The Child Repair Guide with Dr. Steve Silvestro

This holiday season, everyone is asking the same questions: “Can we find a way to get together with family? What if we all get tested first? Do we risk it?” COVID is destined to throw a massive wrench in what is often a time of gathering together. In this episode, I break down the risks + lay out some points to consider if you aim to make your family events safer. Think of this episode as the “sex ed” of COVID holidays—I’d rather you didn’t do it at all, but since you might anyway, here’s how to potentially lower your risk! You can find the shareable article version of this episode at www.drstevesilvestro.com/126 **This episode is sponsored by happyly. Happyly was created to help every parent feel like a super parent, with inspiration for activities and curated adventures near home or on the go. Take the pressure out of planning family adventures & download the free happyly app today.

It goes without saying that COVID has turned everything we know on its head. This is equally true for almost all things parenting. Things we used to take for granted—like scheduling a playdate in a park or seeing family—now take on extra layers of awkwardness and caution. Is the other family on the same page precaution-wise as you? How to handle the requests from Grandma to come visit when you know Grandma thinks differently about what is & isn't safe? Sarah Davis & Evie Granville are here with tips for handling all the awkward & uncomfortable situations of our brand new world. Their new book, Modern Manners for Moms & Dads: Practical Parenting Solutions for Sticky Social Situations, is packed with useful insights into modern parenting etiquette—and in this super-entertaining episode, they apply their approach to answer the questions we've all been asking. Find all the shownotes for this episode here. And get a copy of Evie & Sarah's book here. **This episode is sponsored by happyly. Happyly was created to help every parent feel like a super parent, with inspiration for activities and curated adventures near home or on the go. Take the pressure out of planning family adventures & download the free happyly app today.

Hey, we’re all trying to do our best when feeding our kids healthy food. And what might be your best effort right now may not be your best effort at some other time, or the same as someone else’s best effort—and that’s okay. But what isn’t fair is when the cards are stacked against you—when things that have been marketed to us as “food” are really causing harm to us and to our kids. The biggest, most prolific culprit? Sugar. It’s everywhere—but it’s not just in the places you’d expect. In the last several decades, sugar has silently found its way into so many foods we eat, many of which would surprise you. In fact, I recently shared a video on Instagram highlighting a fruit and chia cup that had 14 grams of sugar ADDED to the natural sugar already in the fruit. Nowadays, sugar is added to yogurt, tomato sauce, even the bread you use to make your kids’ sandwiches. And this invasion of sugar into everything we eat isn’t without consequence. We see its effects in everything from the obesity epidemic to kids’ mood, behavior, and brain function. We’re even seeing problems like fatty liver disease pop up in children. But there is hope. In their new book, Sugarproof: The Hidden Dangers of Sugar That Are Putting Your Child’s Health at Risk and What You Can Do, Dr. Michael Goran and Dr. Emily Ventura paint not only the intimidating sugar-laden landscape of modern American diets, but also simple steps you can put into action with your family right now. In this enlightening conversation, Drs. Goran and Ventura show you how to “Sugarproof” your kids.   **This episode is sponsored by happyly. Happyly was created to help every parent feel like a super parent, with inspiration for activities and curated adventures near home or on the go. Take the pressure out of planning family adventures & download the free happyly app today. **Get your own "Happy Little Trees" Broccoli t-shirt here -- available in adult, kids, and baby sizes!

Pediatric dietician Jennifer Anderson from @kids.eat.in.color shares tips on developing healthy eating habits in kids, including dealing with picky eaters, snacking tips, promoting variety, and age-appropriate food conversations. Topics also cover nutrition guidance, empowering children's food choices, elderberry supplement caution, COVID inflammation, and family meal planning.

We’re about nine months into this pandemic—do you feel like you have a handle on how to tell if it’s getting better or worse? Do you have a sense of how to know when it’s OK for your family to “open up“ and start doing some things you’ve been holding back on? If your answer either of those questions is “no,” you’re not alone. Absolutely. Not. Alone. A huge part of the problem for the average person trying to tease out useful information is that it’s challenging to figure out exactly what information is indeed useful. There are a dozen different types of statistics discussed in the news or online dashboards, let alone different ways to measure them and different ways the numbers are spun depending on who’s doing the talking. So in this episode, I’m here to simplify this for you. If you find this episode helpful, take a screenshot of your podcast player as you listen, post it to your Instagram Story, and TAG ME @zendocsteve. You can find the shareable article version of this episode at drstevesilvestro.com/122

One of the biggest questions I’ve been asked lately is how to help young kids develop social skills—whether it’s because their preschools are currently closed, or their parents just want to make sure their kids thrive. It's a valid concern—but also one that you can learn to address right at home. I sat down with the wonderful Monica Silvestro—yup, the Monica Silvestro of 10-Minute Preschool fame & my favorite person of all-time—to discuss all her best tips for how parents can help their kids learn necessary social skills at home. See, Monica is an early childhood educator—and a well-loved one at that. She began her career in health communication, developing curricula for kids and teens to best learn about health and nutrition. She then segued into working directly on nutrition counseling, before combining many of her skills to transition into early childhood education. Monica shares some excellent tips that every parent can use at home—no matter the age of your kids. Follow Monica on Instagram @justanotherpreschoolteacher Find me on Instagram @zendocsteve Watch 10-Minute Preschool here. Take my Mindfulness for Parents Online Course at your own pace here.

There's been a great debate these past few months about whether and how to send kids back to school. But something's been missing from the conversation—the fact that most kids will experience online learning at some point this fall/winter no matter what, whether for a semester, a month, or just a few weeks. In this episode, I lay out why that's the case—PLUS tips from online learning expert Zoie Hoffman to help you make online learning most effective for your kids. Thanks as always for your support! SUBSCRIBE to my YouTube Channel here. WATCH my 2-minute video on "How To Get Kids To Stop Touching Their Masks" here. GRAB my "Love Is Bigger" T-shirt here. Find more about Zoie Hoffman here. Be Well & Have Fun!

If you’ve felt like these past few months have both dragged on and flown past at the same time, you’re not alone. We’re all waiting with bated breath... “I can’t wait until this is over.” But what does it do to us—as individuals? as a society?—when we “can’t wait” for a whole year to go by? What happens to life in the meantime? This episode tackles this question & presents a philosophy I've been trying to live by—and have been trying to instill in my kids—these last several months. __ Share this episode with the link: drstevesilvestro.com/119 Check out my 'Love Is Bigger' t-shirt here Sign sup for the Mindfulness for Parents Online Course here and use the code 99OFF for $99 off the regular price.    

We all have multiple roles to play—but none of us expected to have to play them all at the same time, all day long. These last several months, many parents have had to fill the roles of parent, educator, and teleworker with few, if any, clear boundaries between them. The result? The nagging feeling that you're failing at every single one of those jobs. If this sounds like you, you're not alone—and as Dr. Andrea Bonior discusses in this insightful & fun interview, you're not doomed to feel this way forever. In fact, there are clear, simple steps you can take to feel more confident as you juggle all of these responsibilities at once. Dr. Andrea Bonior is a best-selling author, speaker, professor, and licensed clinical psychologist. She's the winner of a 2020 national Excellence in Teaching Award from the Society for the Teaching of Psychology, and author of three books—including her latest, Detox Your Thoughts: Quit Negative Self-Talk for Good and Discover The Life You’ve Always Wanted. This is Dr. Bonior's second appearance on The Child Repair Guide and I walk away with a plan to put into action every time I talk to her. If you've struggled to feel successful at all the roles you play these last few months (and haven't we all!), you need to hear this conversation. You can share this episode on social media by sharing the link www.drstevesilvestro.com/118 Limited Time: Take $99 off my Mindfulness for Parents Online Course by using the coupon code 99OFF - register at drstevesilvestro.com/courses

The most common answer pediatricians have been asked by parents of young kids is: "Is it safe to send my child to daycare right now?" The best, most honest answer we currently have? Probably. Maybe. We think. In this episode, I outline everything we currently know so you can make the best decision for your family. *You can share this episode by sharing the link: drstevesilvestro.com/117 *Find all '10-Miute Preschool' videos PLUS  my video explaining PPE to kids at youtube.com/drstevesilvestro *And the coupon to get the $149 Mindfulness for Parents Online Course for only $20 expires July 31st. Use the code TWENTY20 and sign up here: drstevesilvestro.com/courses