The Knowledgeable Parent

Parents often walk into the playroom with one urgent question: How do I stop my child from being aggressive? There is no one-size-fits-all switch. The better path is understanding why the behavior is happening.

In this episode Emily Learing, a licensed marriage and family therapist and mom, shares practical, easy-to-follow strategies to prepare your family for the school year—focusing on sleep and eating routines, morning logistics, practice runs (walking/bus), open-house tips, and handling separation anxiety.

She emphasizes easing transitions, setting realistic expectations for the first week, and giving kids grace as they adjust, with concrete actions you can start in the final days of summer.

Host Emily Learing explores why adults instinctively say "no" to children, when "no" is necessary for safety, and when it comes from adult anxiety or control. Using practical examples — from playground risks and messy play to clothing rules and decision-making — she explains how stepping back can build children’s independence, resilience, and creativity.

Listeners are invited to reflect on their instincts, try alternatives to automatic refusals, and give children safe chances to explore, fail, and learn for themselves.

In this episode of "The Knowledgeable Parent Podcast," host and therapist Emily Lehring argues that the common parental advice, "just don't play with them," is an unhealthy response when a child says someone was mean to them.

She explains that this approach fails to teach children the crucial life skill of managing conflict and maintaining relationships, which they will need with teachers, coworkers, and partners later in life. It also prevents the other child from learning from their behavior and robs the parent's own child of the chance to practice self-advocacy.

Instead of giving immediate advice, Lehring suggests parents should:

Ask open-ended questions to understand the full story.

Reflect their child's feelings to encourage them to share more.

Help their child explore different solutions, empowering them to navigate the situation rather than just avoiding it.

In this episode, Emily explains what play therapy is and who is responsible for regulating this field of therapy. Then she explains some common misconceptions of play therapy and offers some clarification and other view points of those misconceptions to help parents, referral sources and other mental health professionals to understand what to expect when a child is participating in play therapy with a Registered Play Therapist or therapist in training.

Links: 

Association of Play Therapy: https://www.a4pt.org/

In this episode, Emily talks with Kristin Wittmayer OT/R from MoveU about sensory processing and the use of listening programs to address symptoms of sensory processing. Kristin shares some basic information about sensory processing and what is going on in the central nervous system when a person experiences distress and shares how listening programs can help to calm the central nervous system so that the child can face stress, distress and challenges with a more regulated state and clear mind. She also touches on how parents can best support children who engage in this service.

In today's episode, Emily Learing is joined by Adam Learing, the business manager of Encompass Mental Health. They dig into the confusing issues of health insurance, breaking down jargon to help you understand your financial responsibilities when seeking mental health care.

In this episode, Emily meets with Elly Keller of Clear Minded Counseling to discuss Parent Child Interaction Therapy, or PCIT, as an intervention for children’s behavioral concerns. During the conversation, Keller shares information about what to expect in the PCIT process, populations who may benefit from the service and frequently asked questions.