Tag Archive for: Dr. Robyn Silverman

How to Talk to Kids about Death & Dying with Joe Primo

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Special Guest: Joe Primo

Having a conversation about death and dying is not typically a conversation people are excited to have with their kids. And yet, we all know it’s necessary. A friend of mine came over to me at a party the other day. She had just found out that her mother-in-law had stage 4 cancer. While dealing with her own whirlwind of emotions, knowing that I provide tips and scripts to have these tough conversations with kids, she asked me; “What do I tell the kids? What if they ask me if she’ll die? What do I say when she does?” The concept of dying can be scary, sad, confusing, angering and upsetting for many of us. Our own emotions, our concern about our children’s emotions- how they are going to take the news- how they are going to cope with life when someone they love dies- how might they grieve—what’s normal- these can make us worry about having the conversations in the first place. Not to mention, our confusion over what to say and how to say it can make this topic on how to talk to kids about death and dying- a real tough one.

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How to Talk to Kids about Sex featuring Dina Alexander

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Special Guest: Dina Alexander

So who wants more information about how to have THE talk with their kids. You know the one. THE SEX TALK! This is one of those conversations that often makes us all squirm in our seats and yet, gotta have it. And remember, while you may not be talking to your kids about sex yet, you’ll need to talk about it at some point—and likely sooner than later, no matter what your family values are and what you personally think your children should or shouldn’t be doing. And for those of you who have already been in the thick of it—perhaps you’ve already had a discussion about privacy, your child’s body or sex itself – remember, it’s never one big talk, but a series of little ones, so this podcast can help provide you with one, two or three extra nuggets you might not have thought of yet when the topic comes up again. And you know it will! It always does.

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10 Powerful Conversation Starters: How to Talk to Kids about Resilience

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From bullying to disasters to the scary happenings we see on the news, raising kids in today’s world can be challenging. It’s easy to see why teachers, parents, coaches and other adults in the lives of children want to shield children from all hardships. Of course, this isn’t possible and over-protecting children and keeping them from experiencing failure isn’t the answer to adversity. What is? Teaching resilience.

Resilience is the ability to “bounce back” from stress, challenge, trauma, failure and adversity. We see it when our kids pick themselves up after they fall and try again. We see it when they study harder, try out again, make the 3rd attempt, and solve problems on their own even though they could take the easy way out. I like to explain it this way:

Think about an elastic band. You can stretch it out, twist it, pull it– and what happens when you stop stretching it? It bounces back. Just like an elastic band, resilience allows us to “bounce back” when we are pulled, stretched, twisted and challenged. Now think of a rubber ball. What happens when you throw that rubber ball down at the floor or at the wall? It bounces back! Just like an elastic band or a rubber ball, resilience allows us to “bounce back” when life gets tough or challenging. We can be like that elastic band or that rubber ball! When life pushes us down…we bounce back up!

Feel free to use the 10 Conversation Starters to help you talk about resilience with the children in your life. The Powerful Word of the Month is resilience for July– but this is a word we can use all year long to help us through anything that pulls us out of our comfort zone or challenges our emotions, frustration level or even physical being. I’m thinking of you every step of the way- and come up onto Facebook so we can discuss all kinds of great topics on Facebook or request to be in the brand new; How to Talk to Kids about Anything private group!

Thank you for being part of our family!

How to Talk to Kids about the Power of Different with Dr. Gail Saltz

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Special Guest: Dr. Gail Saltz

Every parent wants his or her child to be happy and successful. As parents, we learn from many books, experts, our own parents that there is a formula for this—they get enough sleep, we feed them right, we send them to school, give them love and boundaries, make sure they do their homework, we put them in the right sports, get them involved with enrichment activities—the brain and body develops and our child will be successful. Of course, in practice, this is often not such a clear-cut picture.

No child is the same as another. No brain is the same as another. And sometimes, when children don’t seem to be following the preconceived pattern that we expected, that we learned about, maybe that we hoped for, we might wonder how our child, who is different from the norm could become happy and successful. It turns out, as some have already discovered, that there is a power in being different and as parents, we can help cultivate, inspire and build upon that difference and that’s where the magic can happen. What magic you might wonder? What is the power of different? That’s why we are privileged to have our amazing guest, Dr. Gail Saltz, for today’s podcast episode.

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How to Talk to Kids about Making & Keeping Friends with Dr. Eileen Kennedy-Moore

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Special Guest: Dr. Eileen Kennedy-Moore

Friendship can be a beautiful part of life. We laugh, cry, play, talk and experience life with friends as we grow up. I mean, thinking back to your childhood, no doubt there are many moments that many of us can remember that involve friends. But that doesn’t mean that friendship is a simple construct. There are important skills that kids must develop in order to make and keep friends. How do they make friends? How do they learn to understand their friend’ feelings? How do they learn be part of the group and still maintain their own individuality and how do they let go to forgive or even more on from a friendship? For these questions, we are turning to Eileen Kennedy-Moore, PhD

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How to Talk to Kids about being Mentally Strong with Amy Morin, LCSW

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Special Guest: Amy Morin, LCSW

Ever wonder: What is the secret of success? Is it intelligence? Talent? Luck? Perhaps a bit. But more and more the research is telling us that the X-factor—the reason why some people fail and other succeed comes down to grit or what is sometimes referred to as mental toughness or mental strength. What is mental strength? How can we develop it? And How can parents, teachers and coaches help kids to develop mental strength? These are just some of the questions we are going to get answers to on today’s podcast with Amy Morin.

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How to Talk to Kids about Suicide, Sexual Assault & 13 Reasons Why with Dr. Dae Sheridan

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Special Guest: Dr. Dae Sheridan

The topic of sexual assault, suicide and cyber-bullying are certainly topics that are well covered in the news but not topics that parents and educators often love to cover with kids. But today’s topic has, of late, been the recipient of a great deal of media coverage and concern among parents and educators. Why?

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How to talk to kids about resourcefulness with Scott Sonenshein

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Special Guest: Scott Sonenshein

This podcast provides:

Tips: How to help our kids do more with less and become more resourceful. How can we be more creative? Scott also talks about taking “field trips,” creative atypical birthday parties, reaffirming play, modeling, little seed creativity.

Scripts: Saying no to our children, what to say when your child wants a new toy

Steps: Taking a child through how to be resourceful when wanting a new toy. How can we look at what we have in unique ways?

Barriers to success: By saying yes to everything we create a dependence on “more stuff” and we rob our kids of the ability to get creative.

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How to Raise Joyful Kids In a Stressful World with Katie Hurley

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Special Guest: Katie Hurley

This podcast provides:

Tips: Katie talks about watching for stress-signs, encouraging play, dealing with differences between parents and children, using empathic listening, using stress words and problem-solving, stop and label, self care, body mapping, deep breathing.

Scripts: Instead of problem solving, use some empathic listening and reflect back what your child is saying. Examples are given. Also how to talk to kids about pitching in when parents are stressed out (and ask for help when they are!).

Barriers to success: Differences between how parents and children cope with stress (coming from different worlds).

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How to Talk to Kids About Divorce with Christina McGhee

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Special Guest: Christina McGhee

This podcast provides:

Tips: How to prepare to tell the kids about divorce and what to know, when best to say it and what to do if you are going to do so. The dos and don’ts of talking to kids about divorce.

Scripts: What to say, step by step, when you need to tell your kids about a divorce in the family.

Steps: The steps to take before you talk to your kids about getting a divorce.

Barriers to success: Putting the kids in the middle, our own feelings about the experience, our assumption that our kids are “fine” and already know and understand.

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