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Today49 min
10 Years, 10 Lessons: Everything I Got Wrong About Parenting
Before my daughter was born, I made a book split into two halves. One cover said 'me.' The other said 'you.' I filled the 'you' side with a list of hopes for who she'd become. I had a lot of ideas about the person she should be before I'd ever met her. This episode marks ten years of the podcast, and I'm using it to walk through ten things I got wrong along the way. Because if you're in the middle of any of these yourself, I want you to know exactly where I started. I'll cover what I misunderstood about the RIE approach and Magda Gerber's work, how I mixed up authoritative and authoritarian parenting in an early episode and had to go back and correct it on air, and a fight over a dose of antibiotics that taught me the difference between managing my daughter's behavior and understanding what was underneath it. Then I get into what I got wrong about myself: a resentment that built for months in my marriage before I understood what a need even was, a moment mid-interview when I realized one of my biggest triggers had nothing to do with my daughter, and the Alfie Kohn book that planted the seed for how I parent now. I close with what I got wrong about parenting itself, and why, ten years in, I still think most of us are trying to do this without the people around us it takes. Questions this episode will answer What is the RIE approach to parenting? RIE, developed by Magda Gerber, treats infants as capable people who deserve respect from birth. I only found out about it because friends who practiced RIE came to meet my daughter right after she was born, right before they moved away. This episode gets into what happened after that one visit. What's the difference between authoritative and authoritarian parenting? Authoritative parenting is warm and sets limits through relationship, while authoritarian parenting sets limits through control and obedience. I got these two labels mixed up on the podcast in 2017. This episode looks at what happened when I dug into the research behind that framework and found out how narrow it is. How do you discipline a child without using punishment? Instead of punishment, this approach looks at what a child is struggling with and works with them to solve the problem. I share the story of a medicine fight with my daughter where forcing the issue failed completely, and a different approach, built on her having some say in what happened, worked on the first try. Why do couples fight more after having a baby? New parents often take on different loads of housework, childcare, and mental tracking, and that imbalance builds resentment fast when it isn't named. I talk through the specific fight with my husband that forced me to see I was missing collaboration and acknowledgement, and that he was missing something too. What is the Gottman method, and does it work for parenting partners? The Gottman method is a well-known approach to couples communication, built on decades of relationship research. I talk about where I think it falls short for parents specifically, and what I changed to fill the gap with couples in the Parenting Membership. What are the biggest mistakes parents make? This episode names ten, from misunderstanding what respect looks like with an infant to assuming a nuclear family is supposed to do this work alone. I walk through each one, including the specific moment that showed me I had it wrong. What you'll learn in this episode How Magda Gerber's RIE approach and Alfie Kohn's bookUnconditional Parentingreshaped how I saw my daughter, and which of Kohn's 13 principles I still use with parents todayWhy the authoritative parenting research that's been cited over 26,000 times was built on 146 white, middle-class preschoolers in one town, and what that means for how much weight it should carryThe medicine fight that showed me the difference between forcing a behavior to stop and understanding what my daughter needed to do it differentlyHow a recurring fight with my husband over the four-month sleep regression led me to understand what a
2 weeks ago21 min
Why Your Preschooler Is Hitting, Biting, or Kicking (And What Helps)
Your child's preschool number shows up on your caller ID, and your stomach drops before you even answer. Preschool never calls with good news. Your kid hit someone at the sand table, or kicked a friend in line for the bathroom, and now you're standing there wondering if you have to call another parent and apologize, and whether this is the start of your kid becoming the one nobody wants to play with. The conversation you have that night probably isn't the first one. You remind your child that we keep our hands to ourselves. Maybe there's an early bedtime attached this time, to show them you mean it. Then the same thing happens again the next week, and you start to wonder what you're missing. In this episode, I walk through what's actually driving hitting, biting, and kicking at preschool, both for kids who are dealing with a classroom that controls almost everything about their body for the first time, and for teachers managing a room of 20 kids with their own competing pressures. I share what happened when a child hit a teacher after being physically moved into circle time, and a moment from my own daughter's classroom where a nap-time standoff got resolved without anyone losing. By the end, you'll have a different question to ask than "how do I get the hitting to stop." Questions this episode will answer Is it normal for preschoolers to hit? Hitting, biting, and kicking are common at this age, especially once a child spends most of the day in a classroom where someone else controls when they sit, move, and talk. That loss of control is often what's underneath the hitting for three and four year olds. How do I stop my 4 year old from hitting at school? Repeating "hitting isn't okay" rarely works, because most kids already know that before the conversation happens. Look instead at what happened right before the hit, and what was building up earlier in the day. What are some common behavior problems that 4-year-olds experience in school? Hitting, biting, and kicking often show up around transitions, circle time, and group activities, the exact moments where a child has the least say over their own body. How to deal with challenging behaviors in preschool? Instead of treating the behavior itself as the problem to fix, it helps to look at what a child's body and day were signaling right before it happened, including sensory overwhelm and a loss of autonomy. How to handle disruptive behavior in the preschool classroom? For teachers managing a full room, a child's need can often be met alongside a teacher's own needs for competence, ease, and keeping kids safe, without one side having to lose. How to manage behavior in preschool? The better starting question isn't how to get the behavior to stop. It's what's happening in a child's body and day that leads them there, for parents and teachers both. What you'll learn in this episode Why a preschool classroom is often the first place in a child's life where an adult besides a parent controls almost everything about their body, and why that loss of autonomy can come out as hitting or kickingThe story behind a child who hit a teacher during circle time, and what came out only after the fact about what led to itHow to tell whether a child's hitting or kicking is coming from a sensory issue, an autonomy issue, or something else, and how that changes what actually helpsWhat teachers are usually working to protect when they enforce rules like Circle Time, including their own needs for competence, ease, and children's safetyHow I worked out a nap-time standoff with my own daughter's preschool that met her needs and her teachers' needs at the same timeA different question to ask instead of "how do I get this behavior to stop" Behavior is a signal - here's how to work with it You already have the instinct to look past the hitting or kicking and ask what's underneath it. What the Stop the Behavior Battles Masterclass adds is a repeatable way to find the answer in the moment, when your kid is already mid-meltdown and you don't have time to think it through from scratch. That's the whole method: four steps you can walk through with your own kid's situation, the same four steps you'll watch a real parent named Clarice apply to her own son's toy pickup standoff. Practice it enough times, and it starts to happen without you needing to stop and think through each step. When you enroll, you'll also get a 20-minute coaching session with Denise, our community manager and a credentialed coach, to help you narrow down the strategies most likely to work for your specific kid. And you'll get an invitation to a live call with me on September 16, where I'll
Aug 17, 202654 min
Re-release: Creative Problem-Solving (Without Giving the Answer)
Sara's four-year-old started asking permission for things he used to just do on his own, like grabbing the markers off his own shelf. It was a small request, but it worried her, since nothing about her home had ever required asking first. This episode follows what she did next. Sara gets specific about creative problem-solving in action: a drone in the sky and a line of dump trucks waiting outside a construction site. She talks through the exact question that became her compass whenever self-doubt crept back in, and the moment she realized a pattern from her own childhood was at risk of repeating itself in how she was raising her son. If you've ever wondered whether teaching without teaching is even possible while working full time, this conversation walks through what that looked like, day to day. Questions this episode will answer What does creative problem-solving look like in a young child? It looks like a kid testing an idea out loud and building on what he already knows instead of waiting to be told. One example: a child working out on his own that a package of sliced cheese needs a sealed bag to stay fresh, after being asked one question instead of given the answer. How do you support a child's exploratory learning without taking over? Don't give the answer, and the next step tends to follow on its own. A parent's role becomes watching for what the child already knows and how much support helps him move past it. What is exploratory play, and why does it matter for learning? Exploratory play lets a child test a theory before anyone tells him whether he's right or wrong. A child watching construction vehicles at a work site can build a working idea of how they function, purely from observation and his own reasoning, with no lesson required. What kind of parenting leads to perfectionism in children? Growing up under pressure to be the best at everything can turn into a lasting belief that anything less isn't good enough. That belief tends to surface again in parenting, often as a hidden discomfort with a child's mistakes or unfinished work. How do you fit exploratory learning into a full time work schedule? It shows up in ordinary moments that are already happening like the commute or the grocery run. It doesn't require carving out extra hours, just responding differently within the time already spent together. What you'll learn in this episode What changed when Sara stopped trying to teach her son and started following his lead insteadThe specific question that became Sara's compass whenever self-doubt crept back inHow a four-year-old connected something he'd never seen before to something he already understood, using nothing but his own reasoningWhy Sara calls her son's way of taking in the world his "lantern consciousness," and what that idea comes fromThe difference between stepping in to teach and stepping back to scaffold, and how to tell which moment calls for whichWhat happened when a frustrating moment over a package of cheese turned into one of Sara's favorite examples of exploratory learningWhy documentation is still the hardest part of this approach, even a year in Knowing when to hold back is a skill Sara had the values in place long before she had the skill: she wanted to follow her son's lead; she just didn't know what that looked like in the actual moment until a single sentence was already out of her mouth. The Learning Membership teaches that moment and the specific move you practice: see where your kid is stuck, ask the question that gets him moving again, then get out of the way before you've solved it for him. It gets easier every time. Enrollment is open until August 26. Click the banner to learn more. <a href="https://yourparentingmojo.com/learningmem
Aug 3, 20261h 0m
Re-release: Raising an Entrepreneur (Without Taking Over Their Business)
When my daughter Carys was 10, she started a pet-sitting business. She opened a Roth IRA with the income, built a client base of dog walkers and cat owners in our neighborhood, and figured out a system for remembering security codes only after a couple of alarms went off by accident. This episode is about that decision. Skills needed for entrepreneurship come from real clients and real consequences. A kid learns to be reliable because someone is counting on her. She learns to communicate clearly, and to recognize her own capacity before she hits the edge of it. That kind of learning comes from a parent who knows the difference between sage on the stage and guide on the side. I talk through what that looked like week to week: the systems Carys built on her own and the boundary she set with a client who wanted an early morning walk. I also discussed the lessons on money that came from managing income. If you've wondered how to raise entrepreneurs without turning it into your own project, this one is for you. Questions this episode will answer What skills does a child develop through entrepreneurship? Kids build reliability, organization, client communication, and the ability to recognize their own limits before they hit them. All of it develops through the pressure of real clients depending on them. How do you raise a child to think like an entrepreneur? Step back and ask questions instead of giving answers. Let a manageable mistake happen. A child develops judgment by using it, through real experiences. What are the benefits of entrepreneurship for kids? Beyond income, kids build boundary-setting, financial literacy, and confidence that carries into other parts of their life, including schoolwork and how they talk with adults outside the family. How do you teach a child financial responsibility? Let business income lead to real decisions about saving and giving some of it away. A custodial Roth IRA becomes possible once a child has earned income of her own, and that account can grow for decades. How do you encourage entrepreneurship in a child who hasn't shown interest yet? Start with what they already gravitate toward. Interest usually shows up before ambition does, and a child is far more likely to follow through on an idea that grew out of something they already care about. What does an entrepreneurial mindset look like in a young child? It looks like a kid solving a problem because she cares about the outcome. That mindset shows up in the systems kids build for themselves. It also shows up when a client asks for more than a kid wants to give, and she says so. What you'll learn in this episode Why starting young gives kids a different relationship with failure than starting as a teenager or adultHow a 10-year-old built her own system for managing client information, without being taught toWhat it looks like to teach entrepreneurship by asking questions instead of giving answersThe specific signs that tell a parent when to step in and when to let a struggle continueHow a custodial Roth IRA works, and why business income is what makes one possible for a childWhy a child setting her own boundaries with a paying client is not the same as being difficultHow entrepreneurship connects to skills most parents are already trying to teach through chores and consequences, and why it works differently Knowing when to help and when to step back is a skill You already have the instinct to support your child's curiosity. What the Learning Membership adds is the skill of knowing exactly when to step in and when to hold back, so you're helping your child solve their own problems instead of solving them for her. That's the whole method: see where your child is stuck and offer the smallest nudge that gets them moving again. It's grounded in real research on how learning happens. Practice it long enough, and it becomes second nature. When you join before the end of day, August 8, you'll also get free access to Mind Your Own Business: For Kids, the course Carys and I built after she started her own pet-sitting business. It walks kids through testing an idea with real clients, then growing it if it works. You'll also get the You Are Your Child's Best Teacher Masterclass, 60 minutes on spotting the learning your child is already doing and starting a learning journal to track it. Enrollment is open until August 26. Click the banner to learn more. Jump to highlights 01:58 Introduction to today’s episode 06:33 When children take on entrepreneurial responsibilities ea
Jun 15, 202618 min
Episode Summary 10: Burnout vs Depression: The Mental Load of Mothers
Many mothers go to the doctor because they feel exhausted, overwhelmed, and they aren’t sleeping - and leave with a depression diagnosis and a prescription. The message is: your brain isn't working right, and medication will help you cope. But what if the problem isn't your brain at all? In this episode, I talk with journalist Bob Whitaker, who has spent decades investigating psychiatric treatment in the U.S. We look at how women's distress has been medicalized instead of taken seriously as a response to impossible circumstances. We look at how antidepressants work, which is quite different from what the drug companies have been telling us for years. He also shares the results of a New Zealand study on postpartum depression that should have changed how we support new mothers - but didn't. Questions this episode will answerIs it burnout or depression? Burnout and depression share a lot of the same symptoms - exhaustion, low mood, difficulty functioning - but they have different roots. Burnout is a response to sustained, unmanageable circumstances. Depression, as it's currently diagnosed and treated, is framed as a brain malfunction. This episode looks at why this difference matters, and why so many mothers get a depression diagnosis when they’re experiencing burnout. Why are mothers more likely to be diagnosed with depression? Mothers in the US are frequently carrying an unequal share of household work, childcare, and mental load - often while also working full time - with little support. When that situation becomes unsustainable, the distress it causes is then treated as an individual brain problem rather than a response to a broken system. What prevents postpartum depression? A study out of New Zealand found that consistent, practical support - help with the actual work of running a household - significantly reduced postpartum depression. But even though the findings were significant, more support has not become the standard of care. Should I take antidepressants? Antidepressants may reduce symptoms for some people, but research shows they are far less effective than we've been told - and for mothers whose distress is rooted in unsustainable circumstances, medication addresses the symptom rather than the source. If antidepressants are helping you, that's OK (and do keep taking them!). But antidepressants should be used to help create space for other interventions to work, rather than used long-term. How does society affect women's mental health? When we treat women's distress as a potentially life-long medical problem rather than a signal about unsustainable circumstances, we direct attention away from the structural changes that would actually help. This episode traces how that pattern developed - and what a different approach might look like. What you'll learn in this episodeWhy the mental load of motherhood is a structural problem, not a brain problem that medication should fixHow psychiatry functions as social control when it diagnoses individuals instead of the broken systems they're living inWhat the New Zealand postpartum depression study found - and why its results were largely ignoredHow drug advertising has shaped what we believe about women's distress - from Valium in the 1960s to antidepressants todayHow to shift from asking "what's wrong with my brain" to "what would actually need to change in my situation"If you want to learn more about Bob's work and the research on depression and antidepressants, go to https://madinamerica.com/. Want to go deeper?The full one-hour conversation with Bob is available to Parenting Membership members. In it, Bob traces exactly how depression came to be understood as a chemical imbalance - not because research proved it, but because psychiatry in the U.S. wanted to rebrand itself as a legitimate medical discipline in the 1980s. He walks us through how pharmaceutical companies funneled money to academic psychiatrists to become "thought leaders," how Prozac was marketed as making people "feel better than well," and how the industry captured the entire profession so thoroughly that by 1998, the New England Journal of Medicine couldn't find a single academic expert on depression in the US who wasn't taking money from pharmaceutical companies. We went deep on the STAR*D trial - the largest antidepressant study ever conducted. The public was told 70% of patients got better. The actual stay-well rate at one year, once a researcher used a Freedom of Information request to get the raw data: 3%. Bob walks through exactly how that number was inflated -
Jun 1, 202630 min
266: If ADHD Medication Doesn’t Help Kids Learn, What Does?
If you listened to our first episode on ADHD, you already know that the story most parents get about the diagnosis has some significant gaps - in the diagnostic criteria, in the research funding, and in the case for lifelong stimulant medication. This episode goes deeper on the topic of medication for kids. Most parents medicating their child with ADHD in the U.S. are doing it because they want their child to learn and succeed in school (social concerns are seen as more important to parents in the U.K.). But the largest ADHD treatment study ever conducted followed 538 children for six to eight years - and found no difference in academic achievement, grades, or test scores between kids who stayed on medication and kids who didn't. There were no significant differences even after the medicated group increased their average daily dose by 41%. Medication changes kids’ behavior, but it doesn't improve learning. And once you understand what the research shows really helps kids with ADHD in the classroom - and why most kids stop taking medication within a few years - the conversation about treatment may look very different. Questions this episode will answer Does ADHD medication help with school? The largest and most comprehensive study of ADHD treatment ever conducted followed children for six to eight years. At the six and eight year follow-ups, children who stayed on medication did no better academically than children who weren't taking medication - even though the medicated group had increased their average daily dose by 41%. What can I use instead of ADHD medication? Research shows that small group instruction and differentiated teaching strategies produce real learning gains for kids with ADHD - gains that medication alone doesn't deliver. In a controlled study, kids learned vocabulary, social studies, and science through good teaching. Medication didn't add any learning benefit on top of that. Do ADHD medications affect learning in the long-term? A crossover study gave children actual curriculum units while on medication and while on a placebo. Medication had large effects on behavior - kids completed more work and broke fewer rules. But when researchers tested whether kids actually learned the material, there was no difference. The effect on learning disappeared as soon as the medication wore off. Can ADHD ever go away? Long-term research shows that almost two-thirds of people diagnosed with ADHD in childhood move in and out of the diagnostic category over time - meaning they meet criteria at some points in their lives and don't at others. That raises serious questions about whether ADHD is the chronic, fixed brain disorder the medical model describes. Is ADHD a lifelong condition? The medical model compares ADHD to diabetes - a chronic condition requiring lifelong treatment. But the same researcher who makes that comparison also presents data showing that symptoms fluctuate significantly over time for the majority of people diagnosed. Those two claims don't hold together. Why do most kids stop taking ADHD medication? A meta-analysis found that by five years after starting medication, only 20% of kids are still taking it. Kids aren't stopping because their ADHD went away. Research interviews show they're stopping because of side effects, because the medication makes them not themselves, or because they don't see it helping them in ways that matter to them. What you'll learn in this episode What the MTA study - the largest ADHD treatment study ever conducted - found when it followed children for six to eight years, and why the results don't support what most parents have been told about long-term medication useWhat kids themselves say about being on stimulant medication - in their own words, from research interviews - and why the majority stop taking it within a few yearsWhat evidence-based classroom approaches actually helped kids with ADHD learn in a controlled study - and why those findings matter more than most parents have been toldWhy almost two-thirds of people diagnosed with ADHD in childhood move in and out of the diagnostic category - and how that contradicts about the medical model's central claimThe gap between what children report about their own ADHD symptoms and what their parents report, and what that tells us about whose perspective the diagnostic process was built aroundWhy the diagnostic process excludes children under 16 from both the interview and the feedback session - and what that means for whose experience is considered during diagnosisWhy medication improves shor
May 11, 202628 min
265: Einstein Never Used Flash Cards: How Kids Learn Best
Most parents have heard that play is how children learn. But in a world full of educational toys (even for babies, preschoolers, and kindergarteners!), enrichment classes, structured activities, and apps designed to make babies smarter, making time for play is harder than it sounds. The pressure to get kids ahead earlier keeps building - and the research that's supposed to reassure us often gets buried under the noise. Dr. Kathy Hirsh-Pasek has spent more than 20 years studying how children learn. She's a psychology professor at Temple University, a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, and co-author of Einstein Never Used Flash Cards - just updated for the age of smartphones, tablets, and AI. In this conversation, she makes the case that the characteristics that make play so engaging for kids are the exact same characteristics that produce the deepest learning. And she explains why the push to start earlier and do more may be working directly against what parents say they want for their kids. Questions this episode will answer Did Einstein use flashcards? Of course not! The point of Einstein Never Used Flash Cards is that you don’t need to provide direct instruction to young kids for them to be smart and successful. The skills that lead to real achievement - problem-solving, collaboration, creative thinking - are built through active, hands-on, joyful learning, not memorization drills. What is playful learning? Playful learning is not the same as free play. It combines a clear learning goal with an approach that is active, engaging, meaningful, socially interactive, and joyful. Dr. Hirsh-Pasek walks through what this looks like in real classrooms - and in your own kitchen. What is an example of a play-based learning activity? A kindergarten class learning about weather by using droppers and water to measure precipitation, then comparing and averaging their results. Another group acting as a live weather broadcast - a five-year-old using the words "high front" and "precipitation" without ever sitting through a lecture. The episode includes several more examples parents can use at home right now. What's the difference between free play and structured play? Dr. Hirsh-Pasek describes a continuum: free play on one end, direct instruction on the other, and guided play in the middle. Each has a role. The problem is that direct instruction currently dominates, even though children learn far less from it than from active, social, and meaningful experiences. How do kindergarteners learn best? Through play-based learning that is active rather than passive, engaging rather than distracting, meaningful, socially interactive, and joyful. It’s not just that play is fun (even though it is); these are the conditions the brain is built to learn in. Dr. Hirsh-Pasek explains the science and shows what it looks like in practice. Do enrichment classes for preschoolers actually help? The research says starting earlier is not better for kids. Kids who are pushed into structured learning young are not more likely to be strong readers or high performers later. The episode explains what the data actually shows - and what parents can do instead that costs nothing. Why is play important in early childhood learning? Because the characteristics of play - active, engaged, meaningful, social, joyful - are the same conditions under which human brains learn best at any age. Dr. Hirsh-Pasek explains why stripping play out of early childhood doesn't accelerate learning. It undermines it. What you'll learn in this episode The six characteristics of playful learning and why each one connects to how the brain actually builds knowledgeThe difference between free play, guided play, and direct instruction - and when each one serves kids bestConcrete play-based learning examples from everyday life at home: the kitchen, the laundry room, the backyardWhy the research on high performers shows that early specialization and intensive enrichment rarely
Apr 27, 202645 min
264: Who Really Decided Your Child Needs ADHD Medication?
If your child has been diagnosed with ADHD, stimulant medication is probably the first thing their doctor mentioned. And if you're trying to figure out whether it's the right choice for your family, you deserve more than a pamphlet published by a drug company. You deserve the full picture - including what the research really shows, who funded it, and the questions the medical model of ADHD hasn't answered. The story most parents get is a tidy one: ADHD is a chronic brain disorder, it's highly heritable, and stimulant medication is the most effective treatment. That story comes mostly from one very influential researcher, Dr. Russell Barkley, and it has shaped how millions of families make medication decisions. But when you look closely, cracks start to appear - in the diagnostic criteria, in the science, and in the financial ties between the researchers who built the medical model and the pharmaceutical companies that profit from it. Questions this episode will answer What are the DSM-5 criteria for diagnosing ADHD? The DSM-5 requires children to show at least 6 symptoms (5 for adults) that appear "often" across multiple settings. But who decides how often is "often" - and whether a behavior is "inappropriate" - turns out to be deeply shaped by cultural values, not objective measurement. Why are ADHD diagnoses increasing? Research shows that school accountability policies like No Child Left Behind drove significant increases in ADHD diagnoses, particularly among low-income children. In some states, diagnosing a child with ADHD could raise a school's average test scores - creating a financial incentive that had nothing to do with the child's actual needs. What is Russell Barkley's theory of ADHD? Barkley sees ADHD as a chronic, highly heritable brain disorder rooted in deficits in executive functioning. He compares it to diabetes: a lifelong condition requiring ongoing treatment, primarily with stimulant medication. This episode examines both his framework and the places where his own research contradicts itself. Is ADHD overdiagnosed? The evidence suggests yes, in many cases. Diagnosis rates vary by a factor of two to three across U.S. states when there aren’t consistent biological or cultural differences between these states. Many children receive a diagnosis after a 15-minute pediatric visit, not the thorough multi-source evaluation the research actually recommends. Is ADHD neurodivergent? Yes - and that framing shapes how a child with ADHD gets supported. The medical model treats ADHD as a brain disorder: something broken that medication needs to fix. A neuroaffirming approach treats it as a difference - and asks whether the environment, not just the child, needs to change. The diagnostic criteria themselves embed specific cultural values about what counts as "appropriate" behavior. Whether your child gets treated as disordered or different depends entirely on which framework their clinician is working from. What is actually happening in an ADHD brain? Barkley frames ADHD as a deficit in executive functioning - the brain systems that regulate attention, impulse control, and behavior over time. But the research on whether stimulant medication repairs that brain development is contradictory, and Barkley himself makes both claims in different videos. What are the benefits of ADHD medication? Stimulant medication does improve attention and reduce motor activity in the short term - but it does this in everyone's brain, not just in people with ADHD. This episode looks at what medication actually does, what it doesn't do, and what the drug company advertising left out. What you'll learn in this episode Why the word "often" in every single DSM-5 ADHD criterion creates a diagnosis that depends heavily on who is observing the child - and what cultural standards they're applyingHow the same behaviors in children in Hong Kong were rated far more severely than those of children in the U.K., and what that tells us about what ADHD is actually measuringThe financial relationships between the most influential ADHD researchers - including Barkley and Dr. Joseph Biederman - and t

About Your Parenting Mojo - Respectful, research-based parenting ideas to help kids thrive

Parenting is hard…but does it have to be this hard?Wouldn’t it be better if your kids would stop pressing your buttons quite as often, and if there was a little more of you to go around (with maybe even some left over for yourself)?On the Your Parenting Mojo podcast, Jen Lumanlan M.S., M.Ed explores academic research on parenting and child development. But she doesn’t just tell you the results of the latest study - she interviews researchers at the top of their fields, and puts current information in the context of the decades of work that have come before it. An average episode reviews ~30 peer-reviewed sources, and analyzes how the research fits into our culture and values - she does all the work, so you don’t have to!Jen is the author of Parenting Beyond Power: How to Use Connection & Collaboration to Transform Your Family - and the World (Sasquatch/Penguin Random House). The podcast draws on the ideas from the book to give you practical, realistic strategies to get beyond tod

By Jen Lumanlan

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Your Parenting Mojo - Respectful, research-based parenting ideas to help kids thrive: Daily Summaries Delivered

Latest Episodes

10 Years, 10 Lessons: Everything I Got Wrong About Parenting

Why Your Preschooler Is Hitting, Biting, or Kicking (And What Helps)

Re-release: Creative Problem-Solving (Without Giving the Answer)

Re-release: Raising an Entrepreneur (Without Taking Over Their Business)

Episode Summary 10: Burnout vs Depression: The Mental Load of Mothers

266: If ADHD Medication Doesn’t Help Kids Learn, What Does?

265: Einstein Never Used Flash Cards: How Kids Learn Best

264: Who Really Decided Your Child Needs ADHD Medication?