Voices of Your Village

Latest Episodes:

338- The Danish Approach to Parenting & Screen Time with Jessica Joelle Alexander May 29, 2025

Show notes

You're listening to Voices of Your Village. Today I got to hang out with Jessica Joelle Alexander. She's the bestselling author, cultural researcher, parenting expert, and co-founder of Raising Digital Citizens. Jessica's work around emotional wellbeing and positive digital habits has been featured everywhere from the Wall Street Journal to BBC World News, and her book, The Danish Way of Parenting, is one of my all time favorites. It's no wonder it's been translated into over 33 languages. In this episode, we dive into the Danish approach to parenting and screen time, exploring how we can foster healthier, more connected relationships with technology for both ourselves and our kids. I love Jessica's work. It is truly life-changing for me. I've taken so many bits and pieces into my everyday life. I've learned so much from her, and I'm so grateful for this and am jazzed for her new book The Danish Way Everyday. Remember to stay tuned for the breakdown with Rach at the end. This one is full of goodness today. Alright folks, let's dive in.

Connect with Jessica:

Instagram: @jessicajoellealexander @raisingdigitalcitizens

Websites: www.raisingdigitalcitizens.com , https://thedanishway.com/

Order the book: The Danish Way Everyday

Connect with us:

Instagram: @seed.and.sew

Podcast page: Voices of Your Village

Seed and Sew's NEW Regulation Questionnaire: Take the Quiz

Order Tiny Humans, Big Emotions now!

Website: seedandsew.org

Music by: Ruby Adams and Bensound

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337- Unspoken and Unshared: The Hidden Cost of Staying Quiet with Jessica Zucker, PhD May 22, 2025

Show notes

Before we dive in: this episode includes a discussion of miscarriage, pregnancy loss and also discusses sexual assault. Please take care while listening.

You're listening to Voices of Your Village, and today I get to hang out with Jessica Zucker. She's an LA based psychologist specializing in reproductive health and the author of the award-winning book I Had a Miscarriage: A Memoir, a Movement. Jessica's the creator of the viral hashtag #IHadaMiscarriage campaign. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, the Washington Post, New York Mag, Vogue, Harvard Business Review, among others. She's also been featured on casual things like NPR, CNN, the Today Show, Good Morning America. She earned her advanced degrees from NYU and Harvard, and her second book is out now: Normalize It: Upending the Silence, Stigma, and Shame That Shape Women's Lives. I found Jessica when I was deep in my miscarriage journey, and her account was such a light for me. It was truly an honor to get to dive into this conversation with her and talk about what this looks like and why are we living in shame and in silence and secrecy, and what does it look like to raise kids who don't have to do that? How can we lead the way? What are conversations we can be having now? Oh, I love this episode so much and I'm so excited for y'all to tune in and to snag your copy of Normalize It. All right, folks, let's dive in.

Connect with Jessica:

Instagram: @ihadamiscarriage

Website: drjessicazucker.com

Order the book: Normalize It: Upending the Silence, Stigma, and Shame That Shape Women's Lives

Connect with us:

Instagram: @seed.and.sew

Podcast page: Voices of Your Village

Seed and Sew's NEW Regulation Questionnaire: Take the Quiz

Order Tiny Humans, Big Emotions now!

Website: seedandsew.org

Music by: Ruby Adams and Bensound

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

336- Helping Kids Navigate Punishment/Reward-Based Environments with Jon Fogel May 15, 2025

Show notes

Before we dive in: this episode includes a discussion of sexual assault. Please take care while listening.

You're listening to Voices of Your Village, and in this episode, I got to hang out with my pal, Jon Fogel, to chat about helping kids navigate punishment, reward based environments, even if that's not what you have in your household. That what if they go to school and that's what they're exposed to or out into the world, how do we help them navigate that? Jon is a parenting influencer, a husband and a dad of four who knows that parenting is not about perfection. He has a following of over 1.5 million by making neuroscience and psychology research practical and applicable. Jon's the author of Punishment-Free Parenting: The Brain-Based Way to Raise Kids Without Raising Your Voice. He is the host of The Whole Parent Podcast and founder of The Whole Parent Academy where he helps thousands of parents from all over the world ditch the power struggles and build relationships that actually work. Jon and I got into some nuance that you don't generally see on social media. I love that about him. Sometimes we dance on some topics and often find that we have the shared values at the root of each topic. Thank you, Jon, for joining us for this conversation. I'm super jazzed for y'all to tune in. Come on over to the gram. You can snap a screenshot of you tuning in and tag Jon @wholeparent. Tag us @seed.and.sew, and let's continue the conversation over there. I wanna hear what your biggest takeaway is after you tune in. All right, folks, let's dive in.

Connect with Jon:

Instagram:@wholeparent

Website: wholeparentacademy.com

Order the book: Punishment-Free Parenting: The Brain-Based Way to Raise Kids Without Raising Your Voice

Podcast: The Whole Parent Podcast

Connect with us:

Instagram: @seed.and.sew

Podcast page: Voices of Your Village

Seed and Sew's Regulation Quiz: Take the Quiz

Order Tiny Humans, Big Emotions now!

Website: seedandsew.org

Music by: Ruby Adams and Bensound

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

335- Embracing the Unexpected in Family Life With Rebecca Thompson, MD May 08, 2025

Show notes

Before we dive in: this episode includes discussion of miscarriage and pregnancy loss. Please take care while listening.

You're listening to Voices of Your Village, and today I got to hang out with Dr. Rebecca N. Thompson. She's a family medicine and public health physician who specializes in women's and children's health, and she's the author of Held Together: A Shared Memoir of Motherhood, Medicine, and Imperfect Love. She's joining us today to talk about the experience of going through pregnancy complications and losses as a doctor herself, and the many ways that family building challenges can shape our identities and how exploring the unexpected in family life led her to a decade-long collaborative storytelling project with her patients, friends and medical colleagues. We had a really vulnerable conversation here, and we talked about a lot of different things and what that journey to motherhood looked like for me, what the messy middle looked like when I was navigating miscarriages and challenges in getting pregnant. And I'm so grateful for Becca for having these conversations so vulnerably with so many humans and hope that this feels as validating as it did for me and really would've in those seasons before I was able to enter into motherhood. When you are snagging her book Held Together, you can go through the website, we're gonna link it below, and if you order through an indie or from the Amazon link on the website, it supports Postpartum Support International. I just absolutely adore that. All right, folks, let's dive in. I just absolutely adore that. All right, folks, let's dive in.

Connect with Becca:

Website: www.rebeccanthompson.com

Order the book: Held Together: A Shared Memoir of Motherhood, Medicine, and Imperfect Love

*If you order the book through Becca’s website a portion of the proceeds will go to Postpartum Support International.

Connect with us:

Instagram: @seed.and.sew

Podcast page: Voices of Your Village

Seed and Sew's Regulation Quiz: Take the Quiz

Order Tiny Humans, Big Emotions now!

Website: seedandsew.org

Music by: Ruby Adams and Bensound

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

334- Setting the Stage for Shame-Free Puberty with Melissa Pintor Carnagey May 01, 2025

Show notes

Before we dive in: this episode includes a discussion of sexual assault. Please take care while listening. You're listening to Voices of Your Village, and today I got to hang out with my friend Melissa Pintor Carnagey. Melissa's newest book Growing Into You is so phenomenal. Melissa's a renowned sexuality educator, bestselling author, and leading national voice for sex positive education in youth and families. Her work has been featured in the Huffington Post Parents magazine, CNN, New York Times, Buzzfeed and reaches thousands of families around the globe via an engaged social media following and monthly live workshops through their Growing Into You virtual puberty education programming. Growing Into You is a book that is currently just like living in my house because I feel like, and you'll hear it in this interview, I just have so much learning to do in this space. It's something I did not grow up with. It's something that often feels uncomfortable for me. I find myself often having more questions than answers, where I don't know how to respond to this thing that my child just said and I need resources and support on it. And Melissa is my very first place I turn for that and has been for such a long time. I followed them on Instagram for years and it was so nice to get to sit down and ask these questions and dive into this with them. I'm super excited to share this episode on Setting the Stage for Shame-Free Puberty with Melissa. All right, folks, let's dive in.

Connect with Melissa:

Instagram: @sexpositive_families

Website: sexpositivefamilies.com

Order the book: Growing into You!: An Inclusive, Shame-Busting, Get-Real Guide to Your Changing Body and Mind

Books Melissa Recommends:

Your Whole Body: From Your Head to Your Toes, and Everything in Between by Lizzie DeYoung Charbonneau

My Body! What I Say Goes! by Jayneen Sanders

Some Secrets Should Never Be Kept by Jayneen Sanders

What Makes a Baby by Cory Silverberg

The Science of Babies

It Feels Good to Be Yourself: A Book About Gender Identity by Theresa Thorn

Browse more great resources by topic, age, and type at sexpositivefamilies.com/resources

Connect with us:

Instagram: @seed.and.sew

Podcast page: Voices of Your Village

Seed and Sew's Regulation Quiz: Take the Quiz

Order Tiny Humans, Big Emotions now!

Website: seedandsew.org

Music by: Ruby Adams and Bensound

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

333- Why Kids Swear (and How to Handle It Without Shame) with Rachel and Alyssa Apr 24, 2025

Show notes

You're listening to Voices of Your Village, and in this episode I got to hang out with Rach and chat about why kids swear and how to handle it without shame. I am obsessed with this topic because there's so much nuance to it. I had seen a post on social media recently, and it was so black and white about it. As with a lot of things on social media, I wanted to dive into the nuance of what did you grow up experiencing? What's your culture around this and what are you afraid of? I'm not a human that you like meet and I'm like, oh my gosh, let's talk about the weather.

I'm a human that you meet and I'm like, let's talk about your deepest fears. And so that is what we got to kinda dive into here, as well as how to respond to our kids, how to raise children who are gonna have the social skills to thrive and know what it looks like to be out in the world, communicating with others, not knowing what their cultural context is gonna be around different verbiage.

I can't wait to hear your follow-up questions, your takeaways, all that jazz. Head on over to seed dot and so on Instagram, and let's keep the conversation going. All right folks, let's dive in.

Connect with us:

Printable Social Story on Swearing: Here

Instagram: @seed.and.sew

Podcast page: Voices of Your Village

Seed and Sew's Regulation Quiz: Take the Quiz

Order Tiny Humans, Big Emotions now!

Website: seedandsew.org

Music by: Ruby Adams and Bensound

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

332- Reclaiming Self-Esteem in Motherhood with Libby Ward: Round Two Apr 17, 2025

Show notes

You're listening to Voices of Your Village, and today we're bringing back a conversation that resonated with so many of you. In this episode, I'm hanging out with Libby Ward. You might know her as Diary of an Honest Mom. Libby is a digital creator, speaker, and mental health advocate with a deep commitment to changing the motherhood narrative. She's been featured on Good Morning America, The Tamron Hall Show, BBC, and more. Truly a thought leader when it comes to navigating the complex mental health experiences that so many moms face today. What I love so much about Libby is how genuinely she shows up. We hear the word authenticity quite a bit these days, but Libby truly embodies it. She talks openly about the reality struggles and challenges of motherhood while allowing space for all feelings. In this episode, we dive into self -esteem and motherhood, and one of my favorite parts of our chat was exploring the difference between shame and accountability, plus breaking down what guilt can really mean. Follow Libby at Diary of an Honest Mom for honest, relatable content about motherhood and mental health that will leave you feeling seen and supported. All right, folks, let's dive in.

Connect with Libby:

Instagram: @diaryofanhonestmom

Website: https://diaryofanhonestmom.com/

Order the book: The Honest Mom Journal: The struggling moms guide to struggling less

Connect with us:

Instagram: @seed.and.sew

Podcast page: Voices of Your Village

Seed and Sew's Regulation Quiz: Take the Quiz

Order Tiny Humans, Big Emotions now!

Website: seedandsew.org

Music by: Ruby Adams and Bensound

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

331- Beyond the 9-to-5: Rethinking Work and Parenthood with Neha Ruch Apr 10, 2025

Show notes

You're listening to Voices of Your Village, and today I get to hang out with Neha Ruch. Neha is the founder of Mother Untitled, the leading platform for ambitious women embracing family life. As a thought leader, influencer, and sought -after speaker, Neha's work is shifting the narrative around stay -at -home motherhood, empowering women to find confidence and purpose in their parenting journey. Her book, The Power Pause: How To Plan A Career Break After Kids - And Come Back Stronger Than Ever offers powerful insights for those navigating career pauses and identity shifts. I loved chatting with Neha so much because I find myself often living in the gray area in life. Things aren't very black and white in my brain and Neha really embraces that gray. It's not you work 40 plus hours a week or you stay at home. It's not this or that or forever and always. It's really looking at what's feasible in this season, what feels right in this season. And I have passed this book along to so many humans in my life who are finding themselves in that black and white and really looking for the gray. This is not just for folks who want to be a stay -at -home parent and leave the workforce or have been a stay -at -home parent and want to re -enter the workforce. It's for anyone who's a parent because it opens up our mind to so many things that we might have shoulds or should nots built in and biases around. I'm so stoked for y'all to get to tune in to this beautiful human and this conversation. All right. Let's dive in.

Connect with Neha:

Instagram: @motheruntitled

Website: www.motheruntitled.com

Order the book: The Power Pause: How To Plan A Career Break After Kids - And Come Back Stronger Than Ever

Connect with us:

Instagram: @seed.and.sew

Podcast page: Voices of Your Village

Seed and Sew's Regulation Quiz: Take the Quiz

Order Tiny Humans, Big Emotions now!

Website: seedandsew.org

Music by: Ruby Adams and Bensound

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

330- Practical Tools to Help Kids Manage Anxiety With Anna Housley Juster, PhD Apr 03, 2025

Show notes

You're listening to Voices of Your Village, and today I get to hang out with Dr. Anna Housley Juster. Anna brings over 25 years of experience supporting children and families as a mental health clinician, education consultant, award -winning author, and parent. Anna specializes in early childhood trauma, anxiety, and behavioral challenges, blending her expertise in child development and mental health to support families, teachers, and social workers. She's also the author of How to Train Your Amygdala, a powerful tool for helping kids understand and manage big emotions. Anna's approach is informed by evidence -based therapies like TF -CBT, play therapy, and SPACE parent guidance. She's passionate about equipping caregivers with practical strategies to nurture emotional well -being. It was so rad to get to chat with Anna because I love her kids book, How to Train Your Amygdala, and how applicable her information is. I'm obsessed with talking to kids about their bodies and really teaching them how they work and not shying away from terms like amygdala because they feel really big and sciencey and foreign for a lot of us, and really leaning into that. I so dig that about Anna. I'm stoked for y 'all to dive into this episode and can't wait to hear your thoughts and feedback over on the gram. Come follow us at seed.and.sew on Instagram and let's chat more about this bad boy. All right, let's dive in.

Connect with Anna:

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/anna-housley-juster

Website: www.annahousleyjuster.com

Order the book: How to Train Your Amygdala

Connect with us:

Instagram: @seed.and.sew

Podcast page: Voices of Your Village

Seed and Sew's Regulation Quiz: Take the Quiz

Order Tiny Humans, Big Emotions now!

Website: seedandsew.org

Music by: Ruby Adams and Bensound

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

329- When Trying to Be a “Good” Mom Leads to Bad Mental Health With Nancy Reddy Mar 27, 2025

Show notes

You're listening to Voices of Your Village and today I get to hang out with Nancy Reddy. She's the author of The Good Mother Myth. Her previous books include the poetry collections Pocket Universe and Double Jinx, a winner of the National Poetry Series. I think we need to be screaming this from the rooftops that when we're trying to be a good mom, it actually leads to bad mental health and that there isn't this spot where we're like, okay, check, we're a great mom now. We're going to drop the ball and we're going to make mistakes. And what it means for us as individuals to feel like we're doing enough and being enough is so personalized. I loved this breakdown with Rach after where we got to dive into what this looks like in everyday life for us and how it shows up personally. I'm super stoked to share this episode with you. I think it's a message that so many of us need on repeat. All right, folks, let's dive in.

Connect with Nancy:

Instagram: @nancy.o.reddy

Website: www.nancyreddy.com

Order the book: The Good Mother Myth

Join the newsletter: https://nancyreddy.substack.com/

Connect with us:

Instagram: @seed.and.sew

Podcast page: Voices of Your Village

Seed and Sew's Regulation Quiz: Take the Quiz

Order Tiny Humans, Big Emotions now!

Website: seedandsew.org

Music by: Ruby Adams and Bensound