It’s no secret that children develop emotionally, intellectually and physically at different speeds. The part that often gets overlooked, however, is that we as parents are also continually growing and changing. All these transitions going on at the same time can lead to some occasional collisions. But is there a way to make these transitions smoother and create opportunities for connection instead of battlegrounds?

Julie and Elizabeth will reveal various techniques that parents can use to stay calm and effective during these family upheavals and how timing our responses increases our ability to teach the lessons we need to teach our children.

In this episode, Elizabeth Cohen and Julie Ross help you determine what feelings disarm you as an individual parent and, in turn, make you less effective in teaching, protecting and supporting your child. They will also give you tools to handle your feelings so that you can be the best parent you can be.

Also, Julie Ross opens up about how one four word sentence helped her handle her feelings and gave her the strength to support her own, grown daughter during a traumatic time in her daughter's life.

The world is full of people, especially on social media, telling your kids that they just aren’t good enough, that they should just “quit while they’re ahead.” But there are ways you can help your kids counter these negative thoughts and replace them a positive view of themselves and their potential.

In this episode we talk with “Coach” Kevin Baker, a certified Life Coach for Tweens and Teens about ways parents can help kids get over life limiting beliefs and improve the potential in their lives.

We’ll talk about how parents sometimes accidentally limit their children’s potential and ways to turn that pattern around by replacing communication blocks with curiosity. Using the same instincts that we have with babies we can lean in to what they are interested in and engage in what genuinely excites them .

By abandoning your preconceived expectations about what your child “should” be, you’ll learn the value of giving up trying to “control” your kid and instead opting for “influence.”

We tend to take speech for granted but some parents become anxious when their infants and toddlers don’t hit certain milestones. Realistically, when are these concerns founded and what can parents do to avoid the misinformation and bad advice from the internet?

In this episode we interview a speech-language pathologist Tala Hershey, M.S. CCC-SLP, TSSLD (https://www.hersheytherapypractice.com/) who gives us practical advice on how to look for and encourage realistic and appropriate speech milestones.

We’ll answer the questions:

Do we need to explicitly teach toddlers to speak? Isn’t it a skill that just develops organically or do parents actually need to focus on building speech and language? What’s the difference between Expressive vs. Receptive Language and Pragmatic skills?

Finally, we’ll address the WORST way to teach our toddlers to talk and whether to “reward” toddlers for saying certain words (and avoiding others.)

When it comes to drug and alcohol use, it’s very tempting as parents to put your head in the sand and say "Not my kid” but that strategy never works, even if your kid isn’t actively experimenting (yet.) Since the most important component of prevention is education, the first step for parents is to get educated and be honest with yourself.

In this episode we’ll talk about what you need to know as a parent to effectively communicate your values and concerns to your kids, without them shutting you down.

When do kids commonly start experimenting with drugs and alcohol? Should you start having conversations with your kids before then? How do you explain the difference between abstaining vs. postponing? We’ll talk about how to navigate denial (both yours and your child’s) and what are the pros and cons of using monitoring and tracking apps like Life360.

And with so much at stake, when is it okay to allow natural consequences and when should you step in?

This episode will give your practical advice on how to navigate this potential minefield, and keep your relationship with your kid intact.

In this episode we talk with author Rebecca Vitsmun about her new book "Eliza Dee’s Universes."

As an autistic mother with neurodivergent children, Vitsmun was inspired by her personal experiences to provide an accessible story that inspires creative imagination in readers of all ages and backgrounds.

You’ll not only learn more about autism but also EDS, hyperphantasia and other “invisible” disabilities and how to spot them in your children. And while you shouldn’t rush in to diagnose or label your child, an accurate and timely diagnosis can be VERY helpful. We’ll also discuss what to do first, before getting your child diagnosed.

Kids do well, if they can. If they aren’t doing well, there is something standing in their way. From a practical standpoint that means:

• Focusing on your child’s strengths, not their weaknesses
• Leaning in with compassionate curiosity instead of pulling back
• What a shame spiral looks like and how to avoid it

Finally, we’ll address how to advocate for your child in a school system that may not provide services for neurodiverse children.

Have you ever gotten into an argument with your three year old and wondered “How did it come to this? I’m bigger, stronger, smarter and yet this little tyke has me on the ropes!!!!”

Have you tried to set a boundary with your teenager, only to have them“flip the script” and suddenly you’re on the defensive.

In this special podcast we interview certified hostage and conflict negotiator Karleen Savage M.A., author other “The Confident Teen Blueprint: A Parent’s 30 Day Challenge to Empower their Teen.”

We’ll discuss universal skills for conflict resolution that work with all children of all ages (including adult children!) Some of the techniques include:

• Embracing Curiosity: How to become an exceptional learner.

• Master Listening: How to story map, connecting the bullet points and filling in the gaps in the story.

• “Zippy the Lippy” : Learn when to keep your mouth shut. Most relational conflict is NOT an emergency. There is a way to avoid getting caught up in the other person’s intensity.

• Attitude: How can I deescalate this? How can I be present without “fixing” the problem.

If you’ve ever felt like a hostage in your own family, you’ll want to listen to this one.

Even parents of grown children sometimes wake up in a cold sweat reliving the battles in getting their 4 year old to go to sleep. In this episode we tackle head on the thorny but solvable challenge of getting your young child to go to sleep. After listening to this podcast, you’ll be primed to make bedtime more effective and relaxing for everybody.

Some of the topics we cover are:

When is the ideal time to switch your child from a crib to a bed?

Common causes that create difficulty falling asleep or middle of the night wakings.

How do you handle it if the child is afraid?

How much sleep do children this age actually need at night?

What is a healthy bedtime routine that promotes sleep?

In the end, it’s all about taking back parental authority by setting appropriate, respectful, firm boundaries while avoiding some of the common mistakes that parents make that inadvertently cause sleep problems.

We’ll give you tips on how to set limits and consequences that actually work and give you a realistic time frame about how long to expect before seeing results.

Finally, we’ll look at the more controversial topics: Do rewards work? And what about the “family bed”?