My Podcast

• It calls out "diet culture." Dieting involves restricting food groups and food amounts. Research shows that dieting results in weight fluctuations and a lot of mental health issues. It also is linked to a risk of developing an eating disorder.
• It helps teach your kids to get in touch with their body’s hunger cues.
• It encourages your child to make age-appropriate choices about what they eat, how much, etc.

There also a few things that you may want to think twice about. Some specific thoughts I share include:

• Very little research about using this approach with kids currently exists.
• Kids often need to try things several times before learning to enjoy eating them. This approach may discourage kids from trying things enough times.
• Some food is more nutritious than others. In my professional opinion, highlighting this does not mean your child will develop an unhealthy relationship with food. 

-Admit to yourself (and a close friend!) that you are going through a challenging season with your kids.
-Do some inventory regarding self-care. What are you currently doing (or NOT doing) to take care of yourself.
-Shift some responsibility to your spouse, if at all possible.
-Seek out more specialized assistance such as counseling, if you think the issue maybe more related to depression or anxiety than the circumstances.
-If the issue centers around your kids acting out, consider making a change. For example, you could try using a reward system.

-Decide on limits and put them in place. Most kids in the US are in front of screens two or more hours each day (not including academic activities), yet professionals recommend capping the time at an hour. An hour is NOT a magical number, so if you decide on more or less, that is fine. It’s more about the accountability that this creates for your kids AND you.

-Allow yourself to make exceptions to the rule you set as needed. Whether your kids are home sick, you have an important project, or you're just having one of those days, exceptions are FINE. No mom or dad guilt allowed.

-Put safe guards in place. Consider where your child will be able to use screens. Many professionals recommend not allowing your kids to have their devices in their room. Learn to use the restrictions on the device to block explicit content.

-Finally, make sure that screen time isn’t getting in the way of other more important things. Making time to connect with your kids on a regular basis by reading, playing, and just talking to them are highly important. Also, make sure your kids are getting enough physical activity. 

-Create a structured environment. Make a schedule for when and where homework is completed. Ensure that your child gets to do a few FUN things right after homework, to motivate him or her to get it done.

-If the structure and routine is not enough, then you may need to troubleshoot. For example, consider breaking up homework into smaller chunks. You can use a digital timer and say your child needs to work for a certain amount of minutes before getting a short break. Another option is to say she or he needs to complete a certain amount of homework (e.g., number of math problems) before getting a break.

-Consider negotiating less homework with the teacher. For example, if your child struggles the most with reading but excels in math, ask the teacher to do MORE reading and LESS math for homework.

Toddlers: Train them young! At about a year, start teaching them to put their toys away. Choose a clean up song to consistently use (which will help them if they don’t yet have much language) and then help your kids put two or three items away a few times per day.

Preschool: Make a short list of daily “chores,” like cleaning up toys, putting shoes in a bin, and putting clothes in the hamper. Use a list with pictures to help them know what they need to do.

Elementary: By kindergarten, kids can learn to do MANY self-care things on their own and some household chores as well. Some examples include:

Making a school lunch.

Getting up in the morning with an alarm clock.

Brushing teeth (a digital timer can help).

One or two household chores that are not self-care related.

Set the stage with the right routine. Ensure that the child has a predictable routine before bed that includes quality time between you and your child. Sometimes incorporating the use of a digital timer or written down schedule (words or pictures) can be helpful.

Choose an incentive that your child actually wants. It has to be something your child really wants and something you are willing to withhold from the child in all other circumstances.  

Take it one (realistic) step at a time. Of course the ultimate goal is for your son or daughter to sleep all night long every night, but take a deep breath and realize that changing behavior is a process. Start small.

So what do you do if your child gets up when they aren’t supposed to? I recommend that you say something simple like, “You got up too many times, so now you don’t earn ______.” Say it once in a calm, but firm voice. Then bring your child back to bed as many times as it takes without providing unnecessary attention (e.g., without talking to him or her, providing eye contact, or giving more physical contact than is necessary to safely assist the child back into his or her bed). This is the hard but necessary part! 

Before you start anything get your child’s buy in. It is very important to sit your child down and talk to him or her about the plan that you have created. Let them help make the materials if you are using a reward chart. Everything should be framed in a positive way to your child so he or she sees it as an opportunity to earn “cool stuff” rather than some sort of punishment.

If you do these things and they don’t work, don’t be afraid to adjust and try again! In terms of trouble shooting, you may need to make changes to your program if it isn’t working. 

• For picky eaters, be mindful of snacks. One in between meals is typically sufficient for kids, unless they are going through a growth spurt. Ensuring that the snacks include some type of protein that will keep kids full until the next meal are advisable. Beyond that, you may choose to provide free access to certain foods (like cold cut veggies or fruit). If your child doesn’t eat all of his dinner because he’s had too many carrots, you probably don’t care!
• Give choices to your child. This can include allowing him or her to participate in meal planning, choosing how they eat of each item, etc. 
• Consider making a rule where kids are required to “eat a little bit of everything.” Though it’s good to serve meals with items your child likes, it is not always possible to do this perfectly. Requiring your child to at least eat a BITE of everything you sere (even of things he or she doesn’t like) will ensure repeated exposure to items. Kids often need to try items several times before they learn to like them.
• With food your child doesn’t particularly like, consider rewarding him or her in some way for trying the item.

• Make a list of two or three “trigger situations" where your kids are likely to act out. As parents we get caught up in the moment, and often we let these situations repeat over and over again.
• Make a hypothesis of why your child is acting out in each trigger situation. Episode two of this podcast is all about why behavior happens, but the basic idea is that behavior occurs to get things (including activities and attention) that we want OR to get out of doing things we don’t want to do. Why do you think your child is acting out? Write it down.
• Come up with something your child can do in these triggers situations before they make the choice to misbehave. Here are some of the examples we spoke about in the episode:
  • Picky eating during meals: less snacks, more preferred foods each meal, more choices, rewarding if your child eats a little bit of everything.
  • Meltdowns during bedtime: visual schedule of bedtime routine, use of a timer, star chart with short-term and long-term rewards.
  • Tantrums when told to clean room: start small and only require the child to pick up a few items at a time, reward them for cleaning (e.g., pause a TV show and only turn it back on once they have cleaned). 

• The three subtypes of ADHD are inattentive, hyperactive/impulsive, and combined. Most children with ADHD have the combined subtype.
• Not all kids with ADHD need medication, but for some it can be very helpful.
• The two main categories of medication for those with this diagnosis are stimulant and non-stimulant medication. Stimulant medication often works immediately, but non-stimulant medication can take a few weeks.
• Stimulant medication is very effective for many kids, so doctors typically start with it. For those with certain medical conditions, those who experience side effects from stimulant medication, or those whose symptoms do not improve, doctors prescribe non-stimulant medication.

• Discover activities that all of your kids like to do, and invest in them. For example, if your kids enjoy board games, then have a lot of them on hand to encourage them to spend time together.

• Even if space is abundant, consider having your kids share a room when they are young.

• Come up with a simple rule for sharing that works in your home. For example, kids close in age might only be allowed to have a limited number of items they aren’t required to share.

• Put rules in place about problem solving. For example, you might tell your kids that during specific periods of time (e.g., while you are cooking) they need to work any arguments out between themselves unless one of them is physically hurt. You can allow them to tell you about it once you are finished (which they often won’t feel the need to do!). This may require extra planning on your part as the parent, because you will need to teach them to express their frustration with each other in an appropriate way.

• As a bonus, here is a free resource to use if you find one sibling frequently bullying the other:

• Download Here

When kids are doing an activity they don’t like (e.g., cleaning their room), time-outs don’t usually work. This is because sitting on time-out might actually be more “fun” than what they are supposed to be doing. In this situation, consider using one of the following strategies: 

• Require your child to finish what they have been told to do. Remind them of something fun they can do afterwards, but don’t let them do a different activity until they complete part or all of the task.

• Take away a privilege. Choose something that is important, but not catastrophic to your child. Bigger is not necessarily better. Also, choose something that you are willing to follow through with. This also works well with older kids who have grown out of time-outs.

If your child has done something to hurt another (either physically or emotionally), consider using a restorative justice approach. This simply means that you require your child to fix the situation with the other person. For example, if your child destroyed a sandcastle that another child built, she could help the child rebuild the castle.

Time-out is when your child goes from an enjoyable situation to a less enjoyable situation. It shouldn’t be used if the child is already doing something they don’t like (e.g., cleaning their room), because you can’t be sure if the time-out is actually less enjoyable than what they are escaping from. The basic structure of time-out is:

• Remind your child of what they should (rather than shouldn’t) be doing.
• Have your child sit on time-out. Another option is to take something away from your child for a period of time.
• Use a timer, adding one minute per year of age. When it goes off, remind your child of the rule once more… then drop it and let them go back to what they were doing.

There are only so many hours in the day, and by saying yes to things, you are also saying no to others. Be purposeful and intentional with these choices. 

• As a family, for now we have decided to say no to organized sports so we can say yes to sports we do as a family. 

• For those of two-parent households, prioritizing your relationship with each other benefits the entire family. 

• A weekly date night (either going out or cooking together once our kids are in bed) is one way that we are doing this in our family. 

• Serving others in need is a great way to bring your family together. 

• As a family we are involved with a non-profit called Safe Families for Children (safe-families.org), where we take in kids to our home from time to time. This has been a blessing in our home and inspired some great conversations. 

Some basic troubleshooting techniques from this episode include the following:

• Improve the reward you are using to make it more motivating.

• Involve your child in the cleanup process when they have accidents, while doing your best not overreact despite your (natural!) frustration.

• Use a journal to discover any patterns in terms of when your child is having an accident.

• Based upon what you learn, proactively act in those specific situations.

• Consider temporarily allowing your child to use a pull-up (in the bathroom) to go #2.

In this episode we discuss many things to do to make potty training as stress-free and successful as possible. The basic method I recommend is as follows:

• Put the child in underwear, rather than pull-ups.

• Give them their favorite drink.

• Set a timer for about 30 minutes. Each time it goes off, have them sit on the potty for 5 minutes.

• If they go #1 or #2 on the potty, give them a favorite treat (that they ONLY get for potty training) and lots of praise.

• If they have an accident, calmly have help you clean up the accident and start over.

It’s hard (and sometimes downright painful!) to watch our kids experience natural consequences when they make mistakes. However, sometimes we need to allow them to walk through life’s challenges. In this episode we go over the following three things to ask yourself when making the decision to allow your child to experience natural consequences or bail them out:

• How big of a deal is it?

• Is it a pervasive issue, or a first time offense?

• Do you have the bandwidth to rescue them?

   

Executive functioning includes skills such as memory, organization, and planning. Implementing these three things can improve your child’s skills in these areas:

• Create a schedule with your child.

• Incorporate the use of timers with children of all ages.

• Put visual cues and reminders in your child’s environment.

• Click here  to download a free example of a visual cue that can be used with kids.

What is the best way to respond to your child’s defiance in moment, and what can you do to prevent it in the future? Here are some of the pointers discussed in this episode:

• Take a deep breath. Label the behavior as defiant and give another chance for compliance. 

• If your child still chooses to be defiant, react based upon their age.

• For younger kids, sometimes the best bet is to provide physical guidance to assist them to complete whatever they are being defiant about.

• For older kids, a loss of specific privileges for a short period of time often works well.

• Make sure to use proactive strategies to prevent defiant behavior if it occurs frequently. This may include teaching appropriate negotiation skills and/or rewarding the absence of defiant behavior with incentives.

Sometimes it is so difficult to avoid #momguilt! In this episode, Dr. Heather Maguire opens up about her own personal journey as a mother of two young kids, highlighting the following three lies she used to tell herself:

• I am lazy. If I worked harder, was more efficient, I could get everything on my to-do list accomplished.

• I have to be fair to each of my kids, which means treating them exactly the same.

• I can do this alone. I don’t need to ask for help.

Why does your child behave the way they do? It is less complicated than you may think. Behavior psychology says that we act to get things (actual items and activities, as well as attention) and get out of things (to escape, avoid, or delay experiences that we don’t like). That’s about it! Here are some things you can do to prevent challenging behavior in the future:

• Come up with a list of situations that often trigger your child’s misbehavior.

• For behaviors that occur to get things, try giving your child something they like or prefer before entering a trigger situation.

• For behaviors that occur to get out of things, the next time you are in the trigger situation make the task easier by shorting it or modifying it. Just make sure to do this proactively, rather than in response to a problematic response.

• For toddlers, start out by giving rewards each time they are successful at whatever behavior you are working on (e.g., using the potty). 

• For kids who are 4 or 5, you can give something small for each success (e.g., a preferred snack), but then something bigger (e.g., a small toy) for a larger number of successes.

• For older kids, earning money is often a good incentive. For example, you can outline a specific list of behaviors to work on and use quarters as the incentive.

• Before creating your own reward system, make sure to check out the free tool I created called The Easiest Thing You Can do to Change Your Child's Behavior TODAY!