You might have fond memories of sleepovers as a child, I know I do! It seems that now, sleepovers are much more controversial, and with good reason. I'm not here to tell you if you should or shouldn't let your child have a sleepover. Today on The Heartful Parent Podcast, I will help you weigh the benefits and the risks so you can make the decision that is right for you, your family, and your kiddo.

Then if you decide that the benefits outweigh the risks for your family, I'm giving you practical tips that can help you and your child be prepared. There are 3 key steps to implement if sleepovers will be a part of your child's experience:

1. Prepare your child.
2. The conversation you should have with the other family/families involved.
3. What to do (and not do) when you pick your child up & how to have a post-sleepover conversation with your kiddo.

I'm giving tips for all 3 steps. Brain and body safety is the goal, so let's work together to make sure you have the tools you need.

If this conversation leaves you needing or wanting more, I would love to hear from you or have you join me in The Heartful Parent Academy. The Academy has all newly-developed content to support you in your parenting journey and the membership (which requires no long-term commitment) dives deeper into the Heartful Parenting Practices I touch on in the Podcast. Get more information at theheartfulparent.com/heartful-parent-academy.

Resources:

Recommended Reading –– books on many parenting topics

Are You Trapping Your Child in a Lie? –– blog article on post-playdate conversations

Dr. Samantha Radford joins me on The Heartful Parent Podcast today. She is here to help us use a combination of scientific research with wellness and self-care to promote non-toxic living in our homes. As the owner of Evidence-Based Mommy, she focuses her work on helping families thrive in an attainable way.

Dr. Radford and I dig into the places (and things) in our lives where our babies and kids might be exposed to toxic chemicals. She also explains why some of the things to watch out for are more dangerous to kids than adults. And she gives some great practical tips on how to make a shift towards cleaner living if you are on a budget and the all-organic-all-the-time idea is not a good fit for your family.

You can find out more about all of Dr. Radford's work and her offerings for families, mothers, and breastfeeding moms on her website evidence-basedmommy.com. And make sure you check out her podcast, Evidence-based Mommy. (Sunscreen episode linked below.) And finally, her FREE download From Sunscreen to Cleaning Products packed full of even more information on how to incorporate some non-toxic living components into your life.

If you need some parenting support ––The Heartful Parent Collective could be a great place to start. Email me: [email protected], sign up for my newsletter, or learn more on my website: theheartfulparent.com.

Resources:

Dirty Dozen

Clean 15

Non-toxic sunscreens for babies and kids––Sunscreen episode from Dr. Radford's podcast

evidence-basedmommy.com Dr. Samatha Radford's website

Breastfeeding Beyond Babyhood Event -- April 2024

Sunscreen to Cleaning Products download

Today on The Heartful Parent Podcast we're diving into a thought-provoking topic––food, eating, & how we're feeding our children. Julie Zivah is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and Parenting Educator who aims to coach clients toward meaningful relationships with their bodies, people, and nourishment. She is here and invites you to start thinking critically about feeding your children and figure out what really works for you.

Julie gives us counterbalance to food rules and restrictions which is a value based framework called responsive feeding. It is rooted in 5 values: autonomy, relationships, competence, intrinsic motivation, and the whole child. Not only does Julie explain these values she extends three invitations (plus a bonus) on how to get you started on a path to responsive feeding.

Julie has some great resources which you can find at her website zivahcoaching.com. And she extends an invitation for you to sign up for her FREE office hours (starting in September) where you can join her and other parents to ask feeding or parenting questions in a supportive environment. She would also love to hear from you –– [email protected].

Resources:

Ellyn Satter's Division of Responsibility in Feeding

Dr. Jo Cormack - Child Feeding Specialist

Dr. Katja Rowell - The Feeding Doctor

Q&A with the author of Love Me, Feed Me

Naureen Hunani - Pediatric Dietitian

We all love to share and it has become second nature to post that cute or funny picture of our kiddos, but it is time to pump the breaks and think twice. Today on the Heartful Parent Podcast, I welcome Fareedah Shaheed, an award-winning Internet Safety Expert, who is here to talk to us about the aspects of cyber security that parents need to be thinking about.

Fareedah's background is in cyber security and threat intelligence, but her best advice comes from her own experiences in the online gaming world and noticing how what she sees people post on social media can threaten their family's safety (even if you only have a handful of followers).

Fareedah and I dig into identifying the risks of posting certain types of photos or information online, the importance of modeling the type of behavior you want to see, and being intentional about not only what you are taking a picture of, but what else can be seen or gathered from the background of the photos you are posting.

There are 13 specific photos you should not post, which Fareedah shares in her FREE download. These photos fall into three main groups:

• any photo that exposes your child in any way (diaper, bathing suit, bathtub, etc.)
• vacation or location information specific photos
• photos with specific personal/private information (birth announcement, school report card, etc.)

Get the list of photos and many other free resources at Fareedah's FREE Resource Library. Connect with her at her website: cyberfareedah.com and find her on Instagram (@cyberfareedah) and YouTube youtube.com/CyberFareedah

Resources:

Fareedah Shaheed's website: cyberfareedah.com

FREE Resource Library

Instagram: @cyberfareedah

Fareedah's YouTube Channel

This is a continuation of the conversation from Episode 25: Heartful Parenting Practice: STOP Saying "Stranger Danger". This week, I have author and professor Dr. Paul Renfro with me to share thought-provoking evidence in the harm of the phrase "Stranger Danger". Dr. Renfro wrote the book Stranger Danger: Family Values, Childhood, and the American Carceral State which speaks to the history and notion of this phrase that we were taught (and possibly continue to teach our own children) in the interest of safety.

We dig into the details about how the phrase came about and why it is harmful to the practicality of keeping our kids safe. Dr. Renfro and I discuss perception versus reality in terms of how few strangers actually harm our children. In addition to the threat to children being much closer to home, the phrase Stranger Danger has also marginalized people of color and the LGBTQ population by perpetuating the idea that people in these groups are more likely to mean harm to children, which is 100% factually inaccurate.

Listen and share this episode of the podcast to help spread the message that there are better ways to promote safety with our children. The Heartful Parent Academy can give you a comprehensive approach to parenting from a place of love and connection. I would love to see you join us there! b

Resources:

Stranger Danger: Family Values, Childhood, and the American Carceral State by Paul Renfro

Let Grow Organization

Free-Range Kids: How Parents and Teachers Can Let Go and Let Grow by Lenore Skenazy

"Stranger Danger!" –– We all learned it and you may have taught it to your kids in the interest of keeping them safe, but it doesn't! The danger of abduction or kidnapping is actually very low (come back next week for more on that with Dr. Paul Renfro). In the meantime, I'm sharing with you why the phrase "Stranger Danger" needs to be completely eliminated from our lexicon and what we should be teaching our kids instead to be safe.

This includes 3 important points:

• Kids do not view strangers the same way adults do
• It is actually dangerous for kids to be afraid of all strangers
• 93% of child sexual abuse occurs at the hands of someone you know; not a stranger

We do need our kids to be savvy and smart to be safe, not afraid! There are tools to help and I'm sharing what to teach instead of Stranger Danger.

This Heartful Parenting Practice is one of many valuable tools in The Heartful Parent Academy. There are 13 core modules to give you the tools you need on your parenting journey. The membership (which requires no long-term commitment) also comes with all the course work, community support, and additional support from me. Get more information at theheartfulparent.com/heartful-parent-academy.

Resources:

Stranger Danger: Family Values, Childhood, and the American Carceral State by Paul Renfro

Today I have the pleasure of talking with Parent & Enneagram Coach, Valerie Tih on The Heartful Parent Podcast! She is the founder of JoyFULL Coaching and she frames her work around helping parents who feel frustrated by the gap between who they want to be as a parent and the day-to-day reality of parenting. Valerie transforms outdated parenting paradigms into research-based Positive Discipline frameworks based on the latest brain science, the Enneagram, and best practices.

Valerie and I have a lot of overlap with our work with Positive Discipline, but today we are talking about how your Enneagram number can begin to bridge how you show up in hard moments with the parent you want to be. Enneagram does more than tell you about your personality; when used properly, it can shed a lot of light on your strengths AND your "blindspots". In this episode, Valerie explains all this and gives practical tips (and an acronym!) to help us become more calm and confident in our parenting.

Get more from Valerie by following her on Instagram @joyfullcoaching, Facebook - JoyFULL Coaching, and LinkedIn - Valerie Tih. And go to her website joyfullcoaching.ca to access a FREE download and learn more about her courses. Use coupon code HEARTFELT to get 20% off Valerie's Enneagram Discovery Package, which you can purchase HERE.

I would also love to help you bring more love, joy, and connection to your parenting, partnering, and professional lives. Sign up to get resources from me delivered right to your inbox! And I hope you'll consider joining my community The Heartful Parent Academy. There is no long term commitment to join and check out all the great content I have developed for you!

Teaching our children about consent can be one of the "awwww…I know!" conversations with our kids, but it doesn't have to be! Today, Consent Educator and founder of Comprehensive Consent, Sarah Casper joins me on The Heartful Parent Podcast to share her story of how she got into the work of teaching consent (trust me, it's a totally unexpected reason!). And Sarah shares how she uses social-emotional learning theory and practices to equip young people (and their adults) with the knowledge and skills they need to navigate body boundaries and create healthy relationships.

Sarah emphasizes the use of generalizable skills that aren't about sex, but about navigating your body, and your boundaries, in a way that is safe and respectful. She talks about how these basic skills and conversations will lay the groundwork for teaching consent in a low stakes environment so it becomes natural for our kids and teens when the stakes become higher. Sarah also shares how to use a "game of scenarios" that can help tweens and teens have conversations with us and develop their critical thinking without making them feel that they are getting talked at.

Connect with Sarah on Instagram @comprehnsiveconsent and find information about workshops and programs at her website comprehensiveconsent.com

If you would like more information about teaching consent, navigating body boundaries, or just need some parenting support ––The Heartful Parent Collective could be a great place to start. Email me: [email protected], sign up for my newsletter, or learn more on my website: theheartfulparent.com.

Casey O'Roarty, Positive Discipline Lead Trainer and Coach joins me on The Heartful Parent Podcast today, and I'm thrilled to have her here! Casey's work encourages parents of teenagers to discover the purpose of their journey, while also providing them with tools and a shift of mindset that allows them to deepen their relationships with themselves and their families.

Casey and I agree that our purpose is to foster open, heartful connection with our teens and young adult children. Casey and I dig into what to do, as parents, when our teens or young adult children are making choices we don't like, are unsafe or dangerous, or have consequences they didn't anticipate. It truly isn't about preventing them from making such choices (it's not possible!), but how to make sure they come to us when they do and help them think critically and problem-solve in these situations.

Casey gives tips on how to "stay deep" in curiosity, what questions to ask and not to ask. She also guides us to come from a place of neutral and how to practice this skill before we need it.

To learn more about Casey and the work she does follow her on Instagram: @joyful_courage or Facebook and also find more about her classes and coaching opportunities on her website besproutable.com/teens

The Heartful Parent Collective also has so many ways to provide support. The Heartful Parent Academy has all newly-developed content to support you in your parenting journey and the membership (which requires no long-term commitment) comes with course work, community support, and additional support from me. Get more information at theheartfulparent.com/heartful-parent-academy.

Resources:

Joyful Courage: Calming the Drama and Taking Control of Your Parenting Journey

I'm getting real with you today on The Heartful Parent Podcast! I'm sharing a personal story about a [very recent] time I didn't use the techniques of Positive Discipline––instead I let my anger get the best of me. Instead, I spoke to my daughter from a place of fear, frustration, and disbelief; I let the imperfect human side of me win out over the so-called "parent expert" side of me.

BUT, it's not all bad! My relationship with my kid and my ability to *tolerate* myself were both repaired fairly quickly, which is why I'm sharing this story with you today. I'm digging into the 3 reasons why the repair happened quickly and successfully, and that part does go back to the elements of Positive Discipline that have laid a strong foundation within my parenting and my family.

If you would like to learn more about how you can begin to implement Positive Discipline into your own parenting, we would love to see you in The Heartful Parent Academy! We dig deep into so many useful tools including the 4Rs of Recovery that I mention in today's episode.

Learn more HERE.

If you need support, reach out! I would love to hear from you! [email protected]