The Art of Raising Humans

In Episode 144, Kyle and Sara, LPC’s, talk with cyber security expert and guru Fareedah Shaheed. She shares her story about how she became passionate about cyber security after she was almost abducted by a predator. She has been featured on NBC, CNN, Fox, and many others. She has worked with companies such as Meta, NASA, and LinkedIn. She is currently serving on Forbes board for the Under 30 commu...

In Episode 143, Kyle and Sara, LPC’s, delve into the second part of our Core Four series. Now that we have discussed the brain, let’s start talking about behavior and emotions. Most of us were raised in homes where the discipline techniques used by the parents were behavior based. Over the past 40 years we have a better understanding of what lies behind the behaviors. The behavior is really just a...

In Episode 142, Kyle and Sara, LPC’s, start 2025 with the first of four podcasts where we share what we are calling our Core Four (don’t know if we will stick with that or not).  These are 4 parenting principles we found were crucial in helping us move away from using fear, punishment, and shame with our kids. In this first part of the series we dive into helping our listeners understand their chi...

In Episode 141, Kyle and Sara, LPC’s, interview Kirk Martin, he is the founder and host of the Calm Parenting Podcast. He is also fast becoming an Instagram influencer with 800k followers listening to his sage wisdom. He has currently helped almost 1,000,000 parents stop yelling, defiance, and power struggles. In this interview he shares how the tools and strategies he was using with his son were...

In Episode 140, Kyle and Sara, LPC’s, discuss how to turn a failed parenting moment into an opportunity to learn and grow. Kyle shares a recent moment when he got mad at the kids and reverted back to using shame and fear to change their behavior. We discuss the steps we took as a family to turn this situation into something that actually brought us closer as a family. We know that parents run into...

In Episode 139, Kyle and Sara, LPC’s, discuss all the joy and all the stress that comes with the holidays. There can be so much we want to do and accomplish with our kids and this leads to a lot of challenges. Many times our plans to have a “magical” season are seemingly derailed by children who are over-tired, over-excited, and over-stimulated. In this episode Sara and I lay out 5 clear steps tha...

In Episode 138, Kyle and Sara, LPC’s, interview interview Mike & Alicia Hernon. They are parents of 10 kids and produce the Messy Family podcast. They share how their parenting and marriage has been messy and imperfect but they have also been able to intentionally created a healthy family culture. Sara and I discuss with them how they connect with and really know each of their kids. Their open...

In Episode 137, Kyle and Sara, LPC’s, interview Chris King. He is a licensed professional counselor and has experience helping hundreds of parents and kids work through grief. Chris has such a powerful story of having to face grief in his own personal life when he ended up losing both of his parents. He shares a unique but easy way to understand what it feels like to be lost in grief and the steps...

In Episode 136, Kyle and Sara, LPC’s, interview Dr. Larry Cohen the author of the books Playful Parenting and Opposite of Worry. He is the creator of the Playful Parenting approach. We discuss how challenging play actually can be for parents. He shares his own love/hate relationship with play. Why is play so important and how can it help parents more deeply connect and understand their children? W...

In Episode 135, Kyle and Sara, LPC’s, discuss what to do when your kids refuse to do what you are asking because they want to do something else. We walk through the steps you can take to shift these moments into great opportunities. Too often these situations turn into power struggles where parents feel they need to dominate or they throw their hands in the air. All of this ties perfectly into the...

In Episode 134, Kyle and Sara, LPC’s, interview Stephanie Pinto. She is an author, international speaker, and emotional intelligence specialist. We talk with her about what emotional intelligence is and how it exponentially helps kids grow up into more successful adults. Stephanie teaches us the five steps all parents can take to grow their own EI and teach it to their kids. Stephanie makes EI so...

In Episode 133, Kyle and Sara, LPC’s, interview Jordan Langdon. She is a licensed clinical social worker, CEO of the non-profit “Families of Character "and also the creator of the podcast “Families of Character”. Jordan is a wife and a mother of 3 kids. In this conversation, she tells the story when her little daughter shared with her some surprising news that changed everything. Jordan began...

In Episode 132, Kyle and Sara, LPC’s, interview Andy Hickman, founder of hel.co , pronounced heal. After suffering a neurotic breakdown from the stress and overwhelm of life, Andy went on a journey to understand how to be more organized, productive and creative. This is not a conversation of how to create a better organization system that parents will forget about in a few months. This about the c...

In Episode 131, Kyle and Sara, LPC’s, have an in depth discussion about time outs. Lots of parents come to us no longer wanting to spank and they feel like time outs are the only other option available. In this episode we explore the history of time outs and why we thought we were going to use them when we had kids. As a child therapist, Sara was even trained how to teach parents the best ways to...

In Episode 130, Kyle and Sara, LPC’s, interview Dr. Laura Markham, the author of the books Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids and Peaceful Parent, and Happy Siblings. She is a trailblazer in the field of parenting. We talk with her about her journey actually creating and implementing the peaceful parenting approach with her own kids. She also gives parents great tips on how to help their children when th...

In Episode 129, Kyle and Sara, LPC’s, interview Kimberly Amici, the founder of Build Your Best Family. Kimberly has such a unique voice in the parenting world because she speaks from the perspective as a mother, an entrepreneur and a designer. Years ago she began noticing that the tools businesses were using to build healthy cultures could be repurposed and used with families. In our conversation,...

In Episode 128, Kyle and Sara, LPC’s, discuss the words and phrases we often hear from parents when they are describing their kids' negative behavior. We both feel strongly that words have power in shaping and forming not only how we see our kids but also how they see themselves. Sara and I discuss how just making a little change in the way we talk about our kids can make a huge difference in...

In Episode 127, Kyle and Sara, LPC’s, interview Peaceful Parenting Coach Dajana Yoakley. We discuss what self-compassion is and why it is an important piece of becoming a more peaceful and loving parent. Sara and I share some of our own struggles with self compassion. Dajana gives us 3 steps all parents can take to help themselves begin to practice self compassion. This is such an important skill...

In Episode 126, Kyle and Sara, LPC’s, interview Zach Watson from @realzachthinkshare. He is blowing up on IG and TikTok right now discussing the topic of “Invisible Labor” in families. He is also a self titled “recovering man child”. As a dad and husband I find Zach’s content illuminating, challenging, and also encouraging. All too often I find myself shifting the labor and the burden of family li...

In Episode 125, Kyle and Sara, LPC’s, discuss the importance of kids learning how to take responsibility for their actions. Many parents ask us, “How do you hold kids accountable without punishment?” We dive into how punishment is actually the parent taking responsibility away from the child, not giving it to them. We share the four steps we have found to help kids embrace taking responsibility an...

In Episode 124, Kyle and Sara, LPC’s, interview Paige Connell, mother of 4 and a social media influencer on Instagram and TikTok. She discusses the challenges parents face in sharing the responsibilities and the load of parenting. She has been featured on the Today Show, Good Morning America, and more. Sara and I share how inequity in our parenting started before we even had kids and how that led...

In Episode 123, Kyle and Sara, LPC’s, talk with Nellie Harden, an author, speaker, and mother of 4 teenage girls. She shares with us the four tools parents need to build a strong foundation for their children. When children have been given a strong and sturdy foundation they are able to explore and navigate life with less fear and anxiety. Storms and hard times are going to come into our kids&apos...

In Episode 122, Kyle and Sara, LPC’s, discuss how parenting and marriage are not as different as most people think they are. Many if not most of the skills needed to have a great marriage are also needed to raise healthy and happy kids. What are the skills that help people not only succeed in these roles but also with friends and coworkers? We talk about how approaching parenting from a skills bas...

In Episode 121, Kyle and Sara, LPC’s, interview JoAnn Crohn from the popular No Guilt Mom podcast. We discuss how overwhelming being a parent is most of the time, especially for moms. She shares with us what “mental load” is and how moms and dads can work together to help lighten the load. Many of us were not taught how to share the responsibilities with each other or even how to help. JoAnn gives...

In Episode 120, Kyle and Sara, LPC’s, discuss an all too common problem in families with multiple kids. A lot of families are frustrated with all the fighting in their home. They desperately want their kids to get along but they seem to constantly be fighting and complaining about each other. Is this the way it has to be or are there simplest steps we can intentionally take as parents that will ch...