Kim offers a fresh perspective on childhood anger, inviting parents to view it as a natural attempt to restore emotional balance. Anger may surface when a child feels powerless, ignored, or overwhelmed, and while it can be loud or disruptive, it is not something to fear. Using the metaphor of a blacksmith’s forge, Kim explains how parents can stay close without getting swept into the heat of the moment. Their calm presence acts like the blacksmith who patiently shapes the molten metal. With steadiness and empathy, adults can help a child begin to settle and eventually work through what caused the outburst. This approach brings dignity and compassion to one of the hardest parenting challenges.

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In this episode, Kim expands on the idea of previewing as a key parenting tool that brings calm and predictability to family life. He describes two types of previews: larger ones that look ahead to the day or week and smaller, moment-to-moment ones that guide children gently through transitions. Previewing helps children develop an inner picture of what’s to come, which in turn reduces anxiety and fosters co-regulation. This shared picture builds trust, soothes nervous systems, and even supports healthy brain development by helping children move from stress to calm thinking. Previewing becomes a quiet but powerful way of helping a child feel safe and seen.

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Kim shares a simple yet powerful approach for when things are heading in a difficult direction with children. The process includes four steps: calm it down, work it out, put it right, and move it on. He emphasizes that meaningful resolution only begins once emotions have settled, so calming the situation is the essential first step. This might involve quiet presence, gentle touch, or a calming story. Once calm has returned, parent and child can begin to reflect, understand what happened, make amends, and move forward together. These steps help children feel emotionally supported and teach valuable tools for conflict resolution and resilience.

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In this episode we hear how to help a child who insists on being helped do things they are perfectly capable of doing themselves, and how to support them in finding ways to problem solve and build greater agency and competency.

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In this episode we explore why children cling on to a parent at bedtime and refuse to sleep unless they mom/dad/caregiver is laying next to them. As always we hear about ways to help this tendency that mainly relate to establishing times of connection throughout the day.

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In this episode we explore how to help tween and teens develop a plan for when things go wrong and how to adjust in order to keep moving towards their goal.

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In this episode we explore how to sense when the moment is right to give a simple day-to-day instruction, or to have one of “those” talks that every parent need to do from time to time.

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In this episode we discuss the concept of restraint collapse and the need for decompression points to help children manage their stress. Kim also emphasizes the importance of setting up a predictable and structured after-school rhythms to ease restraint collapse. Additionally, Kim suggested incorporating decompression points and providing a calm environment to help children manage their stress and anxiety during the school day.

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When issues come up with tween and teens, how can we have conversations with them that help them feel safe to participate and work things through.

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In this episode we explore why children can enlarge their accounts of what happened when things went wrong. We break it down to three tendencies and what we can do to help a child gain a better and more accurate perspective of what happened and how we can work through the trouble spots events to a better understanding.

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