Big kids mean big feelings and sometimes that shows up as defiance, meltdowns, or even anxiety. In this episode, I’m breaking down what’s really going on beneath the surface and why it’s not just “bad behavior.” We often think school-aged is cruising with emotions but big feelings are common.

I’m joined by returning guest Alyssa Campbell, a child development expert, to provide the right tools for when emotions can feel overwhelming. We’ll talk about how age bias often shapes the way adults respond to older kids’ emotions, why yelling or punishment backfires, and how collaborative emotional processing can help kids feel understood while still respecting boundaries.

You’ll learn:

• Why defiance is often a sign of unmet needs, not disrespect

• The role of age bias in how we label behavior in older vs. younger kids

• How collaborative emotional processing helps kids regulate big emotions

• Practical, evidence-based ways to respond to meltdowns, worry, and pushback using her “F.A.C.T.S.” method

• How to raise kids who feel both confident and connected

To connect with Alyssa Campbell check out all her resources at ⁠https://www.seedandsew.org/about⁠. Follow her on Instagram at ⁠@⁠seed.and.sew. Buy her new book “Big Kids, Bigger Feelings” here: ⁠https://www.harpercollins.com/products/big-kids-bigger-feelings-alyssa-blask-campbellrachel-stuart-lounder?variant=43408468377634⁠ 

We’d like to know who is listening! Please fill out our ⁠Listener Survey⁠ to help us improve the show and learn about you!

00:00 – The “Easy Years” Myth
01:16 – Why 5–12 Isn’t Smooth Sailing
02:38 – Meet Alyssa Blas Campbell
03:11 – Parents Feel Blindsided
05:28 – Big Kid Development Shifts
07:25 – What Big Meltdowns Look Like
09:12 – Do We Expect Too Much?
11:04 – 9 Senses & Nervous System
15:23 – Different Kids, Different Needs
18:08 – Handling Defiance With Compassion
22:53 – Sibling Differences in Regulation
25:48 – The F.A.C.T.S. Acronym
31:29 – Amusement Park Example
34:53 – Why Age Bias Misleads Us
38:18 – The S.I.P. Method Explained
42:12 – Rethinking Respect & Defiance
44:40 – Parenting Is a Relationship
46:22 – Closing Thoughts & Resources

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00;00;00;00 – 00;00;18;07

Alyssa Campbell

Totally. Well, I think we’re kind of sold this myth that the early years or so taxing there’s physical there. So exhausting. And then the teenage years or so emotionally exhausting. And we have this myth that there’s this like cruise period from 5 to 12 where you’re just hanging out and they’re chill. And that’s not true. They’re still humans with the nervous system.

 

00;00;18;07 – 00;00;43;12

Alyssa Campbell

And what we really start to see shift in this age range is that they’re moving in to more interdependence or independence, that belonging and inclusion and social engagement really starts to skyrocket. Where they start to see themselves outside of their family unit, they start to really look to peer groups and see, how do I fit in here? Or where do I fit in, or how do I show up in these different spaces?

 

00;00;43;19 – 00;00;55;06

Alyssa Campbell

And what does that mean? What does it mean for me? What does it mean for how people treat me? All that jazz.

 

00;00;55;08 – 00;01;16;26

Dr. Mona

Welcome back to the PedsDocTalk podcast. It’s me, Doctor Mona, your pediatrician and online mom friend. Here’s the thing. Parents often brace themselves for the early years. Diapers, bottle, sleep deprivation, and then again for the teenage years with hormones and high school drama. But those school age kids aged 5 to 12. Many parents think that it’s smooth sailing.

 

00;01;16;29 – 00;01;36;17

Dr. Mona

Yes, you may not be nursing at 2 a.m. or dealing with potty training anymore, but these years are far from always easy. What parents don’t always realize is that emotions are still shifting in a big way. The stakes get higher with academic demands. Learning to read, testing, homework and constant feedback at school. Add in the growing weight of social interaction and peer perception.

 

00;01;36;22 – 00;01;59;24

Dr. Mona

Who’s included? Who’s left out, what it feels like to belong? And you get kids who are still learning how to regulate, but in more subtle, often misunderstood ways. As a mom to a six year old, I can tell you if I didn’t know child development, I would have been blindsided. So many parents tell me that they wish someone had prepared them for these middle years, because people rarely talk about what happens between early childhood and adolescence.

 

00;01;59;26 – 00;02;19;11

Dr. Mona

That’s why I’m thrilled to be joined again by Alyssa Blas Campbell, mom, CEO of Seed and Sew and host of the Voices of Your Village podcast. You probably know her as the New York Times bestselling author of Tiny Humans Big Emotions, which actually became a bestseller a full year after release because parents keep passing it along to each other.

 

00;02;19;14 – 00;02;38;27

Dr. Mona

And now she’s back with her follow up. Big kids, bigger feelings, helping us understand what’s happening developmentally during these middle years, and giving us tools to respond with more compassion and connection. Alyssa is one of my favorites in the parenting space because she sees the whole child, including neurodiverse kids, and helps parents build strategies that work in real life.

 

00;02;39;00 – 00;03;01;03

Dr. Mona

And before we dive in, don’t forget, subscribe to the show and download the episodes you love! Downloading helps the most and makes it easy to listen again later and help the show continue to grow. And if this conversation resonates. Share it on social. Tag at PedsDocTalk at the PedsDocTalk podcast, and at seaport. And so as and drop a comment on our reel.

 

00;03;01;05 – 00;03;11;06

Dr. Mona

And of course go grab Alyssa’s new book. Big kids, Bigger feelings. Let’s get into it.

 

00;03;11;08 – 00;03;13;24

Dr. Mona

Thank you so much for joining me today, Alyssa.

 

00;03;13;26 – 00;03;32;03

Alyssa Campbell

Yeah, I’m so glad to be back here with you today, Mona. I was thinking, like, we were talking about this book, and when we were getting it all set up, we were talking about how it’s like this. Too old for tantrums, too young for teenage drama. And where do they fall?

 

00;03;32;10 – 00;03;50;04

Dr. Mona

Yeah. And I’m so glad you wrote this. And now my question to you, which I cannot remember. Did you already have the idea of this book when you were writing the first one, and did you write them together or. No, you wrote one, stopped, wrote this one because it’s obviously it’s coming out very close together. Meaning 2023, 2025, right?

 

00;03;50;06 – 00;04;11;12

Alyssa Campbell

That’s right. Yeah. So when we published Tiny Humans, maybe a month after we had just in that whole month after, what we continued to hear was like, this is awesome. And what do I do with my nine year old? Or what do I do with my seven year old? And there was just such a hunger and a need for this next age range up.

 

00;04;11;15 – 00;04;32;19

Alyssa Campbell

And my editor reached out and I was a billion weeks pregnant and she reached out. It was like, hi, will you write the next age range up, please? And I was like, I need a nap. I’m so tired. And then I think it was like five days postpartum. I signed the contract for this book and started writing in, it’s kind of at the end of my maternity leave.

 

00;04;32;19 – 00;04;46;21

Alyssa Campbell

Like it it was actually a nice, like, escape for me into back into work. Or I could just get into, like, writing in a creative space. And I really welcomed it coming out of my maternity leave.

 

00;04;46;24 – 00;05;06;13

Dr. Mona

Yeah. You were creating a human, and then now you’re creating a book for so many parents to have. It’s art and its creation, and I’m so glad you did it. I have not yet read it. I’m excited to have it. I own it now. Thank you so much. And again, I’m just so excited because I think it really is a smack in the face for a lot of parents because they’re like, wait, what?

 

00;05;06;14 – 00;05;28;29

Dr. Mona

Like you’re supposed to have, you know, all this stuff that we talked about, emotional regulation. And why is it that you’re having such extreme feelings? And from personal experience, what I found with my son is that it wasn’t that he was having more frequent tantrums. The meltdowns were more like spaced out, but that there was still obviously these big, big moments that just felt like avalanches.

 

00;05;29;02 – 00;05;50;08

Dr. Mona

And so I’m really excited to dive into that. And you write about the ages 5 to 12 are filled with big feelings and big behaviors. So what’s happening? I always like doing this with you. What’s happening developmentally that makes regulation especially tough at this stage? And maybe what parents may have may not understand or may have misconceptions about for this age as well.

 

00;05;50;10 – 00;06;08;21

Alyssa Campbell

Totally. Well, I think we kind of sold this myth that the early years or so taxing there’s physical, they’re so exhausting. And then the teenage years or so emotionally exhausting, and we have this myth that there’s this like cruise period from 5 to 12, or you’re just hanging out and they’re chill. And that’s not true. They’re still humans to the nervous system.

 

00;06;08;21 – 00;06;33;27

Alyssa Campbell

And what we really start to see shift in this age range is that they’re moving into more interdependence or independence, that belonging and inclusion and social engagement really starts to skyrocket, where they start to see themselves outside of their family unit, they start to really look to peer groups and see, how do I fit in here, or where do I fit in, or how do I show up in these different spaces?

 

00;06;34;03 – 00;07;01;28

Alyssa Campbell

And what does that mean? What does it mean for me? What does it mean for how people treat me? All that jazz and for us on the outside it’s like, oh, they’re six. Like, they know these things. You’re old enough to know how to do X, Y and Z. You’re old enough to know better. And for them, it’s this internal fight of, oh, I was so focused on me and me in my family unit and me and my home space, in my relationship with my parents or maybe siblings.

 

00;07;02;00 – 00;07;25;07

Alyssa Campbell

And now there is this world outside of home and this whole other space where I’m learning about how I fit into that world and how I show up there. And on top of that, we start to see hormonal shifts. We think of puberty as being teenage years, but there’s a lot of hormonal shifts that start to happen as young as seven, eight and nine years old.

 

00;07;25;10 – 00;07;30;07

Alyssa Campbell

And all of that is a lovely recipe for some big feelings.

 

00;07;30;09 – 00;07;46;13

Dr. Mona

Oh yes. And I think that is exactly the issue that I’m seeing online. Like I had shared a story about Ryan having, you know, this issue and meltdown, and he had started saying things like, you know, I don’t like mommy time and things like that. And I took it as like getting curious about why is he saying this stuff.

 

00;07;46;13 – 00;08;03;28

Dr. Mona

Obviously he loves me, but he’s obviously upset with things. And when I share that on my story, so many people were like, how come nobody told me that my six year old would be a teenager? And like, yeah, this is hard, and I love that you have this book. Because what I’ve heard from my community as well is that parents feel like no one talks about it.

 

00;08;03;28 – 00;08;20;24

Dr. Mona

So then when you’re not talking about it, you don’t know that it’s very normal like you just mentioned. And then you can better have the tools to handle it, right, so that you’re not feeling like, God, my kid’s such a baby. Why is my kid the one acting like a child? And I’ve heard that so many times when they are children.

 

00;08;20;26 – 00;08;51;11

Alyssa Campbell

They are child. And frankly, I am in my mid to late 30s and also have big feelings sometimes and have emotions. And we, often expect that we’re going to teach a kid a skill and they’re going to implement that all the time, right? Like, I know that when I get to parent in that lovely hour from like 4 to 5 where my kids come home from childcare and school and they are overstimulate rated and spent and they’re looking for connection, and it’s almost dinnertime.

 

00;08;51;11 – 00;09;12;01

Alyssa Campbell

And they both need me in different ways. And my husband walks in usually around five, five, 15. And I know when he walks in at that moment that it’s not best for my marriage to be sarcastic and snippy and rude. I know that when I’m in a regulated state, it doesn’t stop me from doing it. Sometimes when he walks in, he’s like, hey, what’s for dinner?

 

00;09;12;01 – 00;09;31;11

Alyssa Campbell

And I’m like, nope. Wrong question my friend. How can I best support you? Hey, let me take a kid, let me jump in and make dinner. Those are great things at that moment. But what’s for dinner always hits me the wrong way. And I have this skill set. I have a skill set for regulation and for operating with self-control and being kind and communicating.

 

00;09;31;11 – 00;09;37;15

Alyssa Campbell

It doesn’t mean I always have access to that skill set.

 

00;09;37;17 – 00;10;07;12

Dr. Mona

Now let’s take a quick break to hear from our sponsors who support helps us keep bringing you this show. For absolutely. And I, I’ve been there. I think everyone listening is going to be like, yes, like if something just comes over you and it’s like all of a sudden you’re like feeling that. And I think we, we expect so much more from our children than we do ourselves sometimes, you know, especially these kids between 5 to 12, you expect them to have it all together and that why are you melting down like it’s not that big of a deal?

 

00;10;07;14 – 00;10;42;23

Dr. Mona

And I love that we are reframing this conversation around, hey, they are still processing, they’re still growing, their brain is still developing, and even us as full grown grownups with hopefully fully developed brains still have those moments. So now imagine a child’s brain who’s still under construction here. So again, I really appreciate that. Now from the first book that you wrote to this book, starting off, what would you say is one of the biggest sort of things that you wish parents would drive home about this age group besides what you just said, you know, like in terms of whether it’s an approach, whether it’s our mindset or whether it’s, you know, how to

 

00;10;42;23 – 00;10;47;00

Dr. Mona

tackle those sort of big feeling moments with those older school age children.

 

00;10;47;02 – 00;11;04;26

Alyssa Campbell

Totally. So, so much of our work looks at the nervous system first and recognizing that it’s not a one size fits all, that the way that my nervous system operates, the way that I take in stimuli around the world and process that and make sense of it is different than the way that my husband does, is different than the way that my son does.

 

00;11;05;01 – 00;11;25;12

Alyssa Campbell

My daughter and I are very similar. So we have our five senses, you know, sight, sound, taste, touch, smell. We often learn about those five and we can think about there are some people who are more smell sensitive who like really acutely noticed smells. I have a friend in my life who is very smell sensitive, and she’ll like vomit with certain smells.

 

00;11;25;12 – 00;11;47;24

Alyssa Campbell

She’s just like, oh, it gets her right away. Yeah, and I am more sound sensitive and like, bless him, he’s incredible. But I married a drummer and there’s just so much tapping in my life. Oh my gosh. And when that tapping is happening, like 8:00 Am and we’ve had a good night of sleep and things are chill, it’s fine when that tapping is happening at like dinner time.

 

00;11;47;27 – 00;11;50;01

Alyssa Campbell

I want a divorce. Right. Because I might.

 

00;11;50;04 – 00;11;52;25

Dr. Mona

Ask you, what’s for dinner? This is like boom boom.

 

00;11;52;28 – 00;12;15;13

Alyssa Campbell

Exactly. Yeah. And then I want a divorce. So really looking at like how we’re processing the stimuli in this information, my husband is visually sensitive. So for him, if there’s, like, clutter in a space that really adds up for him and it’s really draining for his nervous system, I’m the annoying partner who, like, makes piles everywhere. Like the mail comes in, there’s a pile on the table.

 

00;12;15;14 – 00;12;39;08

Alyssa Campbell

You. My mom used to joke. You could always tell where I’ve been in the house because I’ve left a trail of stuff. It’s like I kicked my shoes off here. My phone’s there. My first is here, and for my husband, Zach, that’s really overwhelming for his nervous system. What we do in all of our work, in tiny humans and in big kids, and in our work at sea, it is first dive into the nervous system and help you understand how your nervous system works, how your child’s nervous system works.

 

00;12;39;10 – 00;12;58;22

Alyssa Campbell

We have those five senses, and then we have four others that are often not talked about. We have our neuro septum sense. This is our spidey sense. It lets us know when there’s safety or danger. It’s always on the lookout for danger. You know that feeling, if you like, walk into a room and people have been in conflict and you.

 

00;12;58;24 – 00;13;18;12

Alyssa Campbell

They’re not arguing right now, but you can feel it in the room like that’s your neuro supportive sense at work. Or if somebody says you’re like, how are you doing today? And they’re like, oh, I’m fine. Your neuro receptive senses, oh, that doesn’t sound fine. There’s something else about this into it’s always on the lookout for danger. We call it your spidey sense.

 

00;13;18;14 – 00;13;41;01

Alyssa Campbell

We also have our purpose to sense. This lets us know where our body is in relationship to other things. So my proprioceptive awareness is pretty low, which means I bump into things all the time. I have a hard time knowing, like where does my body end in something else begin and we’ll like bump into the side of my bed when I’m walking by, I’ll bump into the table or the chair as I’m walking by.

 

00;13;41;04 – 00;14;01;03

Alyssa Campbell

My brain has a hard time recognizing where do I end in that thing begins. And because of this, as a human with lower proprioceptive awareness, I have a higher proprioceptive need, which means I need more of that receptive input. I like hugs, I like deep pressure. I can have a massage for four days and I’m like, I want more, right?

 

00;14;01;03 – 00;14;20;17

Alyssa Campbell

Like I am the one who, as a teacher, I wanted a kid to sit in my lap while I’m reading a book or as a parent. I loved baby wearing or I want to have them on my body. I love that for someone who gets like touched out from that, they don’t like that pressure. They might have higher purpose of awareness.

 

00;14;20;22 – 00;14;41;27

Alyssa Campbell

They might have like a bigger space bubble where they’re like, yep, you’re close enough. That’s great because their brain clacks. Oh, my body ends here. That thing begins over there in a way that mine doesn’t. We then have our vestibular sense. This is responsible for like our movement, our balance. It lets us know that we’re right side up.

 

00;14;41;27 – 00;15;04;03

Alyssa Campbell

It keeps us right side up. And so you access this through moving the plane of your head. This could be being on swings or dipping upside down like in a downward dog pose or spinning. And for some people they are vestibular seeking. This is my son and husband. My husband sits in an office chair that can like spin so that he can kind of rock throughout the day like a swivel chair.

 

00;15;04;03 – 00;15;23;10

Alyssa Campbell

I sit in a stationary one because I am vestibular sensitive. If I have too much of it, I get motion sickness and then we have our intercept of sense. This is how we notice those cues inside, like I’m hungry, I’m tired, I have to go to the bathroom or my heart’s beating fast. It’s where we start to tune in to.

 

00;15;23;10 – 00;15;49;08

Alyssa Campbell

A lot of emotional regulation is really through your introspective sense, because you can start to notice what you’re feeling inside before you explode. So we have nine total senses there. And what we do is we really help people understand what are you sensitive to and then what are you seeking for regulation, and what does that mean for how you move through the world?

 

00;15;49;10 – 00;16;11;23

Alyssa Campbell

My son is sensitive to most of the night, which means he is really aware of his surroundings. He knows where his body ends and something else begins. He has a high neurosis of sense, which can lead to things like people pleasing because you want to keep the peace. You want everything to feel good so that you can feel good.

 

00;16;11;25 – 00;16;37;07

Alyssa Campbell

He’s, sound sensitive. He’s visually sensitive. He likes order in his space. If you move something, he notices. If you change something out, he notices. And so for him, his brain’s working so hard all day long to process all this information. Now, imagine he’s in school, he’s in a classroom, and there are people moving out of their desks.

 

00;16;37;07 – 00;17;08;14

Alyssa Campbell

You’re moving from place to place. There’s stuff on the walls, there’s sounds everywhere. There’s different smells everywhere. And his brain is constantly noticing all those details. It can get so overwhelmed and fill up really fast and needs a break from the stimuli to regulate. If you were, sensory sensitive adult, you might be someone who’s like, all I want is to lay in a dark room where nobody’s talking to me and nobody’s touching me, and nobody needs anything for me, so I can just like, be for it.

 

00;17;08;14 – 00;17;09;15

Dr. Mona

So that was me on Sunday.

 

00;17;09;20 – 00;17;47;08

Alyssa Campbell

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And so when we’re seeing this. Yeah, what we’re really seeing is that your nervous system’s flooded and overwhelmed. And what we get to do and read is help you notice that and be able to figure out what’s going to be most helpful for that unique human to access regulation throughout the day, because then you have someone like my daughter who doesn’t notice the details of anything for the most part, and she will like, process the information pretty quickly because she doesn’t notice if something moved in her environment.

 

00;17;47;15 – 00;18;08;27

Alyssa Campbell

She doesn’t hear all the sounds that my son hears. For her, she’s proprioceptive seeking, so she’s like, I want to be on your lap, in your space, in your face. And for my son, every time somebody is close to him, he’s like, okay, that’s close enough. And so really looking at how do their brain and body work then helps us understand how to support them in navigating the day.

 

00;18;08;29 – 00;18;16;17

Alyssa Campbell

And how do I respond to this unique child when they are having those big feelings? Because it’s not one size fits all?

 

00;18;16;19 – 00;18;41;08

Dr. Mona

Well, that is why I love it. And so and your platform. And then obviously when you started writing books because you understand completely that no two children are alike, within the same family, twins. I mean, I see this all the time. And sometimes that’s why when parents get parenting education online or generalized, advice, it can feel like, well, that doesn’t work for my kid, or that’s not something that’s going to work because of this exact reason, right?

 

00;18;41;08 – 00;19;10;04

Dr. Mona

I mean, there’s obviously different senses, there’s different ways that we communicate with the world. And so I love that you bring that into this because it’s so important to remember that. And you mentioned, you know, your son’s example of, you know, all that sort of who he is and how it might show up in a classroom setting. How does understanding a child’s nervous system and sensory profile help parents respond with more compassion and or better strategies during an actual meltdown, or, let’s say, even defiance?

 

00;19;10;06 – 00;19;22;11

Dr. Mona

Maybe we can give two examples of like a seven year old being very defiant with the boundary when maybe when they were four, they weren’t defined with that boundary. How might we approach that based on understanding their nervous system?

 

00;19;22;14 – 00;19;28;02

Alyssa Campbell

Yeah. So I love this question because it really helps us dive into the unique individual here.

 

00;19;28;02 – 00;19;28;13

Dr. Mona

I love it.

 

00;19;28;13 – 00;19;50;23

Alyssa Campbell

Yeah. When we are looking at this, say you have that seven year old who they’re slamming the door, they’re rolling their eyes at you. They’ve got a snappy, sarcastic quip right back at you. What we’re really seeing there is an overwhelmed nervous system. They’re saying I’m dysregulated. It’s me. When my husband says, what’s for dinner? And I’m like, I don’t know, what do you plan for dinner?

 

00;19;50;23 – 00;20;22;04

Alyssa Campbell

But right, like, it’s not from a regulated state. It’s not because I’m regulated and I’m accessing self control. That is a sign of dysregulation. And when we can recognize that first and say, okay, on the outside, they’re not to and they’re crying, they’re not throwing something or biting or kicking. What is dysregulation look like when we can first stay in that space and say, okay, I know that when they’re being defiant, they’re actually dysregulated.

 

00;20;22;07 – 00;20;44;21

Alyssa Campbell

We can then start from a place of compassion where we can say, okay, that’s what’s happening here. Now, how do I support their regulation? First, if you pop in when I’m sarcastic and snippy and rude to my husband and you’re like, okay, let’s it take three deep breaths and like, over my dead body, right? Like, right. Yeah. This is a hip problem, not a problem.

 

00;20;44;24 – 00;21;07;24

Alyssa Campbell

And so really understanding the unique human is going to be huge. That the way that I respond to my son versus my daughter is going to be different in the moment. My son needs me to talk the least amount. He needs me to reduce stimuli wherever I can. So if we have music playing in the background, I’m turning it off.

 

00;21;07;26 – 00;21;24;28

Alyssa Campbell

If there’s a show on in the background I’m turning that off. If there’s a bunch of noise or screaming happening, I’m saying let’s go up to your room or let’s take space in this place. You’re not in trouble. I’m not mad at you. I’m going to help your body calm so we can do this together. And really coming back to.

 

00;21;24;28 – 00;21;43;08

Alyssa Campbell

I’m just going to help his nervous system get to a feeling of safety so that he can then navigate any conversations about the behavior, what’s going on for him, or what to do differently. So often we jump in right away trying to solve it. We jump in and we’re like, what’s going on? But tell me what’s happening? What’s coming up for you?

 

00;21;43;08 – 00;22;06;11

Alyssa Campbell

Are you feeling mad? And for a lot of kids, that’s so overwhelming and they’re so flooded that really what we need to do is focus first on who is this kid, how do I help their brain feel calm my daughter because of how her nervous system works. She actually does. Like when you talk to her more until for her, I’m going to come in and say, oh man, you really wanted to do this?

 

00;22;06;11 – 00;22;28;21

Alyssa Campbell

And I said, no, it’s so frustrating. You feel like all your friends get to do it and you’re going to feel left out. I get that vibe. I’m going to help you figure this out. I’m on your team, but I’m going to be talking to her because for her, that’s very regulating. When I’m talking to my son, he continues to escalate.

 

00;22;28;23 – 00;22;53;00

Alyssa Campbell

He needs silence in space first to calm, and then we can have that conversation. So first and foremost is knowing who is this child. We actually have a resource in the book, a QR code you can scan or you can go to Seed quiz.com, and it is a free regulation questionnaire that you can take as many times as you want for all the humans in your family, all different age groups.

 

00;22;53;02 – 00;23;15;22

Alyssa Campbell

And it’ll help you understand who is my kid from a regulation standpoint, what is dis regulating for them? And then what is regulating for them and give you different strategies based on different age groups and so that you then can know, okay, in the moment, what is this kid need for their unique nervous system?

 

00;23;15;24 – 00;23;24;03

Dr. Mona

Now let’s take a quick break to hear from our sponsors who support helps us keep bringing you this show.

 

00;23;24;06 – 00;23;42;20

Dr. Mona

Such a great example! I love it and I’m by the way, I’m. I’m waiting for the third book, which is going to be like a marriage one. I like big, big adults. Bigger feelings in marriage or in relationships. I mean, this is valuable information. And I’ve said this time and time again, like what we’re doing here is not just useful for parenting, right?

 

00;23;42;20 – 00;24;18;28

Dr. Mona

I mean, this is useful for any communication tactics with anybody in our lives, our coworkers or the loved ones in our lives, our partner. I mean, this is communication skills, right? Understanding what other humans need and understanding that no two humans, even Grown-Ups, are alike. And you and, you know, giving the example you gave of you. I love that you’re talking about what happens when your husband walks in and asks for dinner, because that is a relatable situation that so many adults find themselves in that can really give a window into what a kid may feel like when we try to talk too much or say, you know, say this or hey, yeah, you need

 

00;24;18;28 – 00;24;38;06

Dr. Mona

to take a breath or you’re feeling really upset, like it’s it really is a personalized thing. And I don’t think many parents realize it until maybe they have it come up and they’re looking for help. Or maybe they have two children finally. And they’re like, we wow. Like, this is completely different. Like, I just got used to this with my first, I thought this was the norm.

 

00;24;38;11 – 00;24;59;21

Dr. Mona

And then I had a second kid, and now I’m like, my eyes are opening on, like, how they’re completely different children and I’ve known that. But it’s even personally seeing it as a mother. I’m like, wow, yeah, look at this nature situation going on. Like, look at how they’re completely different with what you just said on, like how they’re taking in the world what they need during the meltdowns.

 

00;24;59;21 – 00;25;14;17

Dr. Mona

And, you know, I have a at the time of this recording, I have a five and a half year old and a two year old, and I see my two year old and I always talk to my husband. I’m like, wow, Ryan was so different at that age. You remember what Ryan needed at two? Do you remember how big his meltdowns were at two and how he needed this?

 

00;25;14;17 – 00;25;31;06

Dr. Mona

And like Viera, my little Viera is like you. She screams and you’re like, Viera! We’re not doing that right now because of this. And she’s like, okay, mommy. And I’m like, what just happened here? And I know that’s going to show up later in different ways, but she’s just it’s different. And it doesn’t mean one is better or worse.

 

00;25;31;06 – 00;25;48;07

Dr. Mona

It’s just understanding and respecting the beautiful differences in our children because they exist in us too. And I love that you do that. And one thing that you talk about and I again, I’m not I want to clarify, I don’t know facts. The fact that that is but is that is that, just only in this book or is it in your other book and part of it.

 

00;25;48;07 – 00;25;49;15

Dr. Mona

And so as well.

 

00;25;49;18 – 00;26;19;06

Alyssa Campbell

That is something we use at seed. So we do a lot of work in school systems. In fact, the bulk of our work at Seed is in school systems. And every school that we work with, families get access to our resources that love, that we’re really looking for, like how do we impact the whole like system, right? And when we’re doing this work with school systems, we found that we are always coming back to these five components of regulation that we’re guiding teachers in schools to really look at as a first and foremost.

 

00;26;19;06 – 00;26;38;28

Alyssa Campbell

And it’s the facts. We look at food. When was the last time this kid had food that nourishes their body? Are they hungry and hungry? Are they on a sugar crash where we actually recently came out of in a share this in the book where we had been like on a family vacation and all of a sudden the kids are melting and like what is going on?

 

00;26;38;28 – 00;26;52;21

Alyssa Campbell

And my husband was like, well, all we had for breakfast was donuts. So probably we’re all melting and really looking at like, yeah, love donuts. They’re going to be a part of our life. And if that’s all they have for breakfast, I got to expect a sugar crash at some point.

 

00;26;52;21 – 00;26;53;12

Dr. Mona

Yeah, yeah.

 

00;26;53;15 – 00;27;12;10

Alyssa Campbell

And so we have food, we have activity. And this is where we bring in that sensory work of what is a regulating activity to look like for this child. Are they proprioceptive seeking. Have they had access to that deep pressure or to heavy work or to climbing or jumping or moving their body in that way? Are they vestibular seeking?

 

00;27;12;10 – 00;27;39;22

Alyssa Campbell

And if that’s the case, do they have opportunities to kind of spin or swing or move? My sense vestibular seeking. And so at school he has this little seat. We partner with a company called Bouncy Bands at Seat. And we do a lot of work with them where we’re bringing their tools and resources into schools. And this seat is called the Sit and Twist, and he can move it from his chair to a spot in the rug to anywhere, and he can just kind of twist in it like you would in an office chair that moves like my husband does all day long in his chair.

 

00;27;39;24 – 00;28;04;16

Alyssa Campbell

And then we’re looking at like, when was the last time they had access to that activity to regulate their nervous system? Then we have connection. A connection is something that for some folks, it can feel like a leaky cup where it’s like I just spent time with them and now they need more and more and more. And what we’re looking at here is, are we connecting in the way that this child receives connection?

 

00;28;04;18 – 00;28;25;13

Alyssa Campbell

Also, is this child highly connection seeking? We have some kids who don’t seek as much connection for regulation, and some kids who seek more connection for regulation. Again with my son and daughter here now and my husband and I, we we recently we are going on this trip. And so we had carved out time ahead of time where we would each have solo time.

 

00;28;25;15 – 00;28;46;13

Alyssa Campbell

So before our trip, I was like, all right, why don’t you take Saturday for a chunk of Saturday? Go ahead and do whatever feels good for you. And we carved out time for it. And then I did it on Sunday, his Saturday time for what was going to be regulating for him was to be totally solo. He went to, like a record store and did some shopping.

 

00;28;46;13 – 00;29;08;28

Alyssa Campbell

He took himself out to lunch like he was solo. My time that was regulating was with friends. I went out to dinner, I went thrift store shopping with my friend. Like, I love connection and have a way higher connection need than he does. And so when we’re looking at this in kids, we’re going to see some kids who have a higher connection need and really looking at how do we meet that.

 

00;29;08;28 – 00;29;30;22

Alyssa Campbell

And we provide strategies for that in the book for different ages, like can they FaceTime a friend? Can they FaceTime their aunt or somebody in their life? If you’re not available right, then can they play games where they’re connecting with other peers, even if they can’t go over to their house in this moment, are there ways that we can establish connection support for peer to peer, sibling to sibling?

 

00;29;30;25 – 00;30;05;10

Alyssa Campbell

And we outline a bunch of different ways that we can access connections that aren’t just from the adult down and then also from the adult down. What does it look like to connect with them? It doesn’t always have to be this, like, oh, I’m going to have this one on one date with them on a Saturday. In fact, often what’s more powerful is they’re going to come home from school, and I’m going to carve out the first ten minutes to not be getting dinner ready or doing all these other things, but instead to, like, sit with them while they have a snack and color with them, or hear about their day, or do an activity

 

00;30;05;10 – 00;30;23;22

Alyssa Campbell

that feels good for them. Depending on their nervous system and who they are, where they get to choose it. And we’re just hanging, and they’re not required to use their cognitive brain to do homework. Yet, or to do a task like putting their things away after school yet, but they just get us for ten minutes. What does that look like?

 

00;30;23;28 – 00;30;41;02

Alyssa Campbell

And so we look at connection and really differentiate. What does that mean. And then we look at tune out. That’s the like I need to lay in a dark room and have nobody talking to me. And so when was the last time that they had a break from stimuli where they could just chill? And then we look at sleep.

 

00;30;41;04 – 00;31;05;14

Alyssa Campbell

Are they just tired? Right. Like we have a rule, you know, there’s that like big thing that a lot of people say in marriage. I was just had a wedding and people like, one of the rules is you don’t go to bed angry. Now. I was like, oh, wow, that’s so not one of our rules. Because if I try to have a conversation about what I’m angry about before bed, it’s like gibberish versus if I go to sleep and I wake up the next day and I’m like, oh, I actually don’t hate you.

 

00;31;05;14 – 00;31;29;11

Alyssa Campbell

I was just tired. And so really looking at like, how far are they from sleep? And are they tired? And really what they need is just to sleep because we’ve been up later or it’s the start of school and they’ve been getting up earlier and their body is just exhausted. And so when we’re looking at this as a form of supporting regulation, we look at these facts first.

 

00;31;29;14 – 00;31;53;03

Alyssa Campbell

How are we supporting these five things. And after we can check off like yep, great. They’ve had food, they’ve had activity connection, tune out, sleep. Then we’re going into some emotion processing work of like, okay, now what’s lingering for them emotionally once we’ve supported the nervous system regulation, is there something coming up for them that we need to to navigate some emotion processing around?

 

00;31;53;06 – 00;32;08;07

Dr. Mona

I love that, I love your acronyms. I mean, we’re going to get into more, but I love them. And it’s just right on. I mean, these are the basic foundations for so much of our emotional regulation like you just mentioned. And also within these, as we know how unique it is. Right? I mean, talking about sleep as well, right?

 

00;32;08;07 – 00;32;27;11

Dr. Mona

I mean, we know that some people are okay with less sleep, including children like high sleep needs. Low sleep needs is a reality. I didn’t you know I again having my two children was a smack dab in my middle. My face of like, well like one kid. If just missed bedtime breaking down, the other one could miss a nap.

 

00;32;27;16 – 00;32;45;16

Dr. Mona

Although they would take the nap and they’d be loving it. Miss a nap. Emotional regulation was fine not to, you know, not too many meltdowns. So it was so important. And going back to like myself, my husband, we both have high sleep needs, but like, you know how much the lack of sleep impacts me. And I love what you just mentioned about going to sleep.

 

00;32;45;18 – 00;33;05;28

Dr. Mona

You know, sometimes you may have to go to sleep angry because my husband is a night owl. Like, love him to death, but he is a nocturnal human being and he loves to have meaningful conversations. When I’m about to go upstairs like, it’s 1030, we were in the same room doing work, or, you know, he’s reading, I’m reading or whatever, and then he’s like, what do you think?

 

00;33;05;29 – 00;33;21;09

Dr. Mona

You know, the meaning of life is at 1030. I’m joking. But like, it’s like philosophical. I’m like, yo, it’s 1030. We need to. We can’t do this at 1030. Is this a is this a is this a long conversation? But exactly that. Like I need to go to bed. I have to be up earlier. Like I cannot be doing that.

 

00;33;21;09 – 00;33;36;11

Dr. Mona

And that’s just a prime example of how we may be different. The sleep the sleep needs are different, and how I need to get my sleep to be a somewhat regulated human being. And he may be better when he’s not sleeping and not as, irritable. But it’s so important to stay in tune with that.

 

00;33;36;13 – 00;33;48;04

Alyssa Campbell

Totally, 100%. And I feel like it just gives us more compassion for kids. We went to an amusement park with the kids last week, and we had seven kids from one year old to 16 year old.

 

00;33;48;06 – 00;33;49;09

Dr. Mona

Oh yeah, well.

 

00;33;49;12 – 00;34;09;16

Alyssa Campbell

It was a blast. Yeah. And it was so much stimulation. And we stayed up later and they had ice cream to end their day. And then as we were leaving and going home and putting all these humans to bed and getting the bags ready to go to bed, everyone in their own way was melting. Yes. And like, yes, for some kids it was like there was crying happening.

 

00;34;09;16 – 00;34;29;14

Alyssa Campbell

For some kids, there was door slamming happening. For some kids, there was defiance happening. For some kids, they were in like shut down mode. And now they’re annoyed at their sibling who keeps talking to them. And so for all of them, there was different expressions of dysregulation happening. But for all five kids, like their facts were not all in check.

 

00;34;29;14 – 00;34;53;18

Alyssa Campbell

For all of them. They’re like, yeah, I just ended my day with ice cream. I’m overstimulated. Maybe my connection needs have been met throughout the day. I definitely need to tune out and I need to sleep. And so, like, right now is not the time that I’m teaching new skills or even talking about their behavior right now. I’m like, okay, I’m going to keep everyone safe, and we’re going to move through and we’re going to get to bed.

 

00;34;53;24 – 00;35;06;19

Alyssa Campbell

And tomorrow we might talk about like, hey, even when you’re mad, you don’t get to do this to your sister. I’m going to help you figure out some strategies for when you’re mad so that you’re not hurting her or saying things to her that are hurtful.

 

00;35;06;21 – 00;35;38;03

Dr. Mona

I love that, yeah, it’s so true. And I love that you give that good example of so many different children from many different families having that experience, you know, and you’re like, and it’s so I think it’s just so important for parents to understand and be insightful and get curious. Right. Get curious about how that shows up. Like the example I give is, I know when my son, my five and a half year old son, is on the cusp of a meltdown like he does these behaviors that me and my husband have now figured out that, this is not visible to most people, that he’s about to get dysregulated, but he starts to, I

 

00;35;38;03 – 00;35;51;03

Dr. Mona

think, I don’t know if it was you that I talked to us about, but he starts to rage clean, which is so interesting. Like. And I’m like, he maybe. I don’t know if he’s seen you do that, whatever. But he’ll just start cleaning the kitchen counters with a mop. And I’m like, that’s not what we do. We don’t ever.

 

00;35;51;03 – 00;36;08;23

Dr. Mona

Me or my husband never clean kitchen counters with a mop, but he’s like starting to get into that dysregulation. I turn to my husband. I’m like, sweetie, he’s about to meltdown. So we need to really, again, get into a quiet space because it’s usually when my younger daughter’s yelling or doing her pterodactyl scream, or there’s just a lot of commotion in our small space.

 

00;36;08;29 – 00;36;37;25

Dr. Mona

And he is a very, you know, sound sensitive kid. And so it’s like, hey, let’s go outside. Let’s go for a walk, or why don’t we go pick some flowers? Or that insight helps us avoid the meltdown. And sometimes it doesn’t, right? Sometimes we don’t catch it because we’re human. But I think it’s just so valuable. And I feel like if you can get that as a parent and really tune in, you’ll you’ll be able to really help them through a lot of those, you know, avoidance, but also just say, hey, even if we find ourselves in a meltdown, I understand what you need.

 

00;36;37;25 – 00;36;53;19

Dr. Mona

Like you beautifully. Just describe that you’re different than your sister, or that you may need to be pulled upstairs to just know. Again, not a punishment, but like a let’s let’s reset. Let’s just like what you bring the volume down. Yeah. Yeah. I do want to talk about your other acronym to buffer, but you have some. Yeah. Before you.

 

00;36;53;19 – 00;36;54;01

Dr. Mona

Yeah.

 

00;36;54;01 – 00;36;58;11

Alyssa Campbell

Just that I feel like we do this more with younger kids.

 

00;36;58;11 – 00;36;58;28

Dr. Mona

And yes.

 

00;36;59;05 – 00;37;24;18

Alyssa Campbell

Older. We’re like, you’re old enough to know better. Yes. It’s like the phrase that comes up a lot. We hear it in schools, we hear it in families. And it’s this age bias where we think kids to just hit a certain age, and now they have access to all their skills all the time. And what we find is that unless we teach them how their brain and body work, they don’t necessarily know how to access regulation and then navigate conflict.

 

00;37;24;24 – 00;37;55;09

Alyssa Campbell

Those are skills we have to teach you. Don’t just turn eight and you’re like, oh, now I know how to calm my body and communicate. And if they can tell you outside the moment, I know I shouldn’t hit my sister. I know I should do this, I know I shouldn’t do that, I should do this if they can walk through that, but they can’t access them in the moment, that’s always a sign to us that they don’t yet have the self-awareness of when it’s building and what it feels like for them when it’s building, so that then they can access regulation.

 

00;37;55;09 – 00;38;18;29

Alyssa Campbell

And they might also not yet know how their body calms, that maybe their body is a body that needs to move. Maybe their body is a body that needs space. Maybe their body is a body that needs validation. And for somebody to talk to them and to be connected, to feel safe. And so when we can understand that about them and then teach them how their body works, it’s a game changer for them.

 

00;38;18;29 – 00;38;24;03

Alyssa Campbell

But they don’t just hit a certain age where they have that. We have to teach that.

 

00;38;24;05 – 00;38;42;11

Dr. Mona

Oh very true. And like I was saying before, I, you know, you responded with that is one of the other acronyms that you talk about is something called the SIP method. So describe what that is. How does it help kids, especially at this age, process emotions instead of suppressing or acting them out?

 

00;38;42;13 – 00;38;50;18

Dr. Mona

Now let’s take a quick break to hear from our sponsors who support helps us keep bringing you this show.

 

00;38;50;21 – 00;39;08;03

Alyssa Campbell

Yeah, so that’s what kickstarted this work for me. It was that I was working with my colleague Lauren Stubble and she said, hey, I feel like we’re doing something different. We were both teaching at the time and we started like collaborating, doing video lessons, etc. and really diving into like, what were we doing and how is it different?

 

00;39;08;05 – 00;39;26;12

Alyssa Campbell

And then we outlined what we were doing. We’re like, great, let’s find the framework for this and see if we bring it to our school administration, if they’re open to like us diving into this school wide, etc.. And as we were looking for the framework, we found bits and pieces and other frameworks, but nothing that was comprehensive to what we were doing.

 

00;39;26;17 – 00;39;53;20

Alyssa Campbell

So we ended up outlining what we were doing, the collaborative emotion processing step a method is what it’s called. And yeah, it’s five components. And we researched this. We partnered with Brandeis University and we researched it across the US. And that was what Tiny Humans was really like sharing that research in that data. And it is applicable whether you are 2 or 12 or 42 or 62.

 

00;39;53;23 – 00;40;21;29

Alyssa Campbell

We go through these same phases of emotion processing to process emotions, and that is one of the five components of Step is the adult child interactions. How do we lead kids through this process of really processing emotions? The other four are about us as the adult. So looking at what’s our self-awareness, what tools do we have for taking care of our nervous system, our true self care to be know how to take care of our nervous system throughout the day?

 

00;40;22;05 – 00;40;38;26

Alyssa Campbell

Are we accessing that? What is the scientific knowledge here? We get nerdy with folks and diving into things like mirror neurons and how yeah, if I show up with this tone, yeah, their body is on high alert. They can’t calm down. Their body says, don’t let your guard down.

 

00;40;38;28 – 00;40;41;28

Dr. Mona

I got scared, yeah. I was like, oh, what did I do?

 

00;40;42;05 – 00;40;59;01

Alyssa Campbell

Yeah that’s right. Yes I come mean I’m like, hey buddy, what’s going on here? Yeah I want to figure this out. It sends a different message to their body since we dive in the scientific knowledge and then we look at our biases, things like the age bias of do we feel like they should reach a certain age where they just know better?

 

00;40;59;03 – 00;41;20;20

Alyssa Campbell

Are there certain biases we have around gender and expression for emotions there? We dive into a lot of that of like, what did we learn from our childhood, from our social programing? What were we bearing witness to that now lives inside of us as something that we believe to be true. That’s going to pop up at these different times.

 

00;41;20;22 – 00;41;43;18

Alyssa Campbell

And defiance is a big one of those biases where a lot of us grew up in households where we were taught that respect was of utmost importance. And to be honest, I also want to raise respectful children like that’s on my docket, am actively working to raise respectful humans, and that for me, doesn’t mean what it meant to my parents, that it doesn’t mean obedience.

 

00;41;43;18 – 00;42;12;07

Alyssa Campbell

It doesn’t mean that they don’t get to ask why about something. It doesn’t mean that they don’t get to have a voice in opinion. It does mean for me that we’re going to speak kindly to each other top down. I’m also going to speak kindly to them that we are not going to hurt each other, or the things in our household or in our environment, and that for us is the basis for respect, and that from there we’re going to talk about hard things respectfully.

 

00;42;12;10 – 00;42;22;13

Alyssa Campbell

They do get to challenge me respectfully, and they’re going to make mistakes as they learn that along the way. And sometimes that’s going to show up as defiance.

 

00;42;22;15 – 00;42;39;22

Dr. Mona

I love this, Alyssa. Every time I talk to you, consume anything of yours again, I can I cannot wait to read. This is actually I’m reading actually at this moment outlive. Oh yes, a wonderful, wonderful book. It’s actually what’s inspired a lot of my the writing of my book, which is why I’m reading and not just for learning, but also just for inspiration.

 

00;42;39;25 – 00;42;59;22

Dr. Mona

And then this is next, because again, I just love the way you really go down to the foundational importance of understanding why, I think so many parents, the reason why they meet a lot of this sort of friction and butting heads is that they’re not really getting into the why and really putting themselves into this, into this world of like, hey, what am I bringing to the table?

 

00;42;59;22 – 00;43;17;16

Dr. Mona

I mean, you just mentioned that, right? With our own self-awareness, our own self-regulation and the tone. Right? I mean, how many times am I in offices and I’m just with my families and they’re like, he never listens. And I’m just hearing how the mom is talking to the child. And I’m like, kids are not going to listen if they don’t feel listened to.

 

00;43;17;19 – 00;43;47;07

Dr. Mona

Like if they don’t feel like we’re listening to them, they’re just not going to want to be receptive to that. That’s like really hard for them because if you’re yelling and snippy all the time, that’s just the energy level that we need to, change in that home. I just love this conversation. We could chat for hours. What would be, you know, for a parent who’s feeling stuck in power struggles, let’s say, with a, you know, kid of this age, what’s one shift that you wish that they could make today to better support themselves and support that emotional connection with that child?

 

00;43;47;09 – 00;44;09;10

Alyssa Campbell

My one hope for folks reading this book and diving into this work is to remember that we’re in a relationship with another human. Yeah, but you’re not just in charge of this other human, but that you’re in a relationship. And especially as they get older, when they were younger, we would carry them to bed. We could buckle them into the car seat, even if they’re screaming as they get older.

 

00;44;09;16 – 00;44;40;11

Alyssa Campbell

We can’t physically do that in the same way. And it really requires us to keep coming back to being in relationship with them. And that requires us to do things like say, man, I lost my cool earlier and I’m sorry, or when something’s going on here. It’s been really hard to get out the door for school, and I don’t know what to do, but I want to figure this out together and really being in relationship with them and recognize izing that.

 

00;44;40;11 – 00;44;54;28

Alyssa Campbell

That’s what we have. That’s what’s so powerful here, is for us to be mindful of our ego and our assertion of dominance and control, in order to be in relationship.

 

00;44;55;00 – 00;45;14;27

Dr. Mona

Beautiful. That was absolutely beautiful. And thank you for coming on. And your book is out now. If you’re seeing this on YouTube, you can see the book and we’ll be linking it. If you can’t see it and you’re listening on the podcast, Big Kids, Bigger feelings. And if you haven’t read her other book, which was tiny, tiny humans, big emotions, obviously really important for that younger age.

 

00;45;14;27 – 00;45;31;07

Dr. Mona

Both have really great tools. Where can people go to stay connected? Obviously, where can they get the book but also just follow the work that you’re doing? I love what you’re doing and I love that you’re going into school systems. You know, parents are part of this school systems are the other part. And we have to we have to hit both angles to really see a change.

 

00;45;31;07 – 00;45;33;13

Dr. Mona

So where can people go to learn more?

 

00;45;33;16 – 00;45;55;04

Alyssa Campbell

Yeah. So come on over. We have a podcast, Voices of Your Village podcast and an Instagram account. So we have a website Seton. So dawg, as you and if you want to bring this to your child’s school, if you’re a parent that’s tuning in, you can always reach out to us at the port at Seton. So.org and we’ll get some questions from you.

 

00;45;55;04 – 00;46;03;01

Alyssa Campbell

Find out where you are and we’ll take it from there and see if this is some work that, your kids school might be interested in diving into.

 

00;46;03;03 – 00;46;22;08

Dr. Mona

And I hope every school does. Again, the work is amazing. It’s so needed. Thank you so much for coming back on. Congratulations for book number two. And you let me know when you want to talk about that third one about marriage I can’t wait, I love it. Thank you. And for everyone tuning in. As you can hear, the conversation that I have with the lists are nothing short of phenomenal.

 

00;46;22;11 – 00;46;41;15

Dr. Mona

The last episode that we recorded came out in October of 2024, which was her first book. And this one, really, again is amazing. So please follow her. If you love this conversation, remember that you have to share it on social media. Do a screenshot tag both of us. All the details on who to tag will be in our caption, and also just spread it.

 

00;46;41;18 – 00;47;02;04

Dr. Mona

Even if you’re not sharing on social, just send it to other parents school systems because this is how we get her message. My message, all of these messages on raising emotionally intelligent children is this is how we do it. So thank you. And again, thank you so much for tuning in and for our guest today. And I cannot wait to chat with you all next time.

 

00;47;02;07 – 00;47;22;17

Dr. Mona

That’s a wrap on today’s episode with Alyssa Blast Campbell. I always leave our conversations feeling inspired and more in love with parenting when I thought that wasn’t possible. And I hope you do too. Her insights are such a reminder that what looks like attitude in our kids is often just their way of saying, I’m overwhelmed. If you haven’t already, go check out her brand new book, Big Kids, Bigger Feelings.

 

00;47;22;17 – 00;47;42;20

Dr. Mona

And if you missed it. Her first book, Tiny Humans Big Emotions, is a New York Times bestseller for a reason. It’s packed with wisdom that parents can’t stop sharing. If you love today’s conversation, make sure to subscribe to the show and download the episodes you love. Downloading helps the most and makes it easy for you to listen to your favorite episodes again, and I’d love for you to keep this conversation going.

 

00;47;42;25 – 00;48;01;13

Dr. Mona

Head over to Instagram or TikTok, comment on our reel about this episode and share it on your stories. Don’t forget to tag at PedsDocTalk at the PedsDocTalk podcast, and Alyssa at seed and sew, so we can see what resonated with you. Thank you so much for listening and I’ll see you all next time on the show.