, right?

The internet dies. A teacher assigns something unexpected. A project takes twice as long as you thought. Somebody needs a form filled out by tomorrow morning. (Naturally.)

Instead of pretending those surprises won’t happen, Megan plans for them.

And that may be one of the most practical ways I’ve ever heard to get out of the constant cycle of, “I’ll just squeeze it in somewhere.”

If you want your kids to head toward high school, college, and adulthood knowing how to manage their own responsibilities without you constantly chasing behind them, this conversation is packed with skills worth teaching now.

Because the goal isn’t to raise kids who can cram more into every day.

It’s to raise capable humans who can look at their time, make good decisions, and know when the answer needs to be, “I actually don’t have room for that.”

Resources We Mention for Time Management for Kids

• Check out Megan’s TOP Program and the TOP Program for Students
• Get her free training here to start figuring out that time debt situation!
• Watch my first interview with Megan on to-do lists
• Workshops with Megan are available in #LifeSkillsNow Seasons Two and Three
• Denise Albright has some really fun and colorful planners and visual planning products! (Use code Katie for a discount)

Check out my new book at raisinghealthyfamilies.com/pickybook!

• Kitchen Stewardship
• Raising Healthy Families 
• follow Katie on Instagram or Facebook
• Subscribe to the newsletter to get weekly updates
• YouTube shorts channel for HPH
• Find the Healthy Parenting Handbook at raisinghealthyfamilies.com/podcast

Affiliate links used here. Thanks for supporting the Healthy Parenting Handbook!

Have you ever moved the same task from Monday’s list to Tuesday’s list...then Wednesday’s...and by Friday you’re pretty sure that task has taken up permanent residence there?

Meanwhile, you’ve accomplished 47 other things.

So why do you still feel behind?

My guest Megan has a name for this: time debt. And once she explained it, I started seeing it everywhere.

It’s a lot like financial debt. You begin today already owing yesterday, and tomorrow you’ll owe today too. Pretty soon, no amount of crossing things off feels like enough.

For parents, especially moms carrying work, kids, appointments, meals, household responsibilities, and all those invisible things somebody has to remember, that can get exhausting FAST.

But here’s where this conversation got especially interesting.

What if the problem isn’t that women need to get better at productivity?

What if some of the productivity systems we’ve been told to use simply weren’t designed with women’s lives or biology in mind?

Megan and I dig into some fascinating territory in this conversation, including:

• Why an unfinished to-do list can create time debt that compounds from day to day
• How “productive procrastination” can have you organizing a drawer while avoiding the task that actually matters
• Why advice like “Eat the Frog” might not solve the real problem
• The surprisingly important reason Megan recommends doing a time audit before trying another planning system
• Why putting your commitments somewhere visual can make you think twice before saying, “Sure, I can do that!”
• How women’s biological cycles and caregiving responsibilities may make some traditional productivity systems a poor fit
• The startling change in how many young women report feeling overwhelmed compared with college freshmen decades ago
• What you may need to stop doing, not just organize better, if you actually want to get out of time debt

And that last one may be the hardest.

Because we parents are very good at asking, “How can I fit this in?”

We’re perhaps not quite as practiced at asking, “Should this be on my list at all?”

If you’ve ever ended a very productive day wondering why you still feel like you failed, this conversation may give you a completely different way to look at your calendar, your expectations, and that task you’ve moved to tomorrow for the fourth time.

Resources We Mention for Time Debt

• Check out Megan’s TOP Program and the TOP Program for Students
• Get her free training here to start figuring out that time debt situation!
• Watch my first interview with Megan on to-do lists
• Workshops with Megan are available in #LifeSkillsNow Seasons Two and Three
• Denise Albright has some really fun and colorful planners and visual planning products! (Use code Katie for a discount)

Check out my new book at raisinghealthyfamilies.com/pickybook!

• Kitchen Stewardship
• Raising Healthy Families 
• follow Katie on Instagram or Facebook
• Subscribe to the newsletter to get weekly updates
• YouTube shorts channel for HPH
• Find the Healthy Parenting Handbook at raisinghealthyfamilies.com/podcast

Affiliate links used here. Thanks for supporting the Healthy Parenting Handbook!

Have a great summer! We'll be back in late August with new episodes of the Healthy Parenting Handbook. 

• Kitchen Stewardship
• Raising Healthy Families 
• follow Katie on Instagram or Facebook
• Subscribe to the newsletter to get weekly updates
• YouTube shorts channel for HPH
• Find the Healthy Parenting Handbook at raisinghealthyfamilies.com/podcast

Affiliate links used here. Thanks for supporting the Healthy Parenting Handbook!