Impactful Parent Episodes

Healthy Choices For Halloween Candy // With Special Guest Jill Bucaro  Sugar highs, cavities, and that inevitable crash from all that candy......   Yep, it is Halloween season again!  Make this Halloween season different by making healthier choices for your child WITHOUT giving up candy! Let's face it, we cannot take all the sugar out of this holiday, but we can make a few shifts that make a HUGE difference!  Jill Bucaro, an integrative health practitioner, talks about how parents can make healthy choices for Halloween candy.  Jill gives tips for getting your child to like healthy food AND tips for buying healthier food products that your child will still enjoy.  And if Jill's excellent advice is not enough, she is also giving The Impactful Parent audience a free printout for buying...

How Do I Talk To My Teenager About Sex and Drugs:  10 Tips for having this difficult conversation!Please, oh please!  Let my child make good decisions next year when they are at college!I get it.  I have a senior in High school too.  I am already terrified of my son facing the world, but as an Impactful Parent, I also know that I have to let go, and I can't avoid the difficult conversation of Sex, Drugs, and Peer Pressure.   This goes for you, too!   Being a good parent means preparing our children to leave the nest. Part of that preparation is having the uncomfortable talk about what inevitably lies ahead, so your child is ready.Let's break it down.  What do you need to talk about?  There are 3 big topics.  They are Sex, Drugs, and Peer pressure.  ...

My Child Is Dyslexic:  A story about my journey with my dyslexic son and tips for how to be an impactful parent to a dyslexic child. 

Is My Teenager Depressed And Using Drugs? A podcast with Larissa Mills from iparentgen.com Tips For Identifying If Your Teenager Is Depressed or Using Drugs I hate that I even have to talk about this, but the reality is- COVID has been difficult for our teenagers.  Their lives have been flipped upside down and kids are more insecure about their future than ever before.  Being a teen is difficult enough, throw in an epidemic where they can't socialize with friends, graduation has been taken away, sports are limited at best... and the result is more and more teens using drugs to cope. Larissa Mills, from iparentgen.com, invited me to be a guest on her podcast called "At The Table With Larissa."  Here, she asked me to talk about the warning signs of depression, suicide, and drug use.  We...

Prioritizing Yourself To Be A Better Parent // An Interview with Lissa Figgins Watch my interview with Lissa Figgins, a women's wellness consultant, as we talk about the importance of prioritizing your own health and well-being to be a better parent.   Below are some key takeaways from the interview. Prioritizing Yourself Question 1: Why is prioritizing your wellness as a parent important? You must decide that wellness and wellbeing are important and make it a priority. Think of it as putting on an oxygen mask from the airplane emergency procedure.  You must take care of yourself before you can take care of others.  This is essential to be at your best and give your most. Burn out is real, especially right now during these difficult times.  You won't have anything to give your children...

PLEASE stop walking around in your underwear in the background) and that you remember your child’s classroom will be live streaming.

How To Deal With Anger // When your child is emotional and angry a lot. I am angry.  My kids are mad too.  Everyone is on each other's nerves.  I do not have enough time in my day to do everything I need to do.   The laundry is non-stop and never-ending.  My kids are tired of my food, and I am annoyed that I must cook.  I miss babysitters and grandparents coming over to give me a break.   I want to spend fun moments with my kids, but we have exhausted all our "at-home" activities.   My high school kids are mad that they were robbed of prom, graduation, and after-school sports.  All my kids are angry that they must wear masks all day long, and they do not get to socialize with their friends the way they want.  Anger has become a consistent presence in our home. How To Deal With Anger How...

“Mom, I am going to fail!  I can’t do this!”  “Mom, this needs to be perfect, or it isn’t right.”  “Mom, I don’t want to do that right now.  I’m not feeling good.”   Do you hear these phrases in your house too?  Stop what you are doing and let me grab your attention because these phrases are warning signs!  These phrases can be the onset of ANXIETY.

The 4 Pillars of Self-Care So You Can Be A Better Parent // I am screaming at my kids again.  I lost my patience, and I sulk in embarrassment as I apologize for my outburst.   Quarantine has got me losing my mind much more than usual.   It is NOW, more than ever, that we all need some TLC.   We all need self-care. How can we give TO OUR CHILDREN if our tank is running on empty?   We cannot. Dr. Olena Kerek speaks with me this week about the 4 Pillars of Self-Care.   These 4 Pillars of Nutrition, Sleep, Exercise, and Mindfulness must all be met if we want to be our best selves and a good parent.  If we are eating well, exercising, feeling mentally sound, but do not sleep…. we can NOT perform our best.  This is also true if any of the other three pillars are falling short.  WE MUST strive...

]Make Rules Your Kids Will Follow // How to make more effective rules“No farting.  That is the rule,” yells my youngest child at her older sibling.   Yep, we have rules around farting in my house.   Serious rules, with consequences.  No joke.Rules, rules, rules.   Some rules are flexible, and others are not.   The farting rule is non-negotiable.  How can you tell the difference between a serious rule and a more flexible rule in the house? It is about reinforcement!  The Farting Rule is strict in our house because everyone reinforces it, and my four kids are quick to tell on each other with this rule.“What?” you might be thinking?  Let me explain…The FARTING RULES:No farting when someone is eating. You must leave the room.No farting in the car with the windows rolled up.No farting in the...

Consider that big mistakes open us up to the most growth and the most change.  Change is difficult.  It rarely comes easy.   Usually, the most significant changes in our lives come from big events of pain.   The mistake was needed for growth.  Without it, we wouldn’t have changed on our own.  We would have never learned that lesson.  And we would have never improved.  

Teenage Self Harm: Why Does My Child Want To Hurt Themselves? #selfharm #suicideprevention #parentingsupport I hate that I even have to address this issue! In an ideal world, our children would be happy, and the thought of hurting themselves wouldn't even cross their minds.  Child suicide and self-harm are one of the SCARIEST things a parent can experience.  It will wake you up in the middle of the night, startled and sweating.  It will make the best caregiver into a hovering drone. And it will turn any parent into a better spy than any CIA agent.   The bottom line is, you will never be the same again once you find out that your child is hurting like this.   Nothing will ever be the same again.  I will also admit that as a teenager, I NEVER, for even a moment, considered hurting myself...

Why is it so difficult to trust my child? Kristina shares her own personal struggle with trust and finds the root cause- FEAR. This is a must-read!

My Kids Clothes Are Driving me Crazy! Are your Kids Clothes Driving you crazy?  This week's blog is talking about strategies for quitting the fight over clothes with your children. This week I interviewed Fashion Guru, Jessica Montour.  Jessica gives The Impactful Parent Community helpful advice for stopping the clothing battle with our children.    So if your child is wearing clothes that drive you crazy, then this is a MUST-SEE video for YOU!   I ask Jessica: What do I do if my child's fashion drives me crazy?  How can I support my child through their personal style phases? How do I shop for a beyond picky child? What should parents do if they have a girl that won't wear dresses or a boy that loves sparkles- mixing gender roles? Such a great interview and amazing advice!  CHECK IT OUT...

Teaching Responsibility:  3 Dos and 3 Don’ts for teaching responsibility to your child

If heartbreak wasn’t bad enough to experience- as parents, we have to watch our children go through heartache too.   In a lot of ways, this is worse!   No one can prepare you for watching your child feel sadness, confusion, and emotional pain; and be powerless to stop it.  

Why is it so difficult to talk about sex?  I sat down with relationship expert Matt Hilliard-Forde, and he gave me lots of great tips about having the “Big Talk.”  Best of all, Matt is offering my audience a FREE Printable called What I Wish I Would Have Known About Sex

Picky Eaters? Do your kids complain about your food too?  Tell me I am not alone! This week, instead of the usual parenting advice, I made a 2-minute video that I hope you can laugh at, relate to, and forward on to another parent that needs to smile. 

I am tired. I can’t kick this feeling that I should be doing more.  I  finally lost it today and hid in the closet and cried.

Homeschooling a Dyslexic Child:  Tips and Websites That Can Help To Make Your Child Successful