In this edition of Dr. Mindy Shaw's podcast, she has elected to do a form of review.  Over the past year, she has shared so many parenting tips and so much incredible educational guidance, it can be a lot to take in.  In this episode, she takes you through a few of her favorite topics... modeling behavior for your child, marking and noting important moments in communication and more.  As always, there is a ton of valuable insight, so enjoy....

As you may have noticed, this podcast is #52 and that means it marks one year of Dr. Mindy Shaw providing her weekly insights in podcast form.  As Dr. Shaw marks that occasion, she reviews in this podcast how her recent work efforts of writing children's nonfiction books and doing podcasts all began and what motivates her to continue to contribute in this fashion.  Also in this episode, Dr. Shaw continues to explore one of the four main principles from one of her favorite books, The Four Agreements.  In this case, it's the notion of "not taking things personally" which can be a challenge in one's own life.  Dr. Shaw delivers not only a solid interpretation of what it truly means to not take things personally, but she adds in some wonderful illustrative examples of how that principle or "agreement" can be applied effectively when taking care of and teaching young children.

In this brief episode, Dr. Shaw talks about going back to school, but not in general terms as the return to brick and mortar classrooms has a whole new meaning this year.  Dr. Shaw offers some advice on what's important and how to support our children during this time of new beginning.  The good news is that most children are quite excited about the prospect of re-joining the social situations that school days offer.  Again, this quick podcast offers some valuable insight for parents regarding their priorities at this time.

In this episode, Dr. Shaw explores a topic that came up via contact with one of the families in her circle of friends and it is the subject of stress.  Different people react differently to stressful stimuli... some of us have a short fuse when stressed while others among us may close down emotionally when dealing with stress. She discusses how one needs to identify the stress and initiate a strategy to deal with it rather than allow the stress to overwhelm our emotions. What we don't want is for the stress to disrupt the way we behave with those we love, and what we do want is to not only handle the stress as best we can, but to model our successful strategies for our children.

In this episode, Dr. Shaw returns to her discussion about the content in the Q&A section of her parenting book called I LIKE HOW YOU SPEAK TO ME... A PARENT'S GUIDE TO EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION WITH CHILDREN.   She has a section in that book that covers her "ten most frequently asked questions" which come from parents and educators who are fans of her podcast.  That Q&A makes up the closing section of her parenting guide, and if offers up some very practical applications of the content offered up in the first half of her book which are Dr. Shaw's 10 governing principles for effective communication with children.  This week, she dives into 10th question from the Q&A and that is... "Are there any subjects that are taboo to discuss with children?"   It's a challenging question as each family has different values and mores, but as she reads through the answer to that question in her book, Dr. Shaw covers some important ground and offers a solid point of view on the answer to that question.

In this episode, Dr. Shaw explores one of the four main principles from one of her favorite books, The Four Agreements.  In this case, it's the notion of being "impeccable with your word" which can be a challenge in one's own life.  Dr. Shaw's interpretation is that you must not go against yourself or be negative regarding your own actions.  She deftly ties that concept into parenting and teaching, and she talks about how it is important in education to support the learning lessons they encounter.  She also emphasizes that when there is a problem, the problem does not define a person, and children need to be supported in the notion of who they really are.

In this episode, Dr. Shaw examines the notion of children having good manners. Interestingly, her first children's picture book for social and emotional learning was called "Good Manners."  The podcast begins with the question... is there a right and wrong way to do something?   Some things are subjective, but in the discussion of whether a child is "spoiled" or not it's not as clear.  Dr. Shaw's philosophy is that behavior equals need and there is nothing wrong with getting one's needs met.  If a child is overly getting what they WANT and not necessarily what they need, it could lead to a lack of appreciation.  But good manners is important... saying "please" and "thank you" is a simply way of not sounding bossy and of creating a momentary acknowledgement of appreciation.

In this episode, Dr. Shaw uses an example of communication among adults to illustrate a successful strategy for communication with children. Her train of thought begins with an example of two adults communicating in which one or both of the adults might become defensive during a conversation. Her suggestion for the adults is to not be defensive but to be accommodating in terms of solving the mis-communication. She then turns that into a model for children which leads to a discussion about when to accommodate and when to have no room for negotiation with a child.  It comes down to clarity and respect within the adult-child communication, and once again, it's best to hear her description of these effective strategies, and you can do so in this episode.

In this episode, Dr. Shaw shares a recent revelation about her work... that the "material" of life and the experiences of daily living provide the most true path to personal growth and learning.  For Dr. Shaw, the revelation was that her series of 22 children's picture books for social and emotional learning was very much inspired by daily conversations with fellow educators as much as it was by her extensive in-classroom experience.   It's best to hear her share her thoughts, and she does that in this brief but profound podcast.

Once again this week, Dr. Shaw has postponed further discussion about her new parenting book in order to lead a helpful discussion for parents on a slightly different topic.  Her book is a guide for effective communication with children, and in actuality, the topic of this podcast is not unrelated to that subject matter.  This discussion is related to parents and their modeling of behavior for children, and the question that Dr. Shaw explores here is... if a parent or caretaker has a limitation in a particular area, how should that adult behave around a child so that the limitations of the adult do not create a limiting environment for the child.  Dr. Shaw shares examples and offers strategies for how to do what's best for the child's development.