How to Talk to Kids about Differently-Wired Children with Debbie Reber

Special Guest: Debbie Reber
Debbie Reber is a New York Times bestselling author and the founder of TiLT Parenting, a website, top podcast, and social media company for parents who are raising differently wired children. Her next book, Differently Wired: Raising an Exceptional Child in a Conventional World, comes out in June 2018. She currently lives with her son and husband in the Netherlands. Check her out at http://www.tiltparenting.com

How to Talk to Kids about Picky Eating & Good Nutrition with Jill Castle

Special Guest: Jill Castle
Jill Castle is a registered dietitian/nutritionist and a specialist in pediatric nutrition. She currently works as a private practitioner, online educator, consultant, and speaker. She is the author of Eat Like a Champion: Performance Nutrition for Your Young Athlete and co-author of Fearless Feeding: How to Raise Healthy Eaters from High Chair to High School. She’s also the creator of The Nourished Child, a childhood nutrition blog and podcast, and The Kids Healthy Weight Project, an online course for parents. Jill is a national and international speaker, focused on topics including childhood nutrition, feeding, picky eating, youth sports nutrition, and childhood obesity. Jill is regularly quoted in popular print and online publications as a leading childhood nutrition expert and is a regular contributor to US News & World Report, USA Swimming and Bundoo.com. You can find out all about Jill Castle at JillCastle.com

How to Communicate Openly and Honestly with your Kids with Sage Hobbs

Special Guest: Sage B. Hobbs
Sage Hobbs is a women’s empowerment coach, speaker, and author of the book, Naked Communication.  She’s known for her bold, insightful, and dynamic approach to communication, relationships, and personal growth. Sage works in both individual and group settings to create experiences of courage, self-expression, and freedom.  Sage supports her clients to unleash their voice, take action, and transform their status quo when they feel stuck, dissatisfied, or stagnant. Prior to creating her current work, Sage received her Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology and spent a decade working with teens and families to navigate the wild path of growing up.  She’s also a mom of two, a cancer survivor, a proud teacher’s wife, a “retired” school counselor, a world traveler, a living room dance party aficionado, and a book lover.

How to Talk to Kids about Fears & Phobias with Dr. Andrea Umbach

Special Guest: Andrea Umbach
All people, young or old, experience fears or anxiety at one time or another in their lives. These feelings are often normal- even protective- because they tell us when we need to use caution, run, fight or get help. Kids may fear the dark, or spiders, or being separated from their parents- and much more. For children, coping with fear can even help them deal calmly with bigger fears as they get older and challenging situations get more, well, challenging. But what happens when fears are more relentless? When they are more than just normal, everyday anxieties and tend to stop us from doing what we want to do, need to do, live fully from day to day? What happens when it’s not just a fear- but a phobia? To figure all of this out- I am so glad we have Dr. Andrea Umbach on our show today.

How to Talk to Kids about Innovation & Creativity with George Couros

Special Guest: George Couros
George Couros is a leading educator in the area of innovative leadership, teaching, and learning. He has worked with all levels of school, from K-12 as a teacher, technology facilitator, and school and district administrator, and is the author of the book, The Innovator’s Mindset; Empower Learning, Unleash Talent, and Lead a Culture of Creativity. He is a sought after speaker on the topic of innovative student learning and engagement and has worked with schools and organizations around the globe. George is also the creator of Connected Principals.com, an initiative that brings educators and leaders together from around the world to create powerful learning opportunities for students.  Although George is a leader in the area of innovation, his focus is always on the development of leadership and people and what is best for learners. His belief is that meaningful change happens when you first connect to people’s hearts. You can connect with George on his blog, The Principal of Change (georgecouros.ca) or through Twitter @gcouros.  

How to Talk to Kids about Transgender Youth with Jessica Herthel

Special Guest: Jessica Herthel
This podcast is aimed to help parents and educators understand how to knowledgably and compassionately talk about transgender youth and gender expression with children. Especially when many people have their own preconceived notions about gender, it can be hard to speak about the spectrum of gender expression in a non-biased and open-minded way. How do we answer questions about what transgender means? How do we better understand the challenges of transgender and other LGBTQ youth? How can we best support children in our community who are gender non-conforming? This podcast episode with Jessica Herthel, LGBTQ advocate, helps to answer these (and more) questions!

How to Talk to Kids about the Impact of Divorce with Marty Matika

Special Guest: Marty Matika
This podcast will focus on how to help kids cope with the impact of divorce. Marty Matika goes over the warning signs that might tell you that your kids are suffering during divorce (but not telling you about it), the top mistakes parents make while going through a divorce, and what kids really wish their parents knew while their family was going through a divorce. As a child who went through divorce as well as a therapist/coach who helps kids and families who are going through divorce, Marty Matika has personal insights that can help parents who are experiencing divorce right now.

How to Talk to Kids about Media & Technology with Caroline Knorr of Common Sense Media

Special Guest: Caroline Knorr
Ever see an ad for a toy, movie, TV show or book and wonder, is that right for my child? Wish you had knew from a completely unbiased, well-researched, independent child-focused organization how to pick the best apps, best websites and best educational videos for your kids at the most optimal ages possible? And speaking of optimal ages- wish you knew how much screen time your child should get or when you should get your child his or her first phone? Then you have come to the right place today. Parenting in the 21st century is filled with figuring out media from dealing with online safety to navigating social media to knowing which apps are really good for learning. We are so thrilled to have Caroline Knorr from Common Sense Media on the show today.

How to Talk to Girls about Drama-Free Friendships with Annie Fox

Special Guest: Annie Fox

Annie Fox is an Award winning writer, app developer and Educator Focusing on Social-Emotional learning and character development. Annie aims to teach kids to be good people because we need more good people. We are all villagers, so it’s up to us. Some of her books include: Teaching Kids to Be Good People, Too Stressed to Think?, the Middle School Confidential book and app series, and the Raymond and Sheila picture books series. Annie’s latest book, The Girls’ Q&A Book on Friendship, offers 8-12 year old girls (and their parents/teachers) 50 ways to fix a friendship without the DRAMA. And that topic, talking to girls about friendship, is what lands her on the show today and we couldn’t be more excited.

Girls and friendship. For some, this topic makes them smile and think of the most endearing, close, meaningful relationships of their lives. For others, it makes them sweat and feel a little sick. Maybe it’s a little bit of both!

How to Build Self Esteem in Kids who were Adopted or Fostered with Dr. Sue Cornbluth

Special Guest: Dr. Sue Cornbluth
This podcast provides tips, scripts, stories and steps to help parents and educators understand the unique challenges of children who feel different, cast aside or devalued because of experiences in their childhood. Sue Cornbluth talks about children who were in the foster care system or who were adopted and how many of these children can have challenged self esteem due to unanswered questions about their identity or internalized frustrations about their life circumstances. How can we help kids who are being fostered or who have been adopted (perhaps later in life), cultivate the high self esteem and self worth they deserve?