Parenting Beyond Discipline

We all know that separation anxiety is common in younger ages but how do you help an older child with persistent separation anxiety? Erin answers this question for one mom and also answers another mom's questions about helping her 4 year old with big emotions with several new ideas and tips when coaching just doesn't seem to be helping.

Erin answers a question from a mom wondering how to help her 4 year old exhibit more gracious behaviors in social settings when he refuses to be courteous and polite. Then Erin gives tips on not just surviving holidays but protecting the beauty, love, kindness and sanctity of the season with your family.

Erin walks through a particularly difficult exchange between a mom and her 4 year old son, with lots of general tips and guidelines as well as specifics for dealing with situations of disrespect as they wind up more and more out of control and how to pull them back.

A mom of 3 struggles with big time potty regression from her older son after the baby was born, another mum is curious about how to handle public playtime and sharing when her toddler takes toys or older kids (3 and 4) take toys from younger ones. Then Erin shares a bit more about why she moved her kids' schools, what she's learned and the importance of knowing and understanding your child's intellectual strengths and struggles for the best results and least stress for parent and child!

How do you handle potty talk, especially in public? What consequences fit well with this? Also how to do prevent epic meltdowns over common scenarios that present themselves frequently and cannot be avoided? Erin answers these two questions and also talk about how to help kids with death and the grieving process by age, after her family had to confront the death of a beloved family pet.

Is it normal for a toddler to demand attention just when a parent starts a conversation? How do teach your toddler to wait and give opportunities for learning this skill? Then what do you do when choices don't work at all and the response is simply "No!" or "I don't like that" for every choice you offer? Learn how to handle these toddler tactics and Erin's latest parenting growth moments with guiding her 10 year-old learn about making choices that reflect the outcomes he wants.

In this 3 Q&A episode: what do you do when your 2 year old makes annoying sounds and behaviors to get attention/get her way with other children? How do you get your 1 year old to stop crying in the middle of the night when only breastfeeding seems to calm him back to sleep? Then what do you do when you have a toddler you want to wean from the pacifier during the day but new baby sibling has one?

Erin gives a lot of tips and options to a mom who is struggling with both bedtimes and middle of the night wakeups that are prolonged.

What do you do with a toddler who throws their cup at mealtimes with such force it explodes milk all over the floor? Erin offers 4 different options for this frustrated mom! Also Erin answers a question about what to do about a toddler who is fully potty trained but deliberately pees on the floor when angry. Lastly Erin talks about her latest and biggest struggle and this one is, in her words, "a doozy!"

What do you do when a toddler is using a very offensive word, especially in public? What about a toddler who was potty trained and has just reverted completely back to not using the potty at all but doesn't want to go back to pullups either? Erin answers these two questions and then also shares her struggle this week with her intense and persistent 10 year-olds brush with a very disappointing experience and how she dealt with it.

What do you do when your toddler stops napping or falling asleep at night when you get rid of the pacifier? Also what do you do with a toddler who wakes every night in the middle of the night and disrupts everyone's sleep? Erin answers both of these parenting questions plus some insights from her own week of parenting in this episode.

Erin answers 3 questions in this episode, the first on how and when you can engage your child in the process of a "no-gift" birthday party, how to deal with tantrums during diaper changes, and do you get your child a smart phone? If so, when? And also, if how do you deal with the pressure of "all my friends are on this app?" or "all my friends have...?" when it comes to keeping them safe from apps and other activities around smart phones?

How to turn around stressful morning to make them smoother with an uncooperative toddler? Erin gives some great tips on this and then answers questions about what to be aware of about the differences in raising boys and girls and how to teach kids social graces juxtaposed against the concept of 'stranger danger.'

How do you help a toddler learn better behavior when they throw toys to show their anger? Ignoring has shown improvement but when it could hurt someone, this mom doesn't want to continue to ignore. What responsibilities should a 3 1/2 year be expected to take on? Erin shares a few tasks and how to teach her preschooler about this new expectation, along with a few other tasks she can begin prepping her son to take on in the coming months.

What do you do when a toddler uses biting to show negative emotions when coaching does not seem to be working? Then, Erin answers another question about when do you address/fix a behavior and when do you ignore it, when addressing it often times seems to make it worse?