Childproof

Does getting mad make you bad? Absolutely not. A lot of folks grew up being told to bottle up their feelings and that carries long term consequences. The cycle breakers are trying to uncork their own bottles while helping their kids avoid the bottling thing altogether. We’re like really messed up genies. Only we can’t grant wishes. On this episode of childproof we talk about when we can feel all t...

On today’s episode of childproof, we hear you. No. Really, we do. Yeah, we’re doing all the talking but it’s a podcast. This one is about listening though and sometimes, as parents, it’s hard to feel heard while also active listening. So, no we can’t actually hear you but we can discuss active listening and some of the wild things we have to active listen to our children say. And sometimes correct...

Parenting with and through anxiety can give a person anxiety. How do I overcome my irrational (and sometimes rational) fears to let my children grow up with a healthy relationship with their own fear and anxiety? If being a worrywart is contagious, how do I make sure I’m avoiding anxious sneezing all over my kids? A few mental tricks, a few just biting down and doing it scared, and a little exposu...

What do you mean I have to choose every meal I eat for the rest of my life? What do you mean I’m responsible for choosing what most everyone in this house eats for the foreseeable future?  And I have to pick outfits. And extracurriculars. And snacks. And bedtimes. And time management. And that’s a lot of choices and I do not feel qualified to make them. Shouldn’t someone more responsible and wise...

Spooky season has begun which means many of us are beginning to shop for Halloween costumes. Unless you’re like tori in which case you’ve got weeks until you have to worry about it. Mood, honestly. This episode we discuss how Halloween costumes trigger Gwenna’s childhood trauma, how to help your kid deal with comparisons, overcompensating, and projecting. (Okay well, the projecting this is mostly...

It’s that time again. Tori and Gwenna dive into the inbox and the comment sections to see what you really want to talk about. From over-thinking (which we are professionals at) to bathing in children’s tears, we cover a lot of ground. We’re just following your lead here. We love email round ups because it always makes us feel a little less alone. A little less odd. A little more comforted that if...

Human beings are sort of built to complain. It helps us regulate, it can make us feel better, and it sometimes helps us work out a solution to whatever we’re complaining about. But there’s a limit to everything and the limit for complaining is pretty low. When you get stuck in a complain chain, it can feel impossible to get out of that negative cycle of thinking. How do you break yourself and your...

A recent Harris Poll found as released and had internet parents in an uproar. Tori and Gwenna had a bit of a different take. In a data driven world, how do you cut through the click bait headlines to see what the data is actually describing. Do we have a long series of struggles helping our kids navigate tech? Sure. Is it a huge problem that kids aren’t building forts outside anymore? Maybe not as...

Hello from the other side of some of the things we thought our kids would never grow out of. Parents of young children are often told “Cherish it! You’ll miss it when it’s gone and they’re grown!” Right, so there’s merit to that but there are a bunch of things that we definitely will not miss. Diapers, waiting 7-10 business days for them to “dood it meself,” or the constant binkie battle probably...

Part of parenting is realizing you’ll almost never get to complete a sentence. Or a thought. At least during certain ages and stages. Constant interruptions, whether your kids meant to or not. They are just little distraction machines and can’t always help it. Luckily Tori and Gwenna are easily distracted by everything. Including their own podcast. This episode is a bit of a mixed bag covering all...

Millennials are notorious for really cherishing their nostalgia. We can’t help it. We had really cool things. And we long for simpler times. But not too simple. A new parenting trend is emerging that blends modern convenience and invention with the laid back vibe of the 90s. From landline phones making a comeback to wiping the floor with your own progeny on MarioKart, Tori and Gwenna discuss Retro...

Much of raising kids is fostering, dealing with, and cleaning up from our kids doing stuff “by themself”. Our goal, among others, is to parent ourselves out of a job which means letting them try, fail, revise, and try again. But as our kids get older those fails get fewer and far between and they start realizing all this independence we’ve been letting them practice with was for a reason. They are...

It’s back to school season and that means it’s time to talk a lot about going back to school. On this episode of Childproof, we tackle that it’s alright to feel relieved that these kids are not going to be in your house all dang day. We discuss how various communities support us and our kids. And then we tackle phone bans and why we don’t think that’s the issue to the problem. Or even the problem...

What’s in a name? Turns out we’ve been debating that for a hot second. On the heels of a Wall Street Journal piece comparing “Gentle Parenting” with “FAFO Parenting” Tori and Gwenna discuss the difference (Is there one? *shrug*) They also discuss some visual and production changes upcoming for Childproof as the podcast enters its next era. Ever wondered why Childproof parted ways with our old prod...

Summer is slowly winding itself down and many of us look forward to sending our precious womb fruit to school. Tori and Gwenna certainly are. But they are also waist deep in back to school shopping, gathering supplies, and deciding whether they’ll have a growth spurt before or after we buy back to school clothes. This episode is an email round up to share some of our emails and comments with the w...

If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a hundred times… we all have phrases that are said in repeat. And things our kids will VOW never to say to their own progeny (they probably will but in a different way but whatever, you can be right, kid.) Ultimately, repetition is how humans learn.  And she children are just humans in beta mode, we repeat ourselves. Kids are people who aren’t good at being people...

Is your kid ready to watch Deadpool? Good news. That’s your call. Bad news. We probably won’t help very much in deciding. This episode Tori and Gwenna discuss ways we think about media, movies, music, books, and internet for our kids. When are they old enough to understand what they are looking at? How do you know when a movie isn’t going to give them nightmares? Can movies teach about empathy? We...

Where do you keep your deodorant? If the answer is something reasonable like bathroom or gym bag… this episode might sound odd. Cuz we keep our deodorant in the kitchen. Today on childproof we’re playing a little This or That. Did you grow up in an ingredient house or a snack house? What about now? Was your family a “everyone in their rooms” group or were you a “everyone hangs out in communal spac...

It’s finally here. The announcement we’ve been teasing. The news we’ve been itching to share. The thing we’ve been working on for months. Two brand new podcasts from the Pleasant Phantom Network: Founded by Tori Phantom and Bibliophage from Gwenna Laithland. To introduce you to both ideas, this episode of Childproof is basically a three-for-one special as we examine Rebellion 1776 by Laurie Halse...

Welcome to summer. School is out. It’s hot. The chorus of I’m bored has begun. But let’s be honest. It’s not just the kids who get bored. Parents get bored too. We just aren’t allowed to complain about it as loudly. On this episode of Childproof Tori and Gwenna discuss how they cope with their own boredom and teach kids how to be bored while doing it. From hobby collections to dreaming up group ac...

Tori gave Gwenna a minisode to discuss books versus movies because they desperately needed to hear more on the subject after the timer went off. Timerless time well spent.  Did you like hearing Gwenna talk about books and want to hear more? Let us know childproofmail@gmail.com Did you catch that bit at the end? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nostalgia always hits different. It’s even weirder when you start sharing the staples of your past with the next generation. Does Ferngully still hold up? (Spoiler: Tim Curry always holds up.) In this episode of Childproof, Tori and Gwenna discuss how much of our childhoods translate well to our children’s. From TV shows to movies, playground games to books, we tackle the “Accepted not acceptable”...

We are responsive parents. Not perfect ones. In this episode of Childproof Tori and Gwenna tackle some of their less than stellar moments, discuss the glories of apologies, and recount some of their wilder moments of total disregulation. Hate getting interrupted? Us too. Triggered by feeling ignored? Same. Feel destructive and overstimulated by a toy? Mood. We are not perfect parents. We are peopl...

Did you ever think you’d miss Baby Shark? Because you might miss Baby Shark…This episode is a little bit of everything. Some emails, some listener submissions, some topics that we want to talk about but wouldn’t be enough for a whole episode. Be sure to check out the mini-minisode because the timer rudely interrupted Tori’s Benjamin Rush rant. Also books, and merch, and all those things you need t...

Tori won a bet and got to talk about whatever they wanted to for five whole minutes and Gwenna had to pretend to be interested. Then there was a surprising plot twist. Gwenna was so interested that now there's an entire minisode so Tori could finish their story. Did you enjoy hearing about Benjamin Rush, do you want to hear more? Let us know childproofmail@gmail.com Big exciting surprise coming so...