This week our house has been germ central which reminded us just how hard it is to juggle work while trying to mind a sick child. Heartfelt hugs going out to all the parents who found themselves juggling that nightmare this week. As always we have three very different anonymous emailers bravely looking for guidance on three very different kid scenarios.

Question 1- 

Our first question is actually about how applicable general advice is to neurodiverse kids. A mom gets in touch to ask whether general parenting tips can be applied to every child, especially kids with additional needs. 

Question 2. 

An exhausted mum reaches out for help with the terrible tantrums of her two year old. The constant whining and crying is driving her round the twist. How can she make it stop? How can she get her house to be a happy home again? 

Question 3- 

Definitely our toughest question yet. A worried parent gets in touch about her very young daughter’s anxiety issues. With behaviours ranging from school refusal to full blown panic attacks, this mum definitely needs help. Where can she get it though? How can we help her while she waits for the services she requires to access the care ahead of she needs. 

Thank you for tuning into another episode of Honey You’re Ruining Our Kid. If you need any help email us at [email protected]. If you want more? Pop on over to Patreon for the juicy stuff. Jarlath Regan | creating Irishman Abroad Podcasts | Patreon

Meeting the principal of your kid's school when you are not happy with what is happening there is very tough. How can you get the most out of these meetings? Tina has experience from both sides of the fence. Is your kid a bit of daredevil? How do you reign them in without crushing that adventurous spirit? When a kid regresses to wetting themselves over a certain age, what do you do? This jam packed episode continues over on www.patreon.com/irishmanabroad.

Here are Tina's questions:

Question 1- 

A mom gets in touch about her thrill seeking daughter and how stressful it is to manage her kid's cowgirl dreams. Jarlath gets super honest about his feelings towards ponies and horses and once I catch my breath from laughing, we try and come up with a plan. 

Question 2. 

What do you do if your son’s teacher is being "extra mean" to him and taking away lunchtimes, isolating him from his friends? How can you help your child survive his days at school? Can you reach out to the teacher in an attempt to get her to change her ways?

Question 3. 

It’s hard to believe that some parents walk out on their families but unfortunately this is a reality that some children have to learn to live with. Rejection affects us all in different ways. In this case a little eight year old boy has started to wet and soil himself. A very worried mom gets in touch begging for help. We think this regression in toilet training is a result of another behavioural factor. If we can guide this mom is surviving this storm hopefully we can get her boy back to himself soon. 

Pop on over to Patreon for the extra parenting content. This week we take a super dive into the challenge that is parenting teens. Jarlath Regan | creating Irishman Abroad Podcasts | Patreon

Welcome back to another episode of Honey You’re Ruining Our Kid. What a week we have had, thank you to everyone who is coming out to Jarlath’s shows. We love getting to meet you guys. 

If you have any questions do not hesitate to email us here at [email protected]. No question is too big or too small. 

We open the show talking about Tina’s time on the Pat Kenny show this week. With school refusal being such a huge problem, what are parents supposed to do and how are schools able to help? 

If you need help with this or anything like this email is at [email protected]. 

Question 1- 

Teenage life is incredibly hard to navigate. Trying not to keep your child close and not lose them completely during those years is all consuming. This week an exhausted mother gets in touch in need of an intervention with her rebellious teenage daughter. It’s Jarlath who has the advice this lady needs this week. Introducing her to an incredible book that has changed his approach to parenting. As always we recommend checking out Jigsaw.ie.  A free online parenting resource available to all. 

Question 2 -

If your child is aggressive and struggling at school how do you decipher whether they are just misbehaving or if they have additional needs? We try our best to point this parent in the direction of the avenues they need to go down for help. 

Question 3- 

Sleep deprivation is no joke. This week a family gets in touch about their three year old's sleep regression. After going on a cosy holiday where all the rules when out the window, they are now home and really struggling to get their toddler to sleep in his own bed. Is it possible to get him back on track? Tune in and follow our few simple steps to getting your child to sleep in their own bed again. 

For more pop on over to Patreon to hear the extra bits. Jarlath Regan | creating Irishman Abroad Podcasts | Patreon 

Thank you so much for tuning in. Please spread the word if you can. Don’t forget to subscribe, listen and share. 

And just like that a new year is here and we are all full of hope for the year ahead. Many parents making resolutions to do and wishing they had better kids. Worry not because myself and Jarlath are here to help. Email us at [email protected] with any concerns and we will get back to you with a workable plan. 

Question 1- 

Parenting as good cop vs bad cop never really works out. One parent always ends up feeling taken for granted and burned out. This week a mom gets in touch about feeling isolated from her boys. She has approached her husband and revealed how she feels out of the loop and not part of the gang. He thinks she’s imagining this. She wants help getting through this situation and through to him. 

Question 2- 

Has an Xbox arrived into your home and ruined everything. Stress not! First of all you are not alone. Secondly there is help and solutions to take the power back. This week we help a mom and dad who thought bringing an Xbox into their life would make their kids happy, instead they are grumpier and more strung out than ever before. 

Question 3. 

An embarrassed mom gets in touch with a very tricky situation. Her daughter found her naughty drawer and is eager to know why her mom needs to use a dildo. We tease out all the possible paths this mom can take making sure feeling any shame about having a naughty drawer is not one of them. 

Does your kid refuse to talk to you? Pop on over to Patreon for the extra bits - that's exactly what we are talking about over there this week.

Jarlath Regan | creating Irishman Abroad Podcasts | Patreon

We have three very different parenting scenarios to discuss today on the podcast. Welcome to the Christmas episode of Honey You’re Ruining Our Kid. Our very last episode of 2023. We want to say a huge thank you to all of you sound heads!! You guys are the reason our show is growing and growing. We are so grateful to you, our listeners, for making our show what it is today. There will be no podcasts over the Christmas holidays but emails, as always, will remain open. Get in touch anytime, we will be there for you, email - [email protected]. 

Question 1- Unsupervised 14 Year Old Vacation?

At what age is it appropriate for your teenagers to go away on holidays together? A very worried mum has gotten in touch to see if she’s being unfair by not allowing her 14 year old daughter to go away on an unsupervised holiday. Is she being unreasonable? Are other parents allow similar trips?

Question 2- Coping With Grief.

We all cope and deal with grief in our own way. When grown ups struggle with grief how can we expect our children to be able to understand or comprehend what they are going through. In this week's episode we try our best to help a mom guide her child through the loss of not only her grandad but her father as well. 

Question 3-  My Kid Won't Talk To Me?

A mom and dad get in touch about their struggle to get their 11 year old daughter to open up. How do we help our children process their feelings, reflect on their day and then get to a place where they want to share their experience with their parents?

We hope everyone has a very special Christmas holiday season. Podcasts will be back in January but emails will remain open. Pop any question over to [email protected]. 

Over on Patreon Tina examines the options facing parents who regret getting upset with their kids at Christmas. How to best walk it back without losing respect?

Jarlath Regan | creating Irishman Abroad Podcasts | Patreon

Heads and hearts are low at the moment. Everyone feeling particularly helpless while we just watch on as the devastation unfolds in Gaza. Very hard to feel like celebrating anything, never mind Christmas. In today's episode we talk about getting there for the sake of our children. Christmas magic is essential for them but so hard to conjure. Reminding them that there is always some light is flipping hard and not helped by the deadlines of the year.

Question 1- 

What do you do when your toilet training has been a total disaster. Christmas is just around the corner and your child keeps ruining their clothes, carpets and bed!! When toilet training isn’t working and is actually causing turmoil, is it okay to shelve it and start again at a later date? 

Question 2- 

While scrolling through her daughter's phone this mum finds out that her daughter has started having sex with her boyfriend. While reaching out to us for advice is the scariest question we’ve ever received our advice is unanimous. It’s time to mom up, your personal feelings need to be put to one side and you need to be there for your young woman. 

Question 3- 

Favouring one child over the other, carving out more time for some grandchildren than others? The emotional impact this leaves on our lives is sometimes too hard to bare. In this episode we try our best to help this mum navigate the emotionally exclusionary situation she finds herself in. 

If you have any parenting questions please email them over to [email protected]. Or follow us on Instagram. 

Pop on over to Patreon to hear the extra mail about a dad struggling to get his son to love sport. Jarlath Regan | creating Irishman Abroad Podcasts | Patreon

We are not alone in parenting tricky kids. With Christmas just around the corner how do you manage your kids expectations. How do you get them to follow your lead and appreciate the Christmas magic? Tina offers advice based on her 20 years of experience in early years education and Jarlath brings the funny on 3 superb listener questions.

Question 1-  What do you do when you tiny little human won’t let you change their nappy. Tina helps this mum manage the changing time stress by giving her three very workable strategies to wrangle this wriggler. 

Question 2 - Together as parents we all know the pain that comes along with screens and screen addiction. It’s nearly impossible to avoid gaming and all the behaviours that come along with it. In this episode Tina and Jar try to empower a dad to set boundaries in his home.

Question 3 - If your kid can’t stop asking ‘why’ questions? What can you do?

Thank you to everyone whose been getting in touch. Email us any question to [email protected]. 

Pop on over to Patreon to listen into the juicy and way too honest stuff. www.patreon.com/irishmanabroad

Welcome to the annual books edition of Honey You’re Ruining Our Kid. Our picks of the year and the reasons why you need certain books in your life. All the books recommended can help you contend with the most common issues we have been emailed about in 2023.

Huge thanks to all our lovely listeners who shared their parenting book recommendations. Massive thank you to the wonderful Helen Carr who got in touch with the most beautiful books for your Xmas stockings this Christmas. 

We run through all our favourite books that we think are essential for your children’s bookshelf. 

Debi Giliori - No Matter what. 

Owl Babies- Martin Waddell.

The Invisible String - Patrice Karst. 

Arlo the Lion- Catherine Rayner. 

How Do You Feel - Lizzy Rockwell. 

Llama Llama Mad At Mama- Anna Dewday. 

Millie Fierce- Jane Manning. 

Where Happiness Begins - Evo Eland. 

Breathing Makes It Better- Christopher Willard and Wendy O Leary. 

The Unbudgeable Curmudgeon- Matthew Burgess. 

Big Feelings - Alexandra Penfold. 

Ellen Ryan - Girls who slay monster.  And her new book: Gods Don’t Cry. 

Let’s Talk …. Richie Sadlier. 

Parenting books:

Good Enough - Dr. Becky 

Brainstorm & The Whole Brain Child - both by Dan  Siegel. 

The 4-7 zone - Dr Colman Noctor. 

The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read - Philippa Perry. 

Irish books for gifts this Christmas. 

https://obrien.ie/tread-softly

https://obrien.ie/its-too-dark-puffling

https://obrien.ie/twin-power-the-lost-cup

https://obrien.ie/sally-in-the-city-of-dreams

Shout out to Threshold listening library an incredible online resource for parents this Christmas. Threshold Listening Libraries

Email us on [email protected]

Join us on www.patreon.com/irishmanabroad to access bigger episodes and the full archive of bonus content.

Can you ban non-believers from your house at Christmas? One Mom just did it! Tina has a way of keeping the magic alive. 

Question 1 - what do you do if you're raising a Harry Houdini? If you can’t relax in your house because you never know what your little adventurer is up to, you need to hear this one.

Question 2- when your child is rude to your friends and family what can you do? When they refuse to engage socially how do you get them to start interacting with people. These parents say they are already modelling their desired behaviour they want from their kids? But are they prepping them? Find out how to successfully navigate social gatherings with your children. 

Question 3: if you grew up in a house with an aggressive sibling what do you do when you see similar patterns of behaviour emerging in your own child. How do you help them cope? Teaching them how to process and reflect upon their emotions is key. Think sheets are incredibly helpful for encouraging older children to reflect on their behaviour and recognise what caused them to act out in the first place. 

If you have a parenting question fire it over to us at [email protected]. No question is too big or too small. 

Head on over to Patreon to hear the juicy stuff. www.patreon.com/irishmanabroad

Over on Patreon with hear from a mum who Tina has spent a lot of time working with. She gives an update on her kids situation which makes Tina feel like she can finally relax the cax about this situation. 

The Regan’s are back with another episode of Honey You’re Ruining Our kid, accompanied by the tranquil sound effects of storm Debi. Jarlath and Tina start the show talking about the storms that can pass through our own parenting life. How do we navigate them? How do we get over them and how do learn from them? 

Question 1.

When you’re separated from your partner, but you’ve been co-parenting really well for years, what do you do when they move house and start moving the rules. How can you reach them and get them to understand your worries? Or do you need to just have these open conversations with your kids? 

Question 2. 

If your child is about to have surgery how do you manage their anxiety and yours? Jarlath has brilliant advice for this mum. Through lived experience he knows the most important care is the after care. He directs this mum to seek that out. 

Question 3.

If you’re already trying everything what can you do to possibly help your child with their separation anxiety. Tina traces everything back to feelings and if our children know how to process them. There is never too much work that can be done on feelings. We need to help our children understand and face them. 

Pop over to Patreon to get so much more Honey! You're Ruining Our Kid! laughs and email replies. How did the advice work out for the parents involved. What do you do when your teenager is starting to push your buttons on purpose! Email [email protected]