Voices of Your Village

You’re listening to Voices of Your Village, and today we’re getting into something that doesn’t get talked about enough in parenting: What happens when our stuff shows up in how we raise our kids. In this episode, I’m joined by Eli Harwood, and honestly, this one felt like part conversation, part therapy session. We’re talking about what it looks like when your child is wired differently than you… and how easy it is to project your own fears, needs, and past experiences onto them without even realizing it. We get into mismatch, anxiety, and those moments where you find yourself thinking, “They need this,” when really… it’s something you needed. Eli breaks down what it actually means to be a secure base for your kids. Not perfect, but steady. Being able to hold their emotions without needing to fix them. And how the real work of parenting is learning how to tolerate our own feelings so we don’t hand them off to our children. If you’ve ever wondered, “Am I messing them up?” or felt that pull between wanting to protect your child and needing to let them be who they are… this episode is for you. Alright folks, let’s dive in. Connect with Eli: Instagram: @attachmentnerd Website: https://www.attachmentnerd.com/ Order the book: How to Deal with Your ____ So Your Kids Don't Have to: An Encyclopedia for Ditching Your Emotional Baggage Podcast: How to Deal  Secure Parent Program: Here Connect with us: Instagram and TikTok: @seed.and.sew  Seed and Sew's NEW Regulation Questionnaire: Take the Quiz Order Big Kids, Bigger Feelings now!  Website: seedandsew.org Credits: Host: Alyssa Blask Campbell Co-host: Rachel Lounder Production/Editing: Kristin Mork-McVeigh Graphics: Kayla Kurland-Davis/ Beki Rohrig Music by: Ruby Adams and  Bensound Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You’re listening to Voices of Your Village, and today we’re talking about the kids who often get missed. The ones who look fine on the outside, hold it together at school, and then unravel at home. The kids whose feeding struggles, big reactions, sensory needs, or shutdowns can get mistaken for defiance when what’s really happening is so much more nuanced. In this episode, I’m joined by Polina Shkadron, and we’re digging into what it looks like to truly support neurodivergent kids through the lens of relationship, regulation, and trust. We talk about feeding challenges, masking, sensory differences, executive functioning, and why believing the child’s experience changes everything. This conversation hit home for me as a parent, because so much of this is about shifting out of “How do I make this behavior stop?” and into “What is this child telling me about their experience?” And that shift matters at home, in classrooms, and in every relationship we have with kids. Alright folks, let’s dive in. Connect with Polina: Instagram: @playtolearnconsulting Website: playtolearnconsulting.com Newsletter: https://playtolearnconsulting.com/resources/ PESI webinars mentioned: The “Not So Picky” Picky Eater  Executive Functioning in Children and Adolescents Connect with us: Instagram and TikTok: @seed.and.sew  Seed and Sew's NEW Regulation Questionnaire: Take the Quiz Order Big Kids, Bigger Feelings now!  Website: seedandsew.org Credits: Host: Alyssa Blask Campbell Co-host: Rachel Lounder Production/Editing: Kristin Mork-McVeigh Graphics: Kayla Kurland-Davis/ Beki Rohrig Music by: Ruby Adams and  Bensound Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You’re listening to Voices of Your Village, and today we’re talking about one of the hardest family transitions to navigate with kids: divorce. In this episode, I’m joined by Michelle Dempsey-Multack, and we’re digging into what it really looks like to take a child-first approach when parents separate. We talk about how to tell kids about divorce in a way that is honest, clear, and age-appropriate, what kids actually need in those early conversations, and how to support them without putting them in the middle. We also get into the long game of co-parenting: how to stay grounded when emotions are high, how to avoid making kids the messengers or collateral, and what it means to build a childhood your kids won’t have to recover from later. Alright folks, let’s dive in. Connect with Michelle: Instagram:@michelledempsey, @michellemultack Website: https://michelledempsey.com/ Order the book: Moms Moving On: Real-Life Advice on Conquering Divorce, Co-Parenting Through Conflict, and Becoming Your Best Self Podcast: The Moving On Podcast Connect with us: Instagram and TikTok: @seed.and.sew  Seed and Sew's NEW Regulation Questionnaire: Take the Quiz Order Big Kids, Bigger Feelings now!  Website: seedandsew.org Credits: Host: Alyssa Blask Campbell Co-host: Rachel Lounder Production/Editing: Kristin Mork-McVeigh Graphics: Kayla Kurland-Davis/ Beki Rohrig Music by: Ruby Adams and  Bensound Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Before we dive in: this episode includes discussion of childhood mental health struggles and discusses suicidal ideation and self harm. Please take care while listening. You’re listening to Voices of Your Village, and today we’re talking about something that so many autism parents know in their bones but don’t always hear said out loud: sometimes what looks like defiance, aggression, or “too much” is actually overwhelm, burnout, anxiety, and a nervous system that cannot keep carrying what the world is asking of it. In this episode, I’m joined by Lisa Candera of The Autism Mom Coach, and we talk honestly about parenting an autistic child through anxiety, OCD, burnout, and big behaviors. We get into the difference between can’t and won’t, what it looks like when the strategies that used to work stop working, how our own nervous systems shape what happens next, and why support for the parent matters just as much as support for the child. This conversation felt especially powerful to me as the mom of an autistic child, because there is so much nuance here. There is grief, love, exhaustion, advocacy, and so much invisible labor. Lisa brings both lived experience and deep compassion to this conversation, and I think so many parents are going to feel less alone in it. Alright folks, let’s dive in. Connect with Lisa: Instagram: @theautismmomcoach Website: https://theautismmomcoach.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-candera-949b3175/  Podcast:  The Autism Mom Coach Connect with us: Instagram and TikTok: @seed.and.sew  Seed and Sew's NEW Regulation Questionnaire: Take the Quiz Order Big Kids, Bigger Feelings now!  Website: seedandsew.org Credits: Host: Alyssa Blask Campbell Co-host: Rachel Lounder Production/Editing: Kristin Mork-McVeigh Graphics: Kayla Kurland-Davis/ Beki Rohrig Music by: Ruby Adams and  Bensound Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You’re listening to Voices of Your Village, and today we’re talking about screens, because my feed has been feeling so black-and-white lately. Screens are bad. Screens disconnect us. Avoid them at all costs. And I just don’t think that’s true, and I also don’t think it’s helpful. So we’re having a real conversation about what it looks like to raise kids in the world we’re actually living in, not the one we miss from when we were growing up. Screens are morally neutral. The question is what we do with them, what our kids are getting from them, and how we can use them as a tool for connection, instead of a source of tension. I’m joined by Ash Brandin, aka The Gamer Educator and author of Power On, and Brynn Putnam, the creator of Board, a face-to-face game console that blends the tactile pieces of board games with a digital screen so families can play together in a way that fuels connection. We talk about digital play being real play, why leisure doesn’t have to be productive, and how to build trust now so kids come to you later, when tech gets more complicated and has higher stakes. Alright folks, let’s dive in. Connect with Brynn: Instagram: @board.fun X: @brynnputnam Website: https://board.fun/ Connect with Ash: Instagram: @thegamereducator Website: https://thegamereducator.com/ Order the book: Power On: Managing Screen Time to Benefit the Whole Family Substack: https://thegamereducator.substack.com/ Connect with us: Instagram and TikTok: @seed.and.sew  Seed and Sew's NEW Regulation Questionnaire: Take the Quiz Order Big Kids, Bigger Feelings now!  Website: seedandsew.org Credits: Host: Alyssa Blask Campbell Co-host: Rachel Lounder Production/Editing: Kristin Mork-McVeigh Graphics: Kayla Kurland-Davis/ Beki Rohrig Music by: Ruby Adams and  Bensound Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices