Full-Tilt Parenting: Strategies, Insights, and Connection for Parents Raising Neurodivergent Children

In this week’s episode I’m talking with the founder of the popular psychology website Hey Sigmund, Karen Young about anxiety in kids. Karen created Hey Sigmund because she realized the power of solid information, and wanted to share brain science and the latest research and news about psychology with everyday people.What attracted me to Karen’s website is that it frequently features fascinating, comprehensive, and easy-to-digest articles on issues surrounding kids’ emotional and mental well-being, with a special focus on anxiety in kids. And that’s what we’re talking about in-depth today—anxiety in children. Karen will tell us exactly what it looks like, how we can recognize it in our kids, what to do about it, and how to talk with our kids about it. Karen also tells us about her new book which she wrote specifically for children with anxiety, called Hey Warrior.Karen Young has worked as a psychologist in private practice, in organizational settings, lectured and has extensive experience in the facilitation of personal growth groups. Her honors degree in psychology and masters in Gestalt Therapy have come in handy at times. She founded Hey Sigmund after realizing the power of solid information. Her articles have been translated into a number of languages and her work has been published on various international sites including The Good Men Project, The Huffington Post, The Mighty, and Yahoo Health.She is also a regular contributor to Parenting Magazine in New Zealand. She can often be heard on Australian radio, and is and a sought-after speaker. Recently, she published Hey Warrior, a book for kids to help them understand anxiety and find their ‘brave’. Things you’ll learn from this episode The impetus for Karen’s popular website Hey Sigmund What Karen hopes Hey Sigmund does in the world Why Karen says: “Because sometimes the only diagnosis is human” What’s happening in our kids’ bodies and minds when they’re experiencing anxiety Useful strategies kids can use to cope with their anxious feelings What parents can look out for if they suspect their child might be struggling with anxiety How parents can support their children with anxiety, as well as explain to their children what’s going on The importance of mindfulness as a way to manage anxiety  Resources mentioned about anxiety in kids Hey Sigmund (Karen’s website) Hey Warrior, a book for kids with anxiety to find their “brave” by Karen Young The University of Washington Autism Center Headspace mindfulness app Smiling Mind mindfulness app Hey Sigmund on Facebook Anxiety in Kids: How to Turn it Around and Protect Them for Life (original viral article on Hey Sigmund) Support the showConnect with Tilt Parenting Visit Tilt Parenting Take the free 7-Day Challenge Read a chapter of Differently Wired Follow Tilt on Twitter & Instagram Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

16-year-old, autistic college student Jordan O'Kelley shares his personal story of growing up twice-exceptional, learning how to advocate for himself, and helping raise awareness and understanding for other 2e kids.Connect with Tilt Parenting Visit Tilt Parenting Take the free 7-Day Challenge Read a chapter of Differently Wired Follow Tilt on Twitter & Instagram Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For this episode, I sat down with Simone Davies, a Montessori educator who runs Jacaranda Tree Montessori in Amsterdam and founder of the online home The Montessori Notebook, which helps people apply Montessori principles in daily live through free articles, downloads, and e-courses. I love Simone’s perspective on education, parenting, and positive discipline, and I wanted to share her insight with listeners.We talk about a number of different issues during our conversation, but the primary focus was on handling emotionally charged and difficult situations with our children, including when our child is having a tough time in public and all eyes are on us to respond “appropriately.” We talk about how difficult it is to stay emotionally detached and not let our own angry or frustrated energy add further fuel to the situation, and Simone shares some useful strategies for staying (mostly) calm and cool. Simone Davies has over 10 years experience as an AMI-qualified Montessori teacher, working with both young children and their parents. Simone is a parent educator, runs Jacaranda Tree Montessori, a Montessori playground in Amsterdam for babies, toddies and preschoolers, and is the founder of The Montessori Notebook.  Things you’ll learn from this episode What the Montessori philosophy entails Specific strategies for not absorbing your child’s energy during difficult moments and diffusing the situation instead An approach for handling public meltdowns How to practice empathy with a child The value in getting comfortable with big emotions Why making amends and taking responsibility works better than punishments How our thoughts about a child’s behavior can worsen a situation  Resources mentioned about how to be a calm parent The Montessori Notebook Simone’s e-course Setting Up Your Home Montessori Style Jacaranda Tree Montessori The Explosive Child: A New Approach for Understanding and Parenting Easily Frustrated, Chronically Inflexible Children, by Ross W. Greene TiLT Parenting Podcast episode featuring Margaret Webb (Finding Peace in Parenting the Child You Didn’t Expect When You Were Expecting) Support the showConnect with Tilt Parenting Visit Tilt Parenting Take the free 7-Day Challenge Read a chapter of Differently Wired Follow Tilt on Twitter & Instagram Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Psychologist, speaker, and author Dr. Mona Delahooke talks about her new book Brain-Body Parenting, and the power in understanding and responding to children's complicated behavior as a symptom rather than a problem.Connect with Tilt Parenting Visit Tilt Parenting Take the free 7-Day Challenge Read a chapter of Differently Wired Follow Tilt on Twitter & Instagram Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In week’s podcast episode, we’re talking about bad behavior. Specifically, The Good News About Bad Behavior. That’s the name of a new book by journalist, author, speaker, and parent educator, Katherine Lewis, and in this episode, Katherine and I talk about what our kids’ behavior is telling us and how we as parents, teachers, and other adults in kids’ lives can best respond to it while encouraging our kids to develop into healthy adults.In researching and writing her book, Katherine connected with one of our favorite parenting thought leaders, Dr. Ross Greene, and reframed her own thinking about bad behavior as being a child’s way of demonstrating lagging skills. Katherine’s book aims to help parents navigate tricky behavioral situations and work with their children toward better solutions. I really enjoyed this conversation and hope it offers you some good food for thought.Katherine Reynolds Lewis is an award-winning journalist and author of The Good News About Bad Behavior: Why Kids Are Less Disciplined Than Ever – And What to Do About It. Her work has appeared in the Atlantic, Fortune, Money, Mother Jones, The New York Times, Parade, Slate, USA Today’s magazine group, the Washington Post Magazine and Working Mother. She holds a BA in physics from Harvard University and is a certified parent educator with the Parent Encouragement Program (PEP) in Kensington, Md.  Things you’ll learn from this episode How parents can shift their mindset in the way they think about behavior Why our kids’ need to experience failure, and why modeling it for them can be so powerful  How to let go of what others think of our approach to parenting and discipline Ways parents can compassionate advocate for and educate others about our children What Katherine hopes her book does in the world in terms of changing the conversation surrounding behavior What the good news about bad behavior actually is  Resources on the good news about bad behavior Katherine Lewis’ website The Good News About Bad Behavior: Why Kids Are Less Disciplined Than Ever, and What to Do About It by Katherine R. Lewis Katherine Lewis on Facebook  Katherine Lewis on Twitter Katherine Lewis on Instagram The Explosive Child: A New Approach for Understanding and Parenting Easily Frustrated, Chronically Inflexible Children by Dr. Ross Greene Lives in the Balance (Dr. Greene’s website) Support the showConnect with Tilt Parenting Visit Tilt Parenting Take the free 7-Day Challenge Read a chapter of Differently Wired Follow Tilt on Twitter & Instagram Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Supporting 2e students continues to be one of the biggest challenges for those of us raising twice-exceptional children, and today we’re going to do a deep dive into how to do this. My guest is Maria Kennedy, director of the Bridges Educational Group at Bridges Academy, and host of Crucial Conversations on Cognitive Diversity, produced by the Bridges 2e Center for Research and Professional Development. Maria is also a speaker, author and advocate and has been featured on “Bright and Quirky” and has received several awards for her teaching and leadership. Maria is passionate about supporting 2e students and training teachers how to tap into the strengths of their gifted and challenged learners.During this conversation, we’ll talk about how the definition of giftedness in some countries keeps gifted students from getting into gifted programs, the importance of appreciating every child’s unique strengths and value, and ways parents can advocate for their children’s unique learning profile, even within their existing school systems that may not be designed to support or understand neurodivergent learners. Things you’ll learn from this episode How the definition of giftedness in some countries prevents gifted students from getting into gifted programs Why we should lean into widening the scope of what giftedness means so we can properly identify everyone’s gifts What appreciating everyone’s unique value can bring to a child’s education and development What the roadblocks are for our educational system to be more open to embracing the changes needed How parents who are navigating a traditional educational system can advocate for their 2e children  Resources mentioned for supporting 2e students Bridges Academy Scott Barry Kaufman Ungifted: Intelligence Redefinedby Scott Barry Kaufman Bridges Symposium Dr. Susan Baum Stanford Neurodiversity Conference 2e News Variations Magazine Support the showConnect with Tilt Parenting Visit Tilt Parenting Take the free 7-Day Challenge Read a chapter of Differently Wired Follow Tilt on Twitter & Instagram Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ever considered homeschooling your gifted children? My guest, educator, author, and blogger Celi Trepanier, became a passionate advocate for gifted children after tiring of her battles with schools and their misunderstanding of how to support gifted children. A teacher who has taught in both public and private schools, Celi is the author of the book Educating Your Gifted Child: How One Public School Teacher Embraced Homeschooling, a parent group facilitator for the organization SENG (Supporting the Emotional Needs of the Gifted), and keeps a blog at Crushing Tall Poppies.In our conversation, we talk about why many schools, even sometimes those designed specifically to cater to gifted children, aren’t able to support these unique learners, and Celi shares why she believes homeschooling gifted children is such a great option if it’s something that is possible for families, as well as gives us her advice for how to get started.Celi Trépanier is the author of Educating Your Gifted Child: How One Public School Teacher Embraced Homeschooling, as well as a writer, passionate advocate for gifted children, an anti-bullying proponent, MEd, former public school teacher, and a homeschooling mom.Things you’ll learn from this episode What giftedness is, as well as why there are negative stigmas attached to the label Why most public schools are failing our gifted kids Why sometimes even programs for gifted kids don’t really “get” gifted kids (they teach to kids who are “high achieving” rather than than “gifted”) Why homeschooling can be such a great fit for gifted children How parents can determine if homeschooling is a doable option for their family Resources mentioned for homeschooling gifted children Crushing Tall Poppies (Celi Trepanier’s website) Educating Your Gifted Child: How One Public School Teacher Embraced Homeschooling by Celi Trepanier Parenting Horizons—Parenting Coach Julie Ross Why Fostering Cultures of Respect in Our Schools is Absolutely Critical (podcast episode) Gifted Homeschooler’s Forum Support the showConnect with Tilt Parenting Visit Tilt Parenting Take the free 7-Day Challenge Read a chapter of Differently Wired Follow Tilt on Twitter & Instagram Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt Barnes, Co-Founder and Parent Coach at The Education Game, inspires parents to embrace a new learning model that deemphasizes grades and academic compliance and emphasizes learning, problem-solving, and engagement.Connect with Tilt Parenting Visit Tilt Parenting Take the free 7-Day Challenge Read a chapter of Differently Wired Follow Tilt on Twitter & Instagram Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Author and lecturer Alfie Kohn challenges traditional parenting approaches, discussing the concept of unconditional parenting and the negative effects of conditional parenting. They explore how mainstream practices may not align with parents' goals, emphasizing the importance of meeting children's needs, patience, and communication. They also discuss implementing and challenges of unconditional parenting, promoting their books and Patreon support.

Author and founder of the Big Minds educational model Dr. Melanie Hayes talks about her new book for 2e and 2eA adults, Being Twice Exceptional, and what it will take for 2e and 2eA people to thrive. Connect with Tilt Parenting Visit Tilt Parenting Take the free 7-Day Challenge Read a chapter of Differently Wired Follow Tilt on Twitter & Instagram Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices