Parental Development

Neurons that fire together, wire together. It's important that the information we learn is cemented into our neural pathways so we can access it, even during times of stress. This episode talks through the neuroscience and how to strengthen our pathways in this way. In times of stress, we go back to what we know. When stressed, your brain's only goal is to keep you safe and try to surviv...

We all talk about needing to connect with our kids, but often seem to misunderstand what that means or how to do that in more challenging situations or difficult emotions. This episode talks through ways to dip a toe in their emotions while also pulling them back with us into their window of tolerance. See Me : really seeing what they're doing, showing interest; imitating play with younger ki...

So many of our kids have fears that are unrealistic and illogical, leaving us so confused as to how to respond, help support them, but move them past their fears in a clear way. This episode talks about all of this, and gives some other information or options to help navigate these issues. Our kids' fears should be validated, without trying to talk them out of their fear or convince them that...

It's not just sex. It's boundaries, reproduction, puberty, and yes, sex. These conversations are hard for most parents, and we're talking about it all! Viewing hard topics through our adult eyes can lead us to oversexualize information, when kids do not assign it that meaning at all. If your kids are asking questions, they need information. Avoid saying, 'you're too young...

This week's episode talks about how to manage bringing a new baby home when you have other kids. This is always tricky, but we have some suggestions and thoughts about other possibilities to make this a little easier. If you have very young children, even after being prepared, cannot truly understand what having a new baby means or how it's going to impact them and their routine or relat...

This episode answers more listener questions, covering all kinds of topics. When thinking about how to help our kids manage negative behaviors, there is an approach ( The Nurtured Heart ) that suggests that kids require different levels of energy from us, even when we're praising and validating them. You can here more about this idea in this podcast episode or this book . The goal in respondi...

The whole concept of this type of parenting is staying aware of our reactions as parents and having some insight into where those reactions come from and how we can make changes to respond to our kids in more healthy, respectful ways. This episode covers a specific example of how Leah is doing that work for herself with her son, and provides some ideas for ways to engage in our own healing work th...

We're back! After taking a much needed break, we're back to discuss one of the most common diagnoses for kids: ADHD. There has been a significant increase in the number of ADHD diagnoses over the last 5-10 years, leading us to question: Is it really increasing? Are we getting better at diagnosing? Is there increased awareness? Are we overdiagnosing? There is an increased awareness that A...

This week goes over all the common holiday issues we often face with our kids, including unwanted touch, food, getting gifts, and boundaries! Overall, let's lower our expectations - our kids are going to be a disaster. Give them (and yourself) grace! I care more about my relationship with my kids and what they think about me than family members I see a couple times a year. Kids should be in c...

My kid won't stop climbing everything!!! This week talks about a common issue parents face, particularly with young kids, but gives a different perspective on what might be driving this behavior in our littles. What in the Week - while we want our kids to understand how their behavior impacts others, it's also important to help them understand that they are not responsible for the reacti...

This week's episode talks through ways parents use dishonesty and threats to manipulate the behavior of their kids. In this week's 'What in the Week,' we again talk through ways to hold boundaries for our kids while being gentle and validating the feelings and reactions to our kids. There's a difference in trying to manage how our kids feel about boundaries and managing th...

On this episode, we have our very first guest: Leah's 9 year old son, Lincoln! He shares his unique perspective on ways grown ups can help our kids manage emotions and learn ways to handle stress. Subscribe, rate, and review us on Podchaser, Apple,  or wherever you listen to podcasts! Follow us on social media to join the conversation!!! Facebook Instagram Subscribe, rate, and review us on Po...

Many parents use their relationship as a bargaining chip and tool to manage their kids' behavior, which can be problematic. This episode talks through this strategy  and some of the unintended consequences that might come as a result, and gives alternative ways to prioritize our relationship with our kids. Often because we recognize how important attachment is for our kids, we then turn aroun...

This episode is tough, but important. After a local completed suicide by a teenager, we wanted to talk about lessons learned and ways to protect our kids as much as possible. All of this information illustrates clearly the importance of starting to have hard conversations with your kids from an early age. The teenagers I talked to talked about how bad their mental health is and how their parents r...

We're back! We took a brief hiatus because of stuff going on in our lives, but we're excited to have a conversation about boundaries!! Some people who don't understand this type of parenting believe there are no boundaries for our kids, and even parents who do parent this way struggle to know how to hold a boundary in a safe, connected, supportive way. If we can start to expect that...

In this episode, Leah finishes explaining Polyvagal Theory, and how the ladder helps us understand the state we and our kids are in - Safe and Connected, Fight or Flight, or Collapse/Shut down. The sisters talk about the importance of us staying in "Safe and Connected" so we can bring our kids with us, into the only state where they can actually hear us, listen to us, follow directions,...

In this episode Leah really nerds out on the neuroscience associated with this type of parenting - did you know we have more than 5 senses?!   She discusses several different theories and research, including the science of interoception, Allan Schore's paper on regulation and attachment, and Stephen Porges' Polyvagal Theory. While this information may be difficult to take in and fully un...

Where are our teachers? This episode is specifically for you! We've gotten questions about how you might implement this type of parenting/relationship building in a classroom, so we decided to talk about it! Before we can talk about classroom management strategies, we HAVE to remember the brain science associated with our kids. If you're not familiar with that, listen here , here , and h...

This episode continues our discussion about gender and parenting, talking through how to raise resilient girls. Overall, we want our daughters to own their voice and opinions, be confident in their thoughts and feelings, and to understand their worth and that it's not dependent on anyone else. Similar to boys, we want to avoid most of the gender stereotypes, including clothing, toys, and acti...

This episode talks about some things to consider for those of us raising boys within this style of parenting. Most of our boys get messages throughout their childhood that value strength, minimizing emotional expression, and leadership.  This teaches them to ignore their emotions and the messages their body is sending, for the sake of appearing strong and in control. Emotional intelligence has gen...

In this episode Leah and Beka talk about their own parents - what they think about the podcast and gentle parenting, and how this process has impacted their relationship. We also discuss how to navigate relationships with family members who may not agree with everything "gentle parenting" related. It's important to remember that families of origin have the greatest impact on kids, s...

This episode talks about how social skills develop for our kids, and ways we can support them through that development! Subscribe, rate, and review us on Podchaser , Apple ,  or wherever you listen to podcasts! Follow us on social media to join the conversation!!! Facebook Instagram

We believe that lots of people "parent" our kids, even if they're not their parents. This episode talks through some of the considerations  with these scenarios and what to think about if you're "parenting" a child. It's important to remember that a child's family of origin always has more influence over that child than anyone else, including relatives, peer...

This episode talks through the science and practical steps of a young boy who has difficulty controlling his anger, even though he's remorseful for his behavior. We're patnering with the Soothing Snuggler to do a give away!! Keep an eye on our social media next week! This episode builds on previous episodes ( here and here ) that cover basic brain development.  It's important to rem...

So much happened this week in Leah's family, we needed an entire episode to talk through it all! Follow up on a talk about weight, body image, health How to give your kids opportunities to safely make mistakes instead of just saying 'no' How to respond when your child swears How to respond to self-harming behaviors Subscribe, rate, and review us on Podchaser , Apple ,  or wherever y...