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Latest Episodes & Transcripts
128: Should I Redshirt My Child?
Parents – worried about their child’s lack of maturity or ability to ‘fit in’ in a classroom environment – often ask me whether they should hold their child back a year before entering kindergarten or first grade. In this episode I review the origins of the redshirting phenomenon (which lie in Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers,…
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Dismantling White Supremacy and Patriarchy on MLK Day
In this short ad hoc episode that was originally recorded as a Facebook Live, I discuss ways that my family is working on dismantling both white supremacy and patriarchy (and having a go at capitalism while we’re at it!) this Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday weekend. The best part is that this doesn’t have…
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Responding to the U.S. Capitol Siege
In this ad hoc episode, I outline a response to the U.S. Capitol siege. I provide some suggestions for ways to talk with your child about the events, but also ask that you take two more steps: (1) examine your own role in these events, even if you condemn them yourself (as I do); (2)…
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127: Doing Self-Directed Education
When parents first hear about interest-led learning (also known as self-directed education), they may wonder: why on earth would we do that? And how would my child learn without anyone teaching them? Many parents start down this path with only an inkling of where it may end up taking them and I think this is…
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SYPM 010: From Anxious Overwhelm to Optimistic Calm
In this Sharing Your Parenting Mojo episode we hear from listener Anne, who has been in my Parenting Membership for a year now. In our conversation we discussed the anxiety she used to feel about every aspect of parenting, including the things she wanted to teach her son to do (Spanish! Coding!) and how she…
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126: Problem Solving with Dr. Ross Greene
Let’s talk problem solving! Many of us have tried it, but it’s so common to get stuck…and to think that the method doesn’t work, and then return in exasperation to the methods we’d been using all along. These often involve coercion, or forcing the child to do something they don’t want to do – but…
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SYPM 009: How to Set Boundaries in Parenting
My guest for this episode is life coach and reparenting expert Xavier Dagba, who is here to discuss the topic of boundaries in parenting. We don’t tend to learn much about having boundaries when we’re young, because our culture teaches that children shouldn’t really need or have them (and those of us who are using…
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125: Should you worry about technoference?
I often hear two related ideas about adults’ screen usage around children. Sometimes the parent asking the question guiltily confesses to using screens around their children more than they would like, and to using screens as a momentary escape from the demands of parenting. Or the parent asking the question feels that they have found…
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SYPM 008: Fostering Positive Sibling Relationships with Future Focused Parenting
Sibling relationships can be SO HARD! Sometimes it might seem that we can’t leave them alone for even a second before they’re at each other’s throats, and on top of this we see their struggles and are reminded of the struggles that we had with our own siblings so many years ago. This can cause…
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124: The Art of Holding Space
If you’ve been a parent for a while, or maybe even if you haven’t, you probably saw an article on Holding Space making the rounds of online communities a few years ago. In the article the author, Heather Plett, describes how she and her siblings were able to hold space for their dying mother in her final days because a palliative care…
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123: Maternal Ambivalence: What it is, and what to do about it
This episode builds on our recent conversations with Dr. Moira Mikolajczak on Parental Burnout and with Dr. Susan Pollak on Self-Compassion. Today we talk with Dr. Sarah LaChance Adams, Florida Blue Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies and the Director of the Florida Blue Center for Ethics at the University of North Florida, on…
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122: Self-Compassion for Parents
In this episode, Dr. Susan Pollak helps us to apply mindfulness skills to our relationships with our children so we can parent in line with our values, rather than just reacting when our children push our buttons. You’ll learn: – What’s the point of mindfulness, and does it matter if we bring our full attention…
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