Stay ConnectedTruth: Kids don’t come with a handbook! But what if there was a parenting handbook that aligned with your healthy living values?
In each episode of the Healthy Parenting Handbook Podcast, mom of 4 Katie Kimball interviews experts in fields like nutrition, medicine, psychology, parenting, technology, entrepreneurship, and more to give parents tools to raise healthy, independent kids.
Intentional parents, here comes clarity about what you can DO to keep your kids physically and mentally healthy!
Copyright: © 2024 Healthy Parenting Handbook with Katie Kimball
We talked last week about STRESS and its impact on our health and our relationship with our families. I challenged you to be more aware of your breath and take the “Moment to Breathe” challenge, and a few of you chimed in after trying it that it’s really working!!
Personally I found being aware of my breath and its ability to control my bodily reaction to stress to be life changing and revolutionary! Why? Because I can control my breath, and in this world where too often things feel out of control, that’s a game-changer.
In part 2 today, we’ll discuss how to close the gap between demand and capacity…it turns out that stress ISN’T what happens to you that’s stressful, it’s a combination of what happens and how capable you are in reacting to it. (Hint: Responding is better than reacting anyway. More in the video!)
I’ll teach my Stress Mastery instructor’s BFF method – you’ve learned the “B” and now for the rest! Dr. Heidi Hanna is the director of the American Institute of Stress and absolutely brilliant at making stress positive fuel for change, plus keeping everything easy to understand. I hope I share her information well as I’m certified as a “Stress Mastery Educator"!
Show Notes
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Raise your thumb if you feel STRESS on a normal day!
We busy moms (and dads) tend to experience stress and feel it right down to our breathing and heart rate, and it affects the way we parent, our productivity, and our own mental AND physical health.
Today I’m so excited to use my stress mastery training to teach you about how our brains respond to stress, how it affects our bodies, and best of all, how WE CAN be in control of it!
Check out this one simple technique that you can teach your kids for stress relief!
Notes for Today
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Ryan Pink is a survivor. Like many of us, he’s faced some hard things, and has come out the other side swinging.
In this episode, we dive pretty deeply into trauma - what it is and isn’t, and how we can protect our kids from trauma digging too deeply into them.
Ryan walks through his own healing journey, including how expensive it was (I hope you’re sitting down!).
That experience led him to ask a lot of questions and talk to over 500 adults trying to heal from their own trauma, and he came up with some answers…and more questions.
“What did we do to heal from trauma before therapy existed? Can we still tap into those strategies?”
What if people don’t have a lot of money or bandwidth to figure out how to heal from their own demons?
Ryan founded HopeGuide, an online service designed to reduce the barriers to healing for those with trauma. You’ll love hearing about how HopeGuide works, and even more, how Ryan instructs us to build resilience in our families for our children.
Shall I spoil the ending? I think so:
”Relationship is THE most important thing we can have.”
If you’re on board with that, this interview is for you!
Resourced We Mentioned Today:
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How does a mom get time for herself to dream?
She uses a system!
My guest today founded Mom University to give moms the training, tools, and support for the most important job they will ever do.
In this episode, she’ll teach us about a proven method for figuring out what that “thing” is outside of motherhood that you really want, and then making it happen - without sacrificing your family in the process.
In fact, everyone will be happier when Mom is doing better.
We talk about making dreams into actionable goals, then making tiny habits that actually STICK to make those goals into a reality. Chanelle applies her system for all of you who are thinking, “I wish I could teach my kids to cook!” but it feels too big, too hard.
You’ll love this inspirational episode!
Resources for Moms We Mentioned Today:
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Sensory Processing Disorder refers to difficulties that happen in some children where their brain struggles to make sense of input coming from the sensory environment. Information comes to our brain through our five senses. The brain has to make sense of it so that we can react appropriately. The brains of kids with SPD struggle to make sense of this information quickly and effectively.
This usually impacts eating in some way. There is a difference between picky eaters and kids with true feeding disorders. Kids that are picky won’t eat some foods, but at least they have a range of foods they eat. Kids with feeding disorders usually have less than 20 foods in their diet, and they may even be brand or presentation specific.
Usually, the first step for BOTH of these types is exposure to new foods without expecting them to eat them. Listen to the interview to find out how to get kids to eat a wider variety of foods by asking them not to eat!
Resources We Mention for Sensory Processing Disorder and Picky Eaters
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See full show notes at kidscookrealfood.com/009.
Plenty of parents complain about their kids being "so darn picky!" (including me, even though I know I shouldn't use that word!).
But what IS a picky eater, really?
Did you know:
Dr. Kay Toomey explains how parents can determine if their "severity" meter is accurate when it comes to their kids eating. Do you have a problem feeder who is truly extreme? Or just a picky eater? These questions will help you determine!
And the craziest part -- it might not all be in your child's head, even if they are having trouble accepting a wide variety of foods.
It turns out that what matters is how much it takes to chew, physically, and what food feels/looks/tastes/sounds like etc. to the child. Some picky eaters just never learned to chew properly! :o #mindblown
Here you'll get help understanding WHY your kids are so wiggly at dinner, the special chair that could make all the difference, and more practical tips and picky eater solutions.
According to Dr. Toomey, it takes real intentionality to help your kids expand their palates — most kids won’t just “grow out of it” like we secretly hope!
From the extra little plate you’ll now set on the table to the way in which food is served, to your rules about who moves (the food or the kid), your routines are about to be turned upside down! But if your kids eat better with fewer power struggles…isn’t it worth it?
Resources We Mention to Help Picky Eaters
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Picky eating has always been a tricky challenge for parents, but did you know it’s been getting worse in the last few decades and particularly since the stress of the pandemic?
Parents are frustrated and not sure what to do, partly because the root cause of picky eating is often not even in the food itself.
I’ve been teaching kids to cook for eight years and realized that what parents need most isn’t the cooking (at least they don’t think they do), but the eating part. I started using my background as an elementary educator and mom of 4 to tackle the picky eating problem, and people had a lot of success with my suggestions.
Then I was trained a few years ago by an incredible picky eating expert, Dr. Kay Toomey, and I learned even more, especially about root causes. It’s my honor to work with parents on a regular basis to reduce the stress at their kitchen tables and help their kids build a great relationship with food.
My P.E.P. Club (Picky Eating Playbook) membership includes plenty of opportunities for Q&A, and I thought it might be interesting to give you a peek into some popular Qs about picky eating today.
Katie will be interviewing…Katie. Ha!
Hope you enjoy learning about:
Picky Eating Resources We Mentioned Today
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I realized during this interview (and never before) that my own husband had a tic off and on for years in our early marriage and before.
Seriously!
He was always told it was either neurological/anxiety or that he should see an eye doctor (who didn’t know what to do). For years we tried to figure out environmental patterns like what season or climate/city/state it might happen in or stop happening after being present for a few weeks.
But what if…it was all in his GUT???
We’ve done a lot of gut healing for him over the years, including reversing a chronic autoimmune disease, and he hasn’t experienced the blinking for a really long time.
If you’re interested at all in the gut-brain connection and how to help kids on the spectrum and/or with tics resolve them, OR how to help your own kids understand how to talk about and interact lovingly and respectfully with kids struggling with something like a tic, this is a must-listen.
Dr. Piper Gibson needed answers so badly for her own son that she left the SAHM mom life and went back to school to find a solution that no one else could give her. (Spoiler: There’s a reason she’s known as a tic expert, and wait until you hear how it all went with her son!)
Get the KCRF knife skills video at kidscookrealfood.com/freeknifeskills!
Resources We Mention for Gut Health
Affiliate links used here. Thanks for supporting the Healthy Parenting Handbook!
Six million kids in America are diagnosed with ADHD.
ADHD expert and health practitioner Dana Kay asks a very important question about that number: How many of those diagnoses are real ADHD?
Her story will bring tears to your eyes but also hope to your heart, and after helping her own son find healing, this fierce mama bear is now on a mission so that other families with this diagnosis don’t have to struggle as hers did.
The 2 BEST truth bombs of the interview?
Whether you have a child with ADHD in your life, struggle with any other neuro-diversity including anxiety, or just want to learn more about the gut-brain connection and how you can bring hope to other parents, this interview is a fast-paced winner.
We discuss:
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Our interview guest today has been a journalist and writer for many years and earned herself the title of “Worst Mom in America.” I’m so proud to interview her because she earned that title when she let her 9-year-old ride the subway alone and wasn’t afraid to write about it in a major publication. 🙂
Growing wings from the firestorm that ensued, she published a book called Free-Range Kids and has been an advocate for letting kids grow ever since. She encourages legislation to protect parents when they are making wise choices for their children’s independence and even has a nonprofit offering curriculum to schools and families with the sole purpose of encouraging adults to step back so that children can step up.
If you want to raise healthy, independent adults, this half-hour will enlighten and inspire you, edifying you to push back in the face of a culture that seems to be flying away with helicopter parenting.
Let’s ground that movement!
Resources We Mention to Raise a Confident Child
Find today's show notes, video, and time-stamped "skim notes" at https://www.kidscookrealfood.com/005.
Affiliate links used here. Thanks for supporting the Healthy Parenting Handbook!
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