Pop Culture Parenting

This week we reflect on last weeks chat about depression and answer your amazing questions. We talk about our role as parents, prevention, the details of therapy and medication and kids who won’t engage. Thanks for sharing your journey!!

Depression is more than feeling sad or low. It is a destructive mental illness that causes so much heartache and suffering in our communities. It is essential that we all understand depression to make sure we see and support those who are fighting against it. This week Nick and Billy chat about what is behind depression, how it presents in our kids and what we can do about it. We also learn about...

In our follow up screen time we spoke about what kids watch on screens, different types of screen use, talking to kids about screens, strategies for screens and how to get grandparents in the same page. We especially loved people sharing their honest experiences with screens and a special shout out to those with broken TVs and remotes 😂

Screen time causes so much stress and guilt for families and feels like a new phenomenon. This week Nick shines (as always) with his honest and practical experience with screens, while Dr Billy delivers practical strategies and evidence back learning

So many great questions from listeners about bullying this week. We talk about figuring out if it’s bullying or just fun between mates, at what age should we start talking about bullying, safe and healthy responses, sticking up for other kids, what to do if our kid is the bully and what schools can do. All of this plus a bonus question from Nick!

Bullying can be one of the most devastating experiences for kids to go through and sadly too many go through this trauma, often alone. As parents and professionals supporting children and teenagers it is really important we talk to our kids about bullying to protect them from it’s destructive impact. In this episode Nick and Billy use Back to the Future to discuss Bullying and how best to support...

So many amazing questions this week about kids who can’t focus and ADHD. We cover how to talk to kids about it, emotional difficulties, the stigma, medication, education approaches and so much more! Thank you to all who guided us this week and we hope it helps you in guiding the kids you care for.

Lots of kids can’t focus for many different reasons. ADHD is a common cause with 7% of Aussie kids aged 4 to 17 years of age having the condition. Difficulties with attention, hyperactivity and impulsivity can have huge impacts on not only learning but also relationships and self esteem. This week Nick and Billy chat about how we support all kids to develop the skills required to succeed when they...

Huge contribution this week from listeners sharing their challenges and wisdom with grief and death. Part 2 is truely guided by loved experience thanks to one courageous and generous parents. Tough but important stuff for us and our kids.

Grief can be really tough for us and our kids. This week Nick and Billy talk about loss (a death, a relationship, your own independence) and how we can help our kids navigate this challenging experience.

Dozens of questions from listeners for part 2 of 'the power of friendship' episode. We consolidated down to 9 questions in total, including dealing with undesirable friendships, exclusion, shyness and some more complicated questions.

Genuine friendships are one of the most protective factors for our kids through out their entire lives. Billy and Nick use Dumb & Dumber to frame how to build good opportunities for kids to develop strong friendships and if kids are struggling to develop them, then how we bring them back.

Anxiety is the most common mental health illness in kids, but it can also be the most difficult one to pin point. In episode 30 of our series we answer listeners questions about how to manage performance anxiety, support kids as they're spiralling and develop tactics to help them through

Anxiety is the MOST common mental illness in kids, particularly after a pandemic. We dont focus a lot on sharks, but on more common things kids have a fear of (dogs, tigers, school, etc).

Part 2 of 'Breaking bad habits' gives people practical tips to create good habits with their kids, break the bad ones and also provides support to parents whos kids have a bit more going to create good habits. Here are the specific questions Dr Billy answers: 1. How do we build good habits about exercise, sleep, diet, money? 2. How to deal with bad habits pulling hair, picking skin, biting nails,...

Want to know how to form good habits with your kids? Or maybe you want to get rid of some bad ones? Dr Billy helps us understand how good habits are formed and how you can instill them with your kids in some easy steps. Enjoy

"How you like them apples?" Part 2 of 'our role in kids resilience' is JAM PACKED with more than 10 questions from parents, professionals and 'fans'(lol). Dr Billy and Bec are direct in their responses and build on their answers with one another to make sure you get what you need on advice to help build kids resilience.

Our very first guest and what a way to celebrate episode 25 Good Will Hunting & our role in building kids' resilience! Bec Harris brings a wealth of knowledge about why and how we set our kids up to get through the tough times. Please send in your questions as Bec is going to join us next week to help answer them. To learn more about Bec and her work please visit traumainformedpractice.com.au

AMAZING questions from listeners makes for a fun episode. Dr Billy talks about the link between imaginative play with developing empathy in children.

Who knew Imaginary Friends and Empathy would be so closely linked? Dr Billy takes us on a journey this week and talks about the history and benefits of imaginary friends with the help of a little alien named E.T.

Nick and Billy share their stories about their own mental health and discuss how we can look after ourselves and those around us

Who could forget 'Big' (1988) with Tom Hanks? He received an Academy Award nomination for best actor, but now he'll truly be immortalised as we selected this film in Episode 21: Big + parental mental health. Now live on all podcast platforms.

In episode 20 Dr Billy tells you how to get kids to sleep and keep them asleep. The team gets deep into the evidence about kids who won’t sleep to address the many amazing questions that came in. Please enjoy and let us know what you think.

Got a kid that won't sleep? Hop in to episode 19 with Dr Billy and Nick to learn the best skills and rituals to adopt to improve their overall sleep.

Bad kids ep drove a bunch of GREAT questions from parents and professionals. We answer lots of questions including: - How many chances can we give a bad kid when the behaviours are breaking us? - How do we make a positive influence when there is so much negative intergenerational experience? - How to manage bad behaviour without impacting the relationship? - How do we make it fair on the "good" ki...