Peace and Parenting: How to Parent without Punishments

My best friend joins me in a real conversation about just how hard parenting actually is, and why some days we just want to run away never to return! She and I often lament about the struggles in motherhood, where we find our own personal hurdles and how we can help ourselves to help our children find more peace for everyone. It is not easy and we are the first to admit that we certainly don’t hav...

Our environment can highly impact our children. Do you know what’s in your laundry soap, water, or even the air in your home? I certainly didn’t and Dr. Natasha Beck sheds light on how we can make changes to more positively impact the environment we share with our children. Dr. Organic Mommy is a wealth of information and she shares the top 5 things we should be aware of.    Helpful Links: 5 Ways...

Happy Thanksgiving and happy Thursday! We are moving to Mondays, so be on the lookout for a new episode with Dr. Natasha Beck otherwise known as Dr. Organic Mommy this Monday. Listen to a sneak peek and take advantage of our Black Friday Sale! All of my on-demand courses are 25% off now through Cyber Monday. This will be the lowest price all year. Click here to find out more:  Peace and Parenting...

The highly competitive world of academics can become consuming when our children reach adolescence. The pressure children feel and endure highly impacts their wellbeing and the relationship we share with them.    Finding ways to be supportive without usurping the critical learning moments in this delicate time can be difficult for us parents. Listen in as the authors of The Parent Compass recount...

Join me in a very special episode where my dad Chuck (AKA Papa) describes what he’s changed about his parenting/grandparenting techniques, and how he has embraced the ideas of Peace and Parenting. We talk about how he feels it's working for him as a grandparent and the most challenging aspects of interacting with more peace.   Are you ready to change your family dynamic through connective pare...

In this episode, Michelle is joined by Kate Anthony, a certified divorce coach who helps women deal with the difficulties of divorce with children.  In this candid conversation, the duo uncovers myths about relationship separation and lends advice for parenting through divorce.     When we can keep our children at the "center" instead of the middle of divorce we help our kids process the m...

Growing up, I was taught that to be a good kid-- you needed to behave and follow instructions, or else society would label you a bad kid. So naturally, when I began my journey in motherhood, I stepped into it with that same kind of mindset. I fell into the hole of believing that society’s opinion was my benchmark for being a good mother-- because I had well-behaved kids controlled by star charts a...

“It takes a village to raise a child.” is an old saying I’m sure many of you have heard. We’re so worried about the judgment of other parents that when our kids misbehave, we spend more energy fighting them when that same energy should be spent on connecting with our kids and raising them. So in this episode, I’m excited to be joined by DJ Johnson, a fellow parenting coach and my first guest dad o...

We parents have been taught that our children’s behavior must be corrected through punishments and manipulations, and sadly, this has been accepted as the default mode of parenting. And when compounding other stressors in lives, it becomes so easy to unconsciously fall back on that out of desperation to change their behavior. So I want to talk about where we should focus when it comes to our child...

With schools slowly opening back up too, it might be a period of uncertainty and anxiety for our kids-- especially for the little ones who are coming into kindergarten or middle school for the first time. It’s a time where they’re trying to figure out their own interests, hobbies, and identities, alongside their own peers while simultaneously dealing with academics and social interactions. These a...

Even when you have the best of intentions as parents and try to do everything right, it’s completely normal to mess up every now and then. What matters is the continuous and conscious process of becoming a better parent for our kids.  This week, I’m joined by Carolina. She has recently begun moving towards a positive parenting approach for her daughter alongside her girlfriend whose been co-parent...

Defiant and strong-willed children are something I’m sure we’ve all experienced. Whether it’s as toddlers or teenagers, it’s a tale as old as time in the book of parenting. Sometimes when this defiance is targeted towards you or their siblings, it can lead to further conflict so you want to find a way to properly nip that in the bud.   As a mother of two young girls, my guest, Liz, is no stranger...

When your child makes a mistake, you want to help them process and understand their mistake without the use of shame, punishments, or making them feel like you’re disappointed in them.  Harsh parenting does absolutely no favors for us or our kids, and as a parent who used to subscribe to that kind of parenting, I want to take the time to talk about this, and share how shifting my mindset towards a...

Many of us have had experiences with bottling up emotions, and kids are no exceptions to this. Kids aren’t as capable of properly communicating their emotions so when there’s a backlog of feelings like frustration and sadness, this can make them act out so they can vent. This can be equally frustrating for parents too but it is possible to connect with your kids in a way they can easily understand...

Our kids have the right to say “no” and have choices. But it’s a delicate balancing act between that and making sure not to give in to everything they say either. Since kids also have underdeveloped brains, it can be difficult for them to properly communicate their negative emotions which can put them into conflict with their parents and other kids. This challenge is a natural frustration for pare...

Humans are built to work and depend on each other for survival and when you’re a parent, that desire to protect and help is increased tenfold. It’s a natural feeling to want to protect our kids from the harms and struggles of the world but it doesn’t mean we should micromanage them either. Sometimes the best course of action is to take a step back and watch. Our guest for this episode is Dr. Siggi...

Life’s full of challenges, and as parents, we want to send our children out into the world ready and self-assured so they can get through everything society throws at them. Self-esteem plays a huge role in that, and their time as kids and teens is a crucial time in building it.  For this solo episode, I’ll be talking about my personal struggles with self-esteem and how I turned them into lessons t...

For many parents, the first six to twelve months of their baby’s life are probably one of the most stressful thanks to sleep deprivation. The emotional and physical toll of listening to your baby cry isn’t easy, but it’s important to realize that it’s just as stressful for them as their body and brain try to adjust to life outside of the womb. For this week’s episode, I’ve invited Rachel, a pediat...

Change is a choice. Sometimes it may be a difficult one and requires a lot of effort. It’s also not something that can always happen in a snap, but rather takes the form of a continuous series of choices we consciously make. These choices become the path my guest takes to be better and do better as a parent. Joining me for this week’s episode is Rivkie, a mother of seven. It’s not easy to raise th...

When we believe our children are being difficult, we tend to use yelling to make them listen to us. But yelling can only go so far before it starts to form cracks in the relationship with our kids and leave them with emotional scars that might never go away. At some point, we need to ask ourselves: Is my child’s obedience worth losing their love and respect? In this solo episode, I share my experi...

Traditionally, children are meant to obey their parents without question and any sign of defiance is met with punishment. We believe that our child’s behavior is a reflection of us as parents and that opens us up to judgment from others. No one wants to be labeled as a “bad parent” but just because something is accepted as the norm doesn’t always mean it’s automatically right either. Chitra Peña,...

Parents try to prop themselves up as these invincible figures who aren’t affected by sadness or fear, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. They have their own fair share of anxieties and trauma; and when all of that just builds up, it starts to leak into other aspects of their lives. When that happens, it’s good to have someone who's willing to empathize and listen. For this episode, I...

Parenthood is a challenge enough in itself, but when you throw in becoming a stepparent; it can become a whole new ballpark. The desire to form a genuine bond with their stepchild while also trying not to overstep their boundaries is a balancing act that our guest is familiar with. Joining me for this episode is Nikki, a stepmom of 10 years, to share with us her experiences and how she managed to...

Parenting shouldn’t be synonymous with control, but for my guest, Iris Chen, this was her reality while growing up in an Asian-American household. Our childhood experiences can shape what kind of parents we’ll become to our kids; but as their parents, it is our role to guide and care for them while also respecting their own autonomy. This is the realization that Iris came to when she saw her tiger...

The initial transition to connective parenting isn’t exactly a straight line, and it can take years for us as parents to unlearn everything that was imposed on us when we were younger. But, it doesn’t mean it’s impossible. For this episode, I’ve invited long time member, Emilie, to share with us her success story with connective parenting. Being a mother of two, she knew she needed to do her homew...