Mom Psych

Every mother I know is amazingly strong.  This week's episode is a conversation Jessica Pavelko.  Jess's experience through addiction, recovery, divorce and single parenting is an incredible journey of struggle, faith, courage and strength.  I know you will find encouragement, inspiration and hope in her story.  I sure did.

I’M CALLING THIS THE “MOM STRONG” SERIES AND I CAN’T WAIT TO SHARE THE EXCEPTIONAL PARENTING STORIES OF MOM’S JUST LIKE YOU.  EVERY MOTHER I KNOW IS STRONG AND FIERCELY PROTECTIVE OF HER KIDS AND HAS A STORY TO TELL.   TODAY’S CONVERSATION IS WITH KRISTY WESTROM AN AMAZINGLY COURAGEOUS MOM IN OUR COMMUNITY AND I CAN’T WAIT FOR YOU TO HEAR KRISTY’S MOM STRONG STORY, I’LL BET YOU WILL HEAR SOME OF YOUR OWN STRENGTH’S IN OUR CONVERSATION. AS I STARTED TO THINK ABOUT WHAT WOULD BE HELPFUL FOR MOM PSYCH LISTENERS AS WE START UP THIS ANYTHING BUT NORMAL SCHOOL YEAR, IT OCCURRED TO ME THAT WHAT IS MISSING FOR LOTS OF PARENTS, MOMS IN PARTICULAR, IS A SENSE OF COMMUNITY AND CONNECTEDNESS IN THE MIDST OF PARENTING DURING THIS PANDEMIC.  COVID REQUIRES THAT WE SEPARATE AND PHYSICALLY DISTANCE FROM OTHERS BUT WE DESPERATELY NEED EMOTIONAL AND SPIRITUAL CONNECTION TO FUNCTION. SO I THOUGHT INSTEAD OF ME DOING ALL THE TALKING, IT WOULD BE HELPFUL, SUPPORTIVE AND ENCOURAGING TO SHARE PARENTING STORIES FROM THIS UNIQUE TIME TO INSPIRE AND ENERGIZE EACH OTHER.  

In this episode I provide parents with information and support on helping their kids with persistent worry, anxiety and perfectionism.  An increasing number of children are experiencing persistent fears, worries and perfectionism that interfere with family, friendships, school, sports and other Interests.  On-going worry doesn't typically go away by itself but it is HIGHLY treatable and kids can learn strategies to help them face their persistent worries and perfectionism and take control of them.

The long-term goal of discipline is to help our children develop self-control and self-discipline, but in the short-term, we just want our kids to comply, to be obedient, to do what we ask, follow the rules and maintain our routines with as little drama or difficulty as possible.  Is that too much to ask?  In this episode I share several tips to set limits and boundaries in effective, respectful ways for long and short term results.

Children aren't born into the world intuitively understanding how to handle their big uncomfortable feelings.  In this episode we discover how emotional intelligence (EQ), the ability to be aware of our feelings and cope with them in healthy ways can contribute to overall life success more than IQ.  Emotion Coaching parenting enables parents to help support, teach, and model healthy emotional skills for their children that will have a lasting effect on their kids success, happiness and relationships.

Technology has added a whole new dimension to parenting.  We all want our kids to be safe, responsible users and consumers of media but it can be tough to navigate.  In this episode I give parents lots of suggestions from the experts on how to manage, monitor and mentor their children's use of technology.  

In this episode I give you lots of suggestions and ideas to decrease sibling rivalry, decrease the intensity of it when it occurs and to help your kids develop the skills necessary to handle conflict.  We all just want a happy conflict free home don't we?  But if you have multiple children, it's unlikely that isn't your reality.  Many parents report sibling conflict as one of the more difficult aspects of parenting.  The good news is that it's totally normal and isn't a threat to your happy home.  But that doesn't mean its easy and certainly no fun. 

In this episode I give you lots of suggestions and ideas to decrease sibling rivalry, decrease the intensity of it when it occurs and to help your kids develop the skills necessary to handle conflict.  We all just want a happy conflict free home don't we?  But if you have multiple children, it's unlikely that isn't your reality.  Many parents report sibling conflict as one of the more difficult aspects of parenting.  The good news is that it's totally normal and isn't a threat to your happy home.  But that doesn't mean its easy and certainly no fun. 

Stanford Researcher, Carol Dweck and author of the book, Mindset:  The New Psychology of Success says, "In a growth mindset people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work.  Brains and talent are just the starting point.  This view creates a love of learning and resilience that is essential for great accomplishment."  This is great news for everybody! In this episode I give you five suggestions to help you model and cultivate a growth mindset in you and your kids!

Bringing home a new baby is so exciting! It can be exhausting too!  And everyone needs sleep.  In this episode I describe sleep cycles and needs in the first year and what parents can do to help baby and themselves get a good night sleep.  

Continuations of Healthy Family Sleep Habits: Pt. 1.  Today we're talking about sleep.  All humans require to be functional, operational people.  Inadequate sleep can cause all kinds of problems but adequate sleep gives kids all kinds of big benefits, behaviorally, emotionally, cognitively, and physically.  In this episode I share 10 strategies that most experts agree will help your kids and your family get better sleep.

Today we're talking about sleep.  All humans require to be functional, operational people.  Inadequate sleep can cause all kinds of problems but adequate sleep gives kids all kinds of big benefits, behaviorally, emotionally, cognitively, and physically.  In this episode I share 10 strategies that most experts agree will help your kids and your family get better sleep.

In this episode we discuss how to talk to our kids about the sometimes scary, senseless and tragic things that happen in our world in a responsive, supportive and comforting way without creating more fear and insecurity for them.  Breaking news reports are almost inescapable. Although bad things happen, and we live in a 24/7 news cycle our kids aren't necessarily mature enough to understand and cope. I'll share some helpful ways to discuss these types of events to help them feel safe, secure and connected.

School's just around the corner.  Kids and parents are getting both excited and anxious.  In this episode I share my Back to School, Top 10 List for parents to help them and their families navigate the waters of transitioning their kids to school and themselves to school year routines.  I also talk about how to help kids of differing temperaments manage back to school transition.

Why does my child act that way?  Could be his/her temperament.  Temperament is your child's first and most natural reaction to the world. Their "personal style."  We are all born with our own individual temperaments and its stable through-out our life.  Your child's temperament can affect your confidence as a parent and that in turn can impact your relationships with your child.  Temperament influences behavior and how your child interacts with others.  Understanding temperament can help parents better understand their child and how he/she reacts and relates to the world around them.  There is no good or bad temperament.  What really matters is that there is a "goodness of fit" between parent and child.  That "goodness of fit"  will support positive outcomes for the child and help you build a deep, meaningful connection with your child.

The power of play and its' developmental impact and influence on your kids' physical and emotional health, educational outcomes and overall trajectory can't be overstated.  Did you know that Mr Rogers and Jean Piaget both said that, "play is the work of childhood."  Play is how children learn almost everything! Even  older kids learn concepts best when they are highly engaged in some form of self-directed, unstructured, independent play.  This episode describes the incredible benefits of play and strategies to provide more opportunity for your child to play in our busy over-scheduled world.

It drives parents crazy when our kids tell us they can't do something we've asked them to do or something new and unfamiliar.   Sometimes the "I can't" is really "I won't", "I don't want to."  Other times it's, "I don't know how to."  "I'm too scared to try, or disappoint you."  Very often, "I can't" is a reflection of a child's self-mage, what they believe about themselves... their self-esteem. In this episode I share six strategies for helping to foster your child's "I can" self belief system and build a strong, healthy self-esteem.

One of the biggest challenges parents face is getting their children to eat "healthy."  It is not uncommon in the early years for mealtime to become a battle ground.  So fun, right?  Ugh.... This leaves parents and their children, with a lot of negative feelings about the entire eating experience.  Probably the opposite of what you pictured as the ideal family mealtime but there's hope.  In this episode I give you five practical strategies to create a foundation for helping your child to develop a life-long healthy approach to food and their body and it all starts with you. 

The parenting question I receive most often typically starts like this... "Is it normal that my child is (fill in the blank)? " In this episode I try to respond to this seemingly straight forward, frequent asked parenting question from a few different perspectives.  I hope it will give you lots to think about and even more to feel good about.

This episode is background and description of the podcast.  I want to use it to share to FB and test with community.