Oh Crap with Jamie

One of the biggest questions on young parents’ minds has got to be just HOW do you get your kids to listen. You could be trying to get them to do the simplest task or impress just how important it is for you to get out the door in the morning but they just. Don’t. Get it. Turns out that a lot of things are at play in a toddler’s mind, chief among them the fact that their executive functioning isn’...

Toddler time is very slow—after all, we’re talking about little humans who’re still getting the hang of executive functions and motor skills. Consequently, parents need to slow down for their little ones so that we don’t end up transitioning from activity to activity too quickly and upset them in the process. This can be VERY difficult because as a parent, you feel compelled to move quickly and de...

Jamie’s personal parenting style straddles the line between new and old, and she often likes to look back and see how child-rearing strategies and expectations have changed over the decades. For example, nowadays it’s far more acceptable for a child not to be fully potty trained until 3 or even 4 years old when a long time ago even 2 years was unthinkable. We need to ensure that these often inaccu...

This week’s discussion centers on an issue Jamie feels very passionate about, and one which she believes makes our kids act out in crappy ways. That issue? Being so incredibly, uncompromisingly protective of our little ones for fear that they get so much as a scratch. Enforcing extreme caution on our kids at too early of an age means they might grow up too terrified to take ANY of the necessary ri...

This week’s Oh, Crap! is a little more freestyle and a little more livid. Jamie has a lot on her mind right now, from how Baby Boomer parents look down on how the younger generations raise their little ones, to the perilous journey of dealing with a picky eater. So now’s the time to collectively let off some steam. In this episode, Jamie lets out some of her pent-up feelings re: the Baby Boomer ge...

Jamie doesn’t believe kids are capable of “bad” behavior in the traditional sense—most toddlers aren’t mentally developed enough to act truly maliciously. But when you mix complex feelings, a near-complete inability to verbally communicate those feelings, and few if any inhibitions, and your little one can turn into a little shit really quickly. The trick is figuring out what feelings motivate act...

Any parent of a newborn knows why you swaddle them: it’s snug, it’s secure, and it keeps them from constantly swatting themselves in the damn face. Instilling boundaries in your toddlers is like kind of like emotional swaddling in that sense. You might recoil at the idea of enforcing too stringent boundaries—some of us came from controlling households, after all—but without any boundaries your chi...

Parental self-care is basically nonexistent for the first few years of raising your child. You’re so busy making sure your little one eats on time, has clean clothes to wear and doesn’t run out onto the road that it’s hard to schedule time for yourself to unwind and recharge. Instead, we often end up burning ourselves out to the point that the only self-care we can manage is overly indulgent, unhe...

You know how kids are like—if you give them an inch, they’ll take a yard. The same can be said for other parents who are your friends most of the time but can innocently expect too much—or something too specific—from you. Having your personal boundaries crossed time and time again can lead to stress and wear down your resolve. Remember that you’re the captain of this parenting ship. If you’re feel...

You can be the most patient and understanding parent six out of seven days the week, but there's always the risk of some straw breaking your proverbial camel's back and turning you into Psycho Mom. It sucks for everybody involved, but don't beat yourself up over it; you're human after all. So instead of fretting about that one time you shouted, let's focus on some ways you can keep from shouting i...

Welcome to the first episode of Oh Crap!, a no-nonsense guide to parenting young children by Jamie Glowacki. Jamie is the author of Oh Crap! Potty Training and the soon-to-be-released Oh Crap! I Have a Toddler , having worked with children in the 2 to 5 age range for over two decades. She’s found that parents of toddlers expect far too much academically and developmentally from their children in t...

Riding Marie Kondo’s coattails, Jamie has a thorough, multi-step strategy to help you whittle down all of your kid’s toys, books and clothes to something more manageable. Don’t feel selfish for wanting to declutter; a cluttered environment with two many options—even fun ones!—can overwhelm your little ones and lead to meltdowns and general dissatisfaction. The only thing worse than having to clean...

For her upcoming book, Jamie was asked by her editors to define “connection” and why it’s vital to keeping your little one cooperative, satisfied and engaged. A strong parent-child connection isn’t helicoptering around them and monitoring every little move they make, but is in fact a 2-way street with activities, healthy boundaries and, yes, precious solo time.   In this episode, Jamie discusses h...

A podcast for conscious parents who drop the f-bomb. A lot. We are the overthinkers, the dreamers, and the doers. We are parenting in a radically different way than those before us. But our divine vision gets blurry cause...OMG...kids can be such a pain in the ass. Let's work from the inside out, in a whole brain, whole body way to mitigate the crappy behavior. Not just with our kids but with ours...