A listener wants to know if it's OK to always pick up a fussy, needy toddler who always wants to be held? Will this responsiveness perpetuate more neediness and get in the way of building independence? Another mom wants to know how to handle a particular attention-seeking behavior in her toddler once and for all that has waxed and waned for over a year.

It's easy to get overwhelmed in the day-to-day. Pretty soon you're flying by the seat of your pants and can't seem to get your feet under you. How do you switch focus from constantly putting out fires to parenting with more intention? Then sometimes parenting in the short-term is just what the doctor ordered! How do we balance these two? In this episode I cover how to balance short and long term parenting, and relieve some pressure of what some parents think they need to focus on that actually makes life way harder in the short term that doesn't need to be.

I hate to see anyone, but especially caring parents, preyed upon by unscrupulous advertisers. I got ads for two products making some really bold promises to turn difficult parenting challenges into a breeze. I share these in this episode, the promises these companies make, why they are not legitimate and how to accomplish these two goals with actionable steps that are based in solid child development research.

Have you ever struggled through a discipline exchange? Discipline just fell flat because your child wasn't having it? Or you had a tool that worked like a charm and then just stopped working all of the sudden?! Why do these strategies other people swear by not work for you at all or work for a while and then stop? Erin addresses 4 common reasons discipline strategeis can fail so you can get your positive discipline game in the flow.

Our kids have so much potential. With our guidance, they will reach far beyond anything we accomplish and I hope they do! That is my goal for my family and for any other family who shares that vision for their child's future. In this episode I dive into two building blocks that are a foundation for raising kids to this next level. I bring awareness to our own potential blocks as parents and uncover a lot of new information in this episode.

During the developmental process, there are many windows of opportunity to setup positive habits. Outside of these windows, creating the habits: sleep, healthy eating, cooperation, empathy, and more, are more difficult. Knowing these windows and how to leverage them can make some parts of parenting a whole lot easier. Tune in to learn about these opportune times.

If you ever have to take your child, infant to teen to the doctor again, this is an episode you don't want to miss! Dr. Jody Thomas shares seriously simple tips for making what can be a very anxiety provoking experience for most kids into a much easier experience for everyone, child, parent and medical professional alike. She shares the most up-to-date science based tools to reduce and even eliminate pain and anxiety! Setting up children for success in these visits early on can literally save their life later on in adulthood, as Dr. Thomas also shares why and how.

Is it possible to miss a developmental window? A mom writes in asking if this is a possibility, if they missed the window when their son was more willing and pushing for independence and now they need to make up for it? Or is something else possibly going on? Erin gives some insights about developmental windows, getting to the crux of behaviors and fixing refusals in our young children.

A mom wants to make big changes in the way she disciplines her kids and the way they relate to each other. Tough times, got life off to a tough start but she wants to change and make things better for everyone. She knows it's not too late but the idea feels so overwhelming she doesn't know where to start. She also doesn't want to overwhelm her kids with too many changes at once, making it worse for everyone. So she wrote to ask Erin how she can undertake this process and make sure it's a successful transformation rather than a disaster.

One of the more anxiety provoking decisions is finding and hiring the right fit for your family, whether it's occasional babysitter or a nanny who works in your home regularly. Carole Kramer, shares amazing information about vetting and finding the right caregiver for your family, broaching tough subjects with your caregiver and dealing with special circumstances and special needs you may have in your family or for your children.

A mom and dad are concerned about their son's behaviors while at school and are seeking help on what they can do to help him learn to make better choices when he's not under their direct supervision. Erin helps parents break things down to first learn why misbehavior happens. Once we know why, then we can address the unique reason with the proper solution. She then gives ideas and tips to work on fixing behavior for several different scenarios and reasons when kids are out of direct supervisions.

Young children and even older children can struggle with all kinds of fears, phobias and anxiety throughout childhood. Erin answers a question from a mom about her 4 year old who is dealing with a fear that has gotten progressively worse and a new fear that has also recently come about. Erin discusses these fears, why they happen. What is normal and when it crosses over and gives parents a plan and steps to support their child in learning to face their fears and anxieties in healthy loving ways without ignoring the issue.

In this episode Erin talks with Katy Joy Wells about her 4 step process for curing toy clutter. Not only is it a stress relief for parents, it actually is for kids as well and helps them go deeper in play, supporting independent play. Learn the steps, the benefits and how to make your child's play space more inviting.

A mom wants to know how to help her son fix his bully situation. Should she/dad step in? Or is there a way to empower her son to handle it on his own and let them know he won't be a victim? It's often hard to know when we are overstepping and taking away an opportunity for our child to handle situations for themselves and when it's a good idea to step in and guide in a bigger way. I give my feedback on this situation, and talk about bullying on a deeper level, how to talk to kids about it and lessons we can all learn when our kids are faced with some unfortunate life challenges.

Toddlers can go from quiet and calm to grabbing, hitting and worse within seconds. Erin covers great foundational information so parents can understand how to guide and coach from ages 1 to 4 as well as how to help older siblings who may be getting the brunt of the aggression when they are within striking range of a toddler sibling.

Toddlers often have big reactions. But what do you do when it seemingly comes out of nowhere? How can we work on new behaviors and prevention when it takes us by complete surprise? Erin dives into some great fundamentals of the steps of toddler emotional development so parents can feel assured when they see these sometimes troubling behaviors and the steps to guiding young children towards better behaviors when they feel upset, anxious or overwhelmed.

What do you do when your toddler is playing with their private parts? How do you answer questions about sex, private parts, puberty and more? How do you prepare your child for puberty, dating and beyond? Most of us grew up and still carry some level of discomfort and even shame around our own sexuality and body. How do we parent from a place of empowerment and help our children grow up feeling more confident about their bodies, sex and sexuality? We have you covered in this episode! We do speak frankly and openly about many topics of puberty and sexuality in this episode. To learn more about Ariel and her great work go to mylittleyoni.com or see her account on IG @mylittleyoni

We often think of overindulgence as too many toys, too much "stuff" or too many sweets. But the latest research is showing that overindulgence comes in two other forms besides just material overindulgence and actually these other two areas are even more prevalent. The outcomes are not favorable. Erin covers this research, including the common outcomes and what parents can do to avoid these types of overindulgence, by age from toddlers all the way through the teen years! So no matter your child's age, there is information for you to support your child in developing a strong foundation for success!

A mom asks Erin for help in finding strategies to work with her very difficult to discipline 5 year old. The struggles are running the gamut from power struggles, not listening, negative ungrateful attitude, bedtime struggles, whining, basically anything but cooperative, including a possibility of ADHD. Erin gives some great insights and strategies for re-building a new foundation for this relationship to get the behavior turned back to a positive direction.

Sometimes we think we are following the steps to fix problem behaviors, when we might actually be unknowingly doing the opposite. Erin shares some great foundational information to troubleshoot any problem area. If you are seeing repeated behaviors you don't like to see, and want to figure out how to get it to stop, this episode can help you figure out the sticky area. Then Erin applies this information to a mom dealing with very difficult power struggles at bedtime.

What do you do when your preschooler tries to rule the roost, not just saying no and trying to undermine parenting authority over themselves but even trying to control parental behavior? There are several reasons preschoolers may engage in this level of control. There are clues our children give us as to what is happening. Once uncovered, parents can tune in to these clues and help their young child work through the issues that are leading to controlling types of behaviors.

Erin shares some new insights into supporting kids to develop a strong and healthy sense of self-esteem throughout childhood. Learn a new paradigm on how to view the development of self-esteem and some great new ideas for working with your children to help them develop into their most confident and independent selves.

How do you handle a child's behavior when it is seemingly manipulative and/or controlling in nature? Erin gets to the heart of the issue, what kids are really trying to tell us and how to help support them overall, and work with them in that moment when they are trying to control the situation or manipulate others into behaving the way they would like.

Preschoolers can really struggle with social skills and this often means they react in aggressive ways towards one another. How do we help sibling and friends make better choices when interacting with each other? Part 2 of this mom's question involves bedtimes that have gone from bad to worse. How can this family get a better handle on bedtimes and get back in a better direction? Erin covers both of these topics in this one episode!

Confidence is one of the biggest components of success in any endeavor. Parenting will throw so many challenges your way, how can you find and keep your confidence in your parenting? In this episode I share my journey in finding my confidence and how I get it back when a new challenge rocks my confidence in my parenting. I cover 3 examples of less common challenges I have faced and how to deal with less less common challenges that may not have the answers on every other blog, book or reel.

More children than ever, at younger and younger ages are experiencing moderate to severe mental health issues related to depression and anxiety. Childhood has been derailed for so many kids. Missed opportunities in social interactions has deeply affected many kids. This phenomenon hit close to home for Erin this past week and she shares her experience, what she noticed, signs your child's struggles may be more than a "stage" or just needing tweaks in your parenting approach and steps to take to get your child the help they need as soon as possible, even when many child therapist are overwhelmed with patients right now.

A 6 year old is really struggling with a lot of different misbehaviors like not listening, aggression, and making poor choices and both the parents and his nanny are wondering how to help him through these trouble spots, especially at specific times of day when he seems to struggle the most. Erin covers some great foundation work as well as specific tips for helping this young boy work on slowing down and making better choices when he gets overwhelmed and upset. In addition Erin shares her latest parenting struggle she had, how she handled it and why she handled it in that manner. Tune in to get some great tips from this episode!

How do you help your young child learn to follow rules and expectations in school when you aren't there? A dad feels in over his head in helping his daughter make better choices when he's not there to guide her. Erin gives some great insight into this issue, guidance and ideas for making this situation better for everyone, including discerning when the issue at hand is not all due to the child and how to address both sides of this important issue.

Some days parenting is just overwhelming. Some days life is just overwhelming. If you have difficult days with either, let alone both at that same time, you are not alone. Erin had a very overwhelming week both in parenting and life, feeling like she was failing at both. She shares her coping strategies both with managing and overcoming feeling overwhelmed whether it's parenting related or not.

Money is such a taboo subject in so many families. We all have our own hangup around money, be they societal, familial or both. How can we have a more positive feeling towards finances and money? How do we teach our kids to have a better, more positive outlook and relationship with money than we likely do or did now or in early adulthood? Ken Honda is a best-selling author in Japan. His latest book is called "Happy Money: The Japanese Art of Making Peace with Your Money" Erin absolutely loves his teaching in this arena and is excited to have him share his insights with the Parenting Beyond Discipline audience.

What tools should you use with a toddler who tries to push their will for having things own way? The ways we use the tools or the tactics our toddlers try can often render a tool ineffective, or less effective. Erin gives step by step guide to setting boundaries and rules with respect and love that will be followed and using tools to their highest effectiveness.

All parents want to provide their kids with as stable an upbringing as possible, especially if they didn't have that growing up. But life is full of changes big and small. How do we support kids through these changes like moves, new schools and especially divorce? What are options and compromises we can do to make these as smooth and stress-free as possible for our kids? Erin covers areas to focus on when we have big changes to guide our children through to make sure they come through the other side, not just ok, but able to build resilience from the experience. It's such an important life skill and supports their ability to live a happy and successful life.

Mental health challenges in children has been on the rise for some time and the pandemic has only magnified it for many kids. Sometimes dis-regulated behavior in actually toddlers, young children and teens is actually due to mental health struggles. How can you know the difference, when to reach for outside help and how to support your child through it and build skills for resilience in life's challenges? In this episode, Erin interviews Dr. Beurkens leading holistic psychologist for answers to these questions.

What do you do when your preschooler wants to be in charge of everything? Wants to have control even over things that are out of his realm of ability to manage and decide? Erin answers this mom's question about working with a 4 year old who wants to have control over everything and pushes back when he doesn't have control.

Toddlers have a gift for finding our weaker spots when it comes to getting power and undue attention. Different parents have different areas of struggle, be it meals/food, potty training but especially bedtimes and middle of the night wake-ups, when we're exhausted and much more likely to give in. In this episode Erin talks about steps for setting strong boundaries around power these common problem areas, especially middle of the night wake-ups where strong willed toddlers may engage in screaming and crying tactics. Whether you have a middle of the night or bedtime issue or another common power struggle you need some guidance and steps to resolve, tune in to this episode!

Have you ever been to a gathering or a play date where you notice a child going above and beyond? The child is polite, thoughtful, and helpful and you wonder what the secret is? Do you want to make sure you are raising your kids with these values too? I have had these experiences and wanted to make sure my kids were the ones pitching in, inquiring how they can help, and using their best manners. In this episode, I cover tips for toddlers to teens, for raising polite, thoughtful, helpful kids that your friends and family will gush over, and ask you how you do that!

Personal temperament is only one contributing factor to personality differences. While not every child is going to follow common birth order or gender developmental and personality characteristics, most will to at least some degree. Understanding what these differences are and why they happen can greatly aid you in parenting your individual child. If you are curious to learn more about these, this is the episode for you!

Big emotions in young children often mean big reactions, and often times they are even physical in nature. How do you help your toddler or younger child learn better ways when they have big physical reactions to their big emotions? Erin answers this question specifically for a mom who's toddler is banging his head in response to big emotions but also shares a broader perspective and answer for any parent dealing with big physical reactions to emotions.

Erin goes beyond toddlerhood in this episode, sharing with parents of toddlers and older kids alike, what we are working towards and focusing in the years beyond toddlerhood as our children's development and unique qualities really begin to unfold and blossom.

Erin dives deep into emotions, both for our kids and our own, to give and do our best to help our kids and ourselves become the most emotionally intelligent versions of ourselves. She talks about kids who clam up and don't like to share or talk about emotions as well as those with bigger-than-life reactions and how to work with both, as well as how we as adults can keep working on our own emotional intelligence. It's a lifelong practice and as we get better and better, we are better role models and have more skills to help guide our children as well! Win-win!

In this episode Erin shares a dilemma she faced about how to handle a situation with her daughter, sharing with her listeners how sometimes parenting is convoluted and complicated just like all human relationships. She shares what she weighed in her mind as she did her best to make what she hoped would be the best choice for her daughter. She hopes this inside look into her relationship and her own mind will be both helpful and a relief to her listeners who sometimes worry they might be doing something "wrong".

A mom wants to know how to avoid power struggles and set a strong foundation for connection and communication even with her very young (9 month old) daughter, since a lot of the positive discipline tools cannot be implemented this early. Is it possible? What should she do to stay out of a power struggle over things her baby shouldn't be doing, trying or getting into? She doesn't want to make a game out of it. Erin shares tools parents can use, even with babies who are just starting to become mobile, but also are great for toddlers, preschoolers and any young child who is struggling with boundaries. Even though babies and young toddlers likely cannot yet talk, or share ideas or wants, there is a lot they can understand and therefore some great tools you can implement to stay out of the struggles.

What do you do when you and your parenting partner have different parenting styles? Although this question comes from a divorced mom, Erin answers this question for any parents, living together or not on how to build bridges and come together and when to allow each other to parent differently. Then she covers how to address parental guilt, because we all have it, regardless of our circumstances, we always feel like we are falling short somewhere, somehow.

A mom has been diligently working with her almost 3 year old on his social skills for play date interactions. Yet her son is still struggling with some aggressive reactions when things don't go his way. With some great information and descriptions, Erin covers this topic and then finds some simple tweaks this mom can make to really turn these interactions around and give her son that little extra instruction that can really turn this situation around.

A mom wants to know how to handle it when her 3 year old responds aggressively towards his toddler younger brother without making the attention to the unwanted behavior feel like it's rewarding the behavior. Erin discusses this common toddler challenge but also brings in some new information and perspective on this common issue, in a way she hasn't shared before.

If you are dealing with power struggles any time of day, this is the episode for you. Erin covers some specific tips for this hour-long morning power struggle with which a mom is dealing. Then she covers some great tips and guidelines for solving almost any common power struggle!

You hear it all the time, "Kids will test your boundaries." "He's testing me!" "It's normal for kids to test the boundaries." In this episode, I cover testing from all different angles and scenarios and offer insight into what's happening and how to approach it so it doesn't turn into a battle of wills. I cover boundary testing, resistance, and lying.

What do you do when you are simply overwhelmed with your preschooler's behavior? How can you get this turned around so that you can have better days? Erin starts with some really important basics like working with high needs babies & kids, addressing temperament and four easy to implement positive discipline tools to get things turned around quickly!

Toddlers do strange things. These things seem outright rude, disrespectful and mean. But what are they really thinking? Learn about what toddlers are really thinking about when engage in these behaviors and how you can help them learn to do better.

There are times when short term parenting is the best option and times when long term is the focus. Learn what your long term focuses are at each at each stage of development and therefore how to best balance the long term and short term parenting.