While it can be valuable to learn parenting tips and tools, it can also be helpful to learn how to apply those tips and tools to real situations! In this episode, you’ll hear answers to parents’ questions about what to do when a child gets upset when they receive positive feedback and how to address a child whose initial reaction is to scream -- even when they know they’re not supposed to.

After a year of spending so much (sometimes negative) time with your children, you may feel that your relationship with them isn’t where you want it to be. But you may not know how to improve things except to “spend more positive time with them”...which you may not have the time or desire to do! And maybe you’ve even tried to improve your relationship, but your children are resistant. In this episode, you’ll learn how to make “micro deposits”-- actions that don’t take much time and that will improve the likelihood that your children will actually want more positive moments with you.

As we’ve been home with our children more for the last year, one of the most difficult parts is that we haven’t gotten time for ourselves. For many of us, this lack of alone time has led to less patience, less connection with our kids, and a lot more Yuck (in everyone). And even though we know we need more time to ourselves, we may not know how to find it. In this episode, I’ll offer 3 tips for getting that time that you need so that you can start to find your patience, give your children what they need, and shift the tone in your home.

When a child is in the middle of a negative behavior, mood, or attitude, it’s hard to get them out of it. (Even if you’re able to, it takes a lot of energy.) The reality is, it is more efficient to teach children how to act differently when they’re NOT in that negative place. But who wants to talk about negative behavior after it’s happened? Often children will be resistant to these conversations… or the conversations don’t lead to change. In this episode, you’ll learn the 3 steps to a positive conversation -- one that is more connective and is much more likely to lead to positive change in future behavior.

You may want to talk to your children about topics like race and diversity and inclusion, but how do you bring up these topics? When should you start talking about them, and what should you say? In this episode, guest expert Ebone’ Granger will share her tips on what to say to your children to foster race consciousness (with tips for children of different ages) and what to do if you haven’t started these conversations yet. She’ll also offer tips about how to handle it when others engage in conversations with your children that conflict with what you’re teaching them.

Many of us learned as children that if things were difficult, we should just suck it up and push through it. In reality, when we just suck it up and push through it, Yuck builds up inside of us and negatively affects how we treat others and how we deal with situations. In this episode, you’ll learn how YOUR Yuck dumps can lead to better behavior, moods and attitudes in you and your children. You’ll also learn a simple question to ask yourself to start your Yuck dump and how to make sure your Yuck dump doesn’t turn into wallowing.

While it can be valuable to learn parenting tips and tools, it can also be helpful to learn how to apply those tips and tools to real situations. In this episode, you’ll hear answers to parents’ specific questions about what we can do as parents to help us pause before reacting, which tools siblings need to get along (and how to teach those tools without condoning negative behavior), and what to do when a child is being defiant.

Most children lie at some point, whether it’s over something small or something big. Of course any parent is likely to feel angry and concerned when a child lies. Unfortunately, when our responses come from a place of anger and concern, we usually respond in a way that doesn’t address the issue effectively. In this episode, you’ll learn 3 reasons children lie (it’s not just to avoid punishment), why our usual attempts to address lying tend to backfire… and how we can use a different strategy to reduce this behavior now and in the future.

We’re depleted, and often we don’t know how to break out of the cycle of exhaustion we’re caught in. One of the simplest ways out of this cycle, however, takes one of the simplest actions: Choose different thoughts. In this episode, you’ll learn about the concept of “neutral thinking” -- a strategy that may help even if you’ve struggled with affirmations or thinking positively. You’ll also learn how this strategy can save you energy and help you parent from a place of your values rather than a place of your Yuck.

You know it’s important to set rules and boundaries if you want to raise responsible, resilient children. But how do you set rules and boundaries that children will actually follow? In this episode, you’ll learn the components of “effective” expectations. You’ll also learn 3 questions to ask yourself going forward if you want to set realistic boundaries for your children that lead to success rather than power struggles.