Self-esteem is one of the most important and most difficult aspects of child development and mental health. In our final heavy topic for the year Nick & Billy explore how we support positive self-esteem in our kids and ourselves. It’s gets pretty emotional but well worth a listen for anyone supporting kids or finding it tough themselves.
In the wise word of Dutch “stick around” for this one. We answer questions about the how, why, when and where of pretend play these week. We loved making and we hope it helps guide you into pretend play with the kids you care for.
Pretend play is lots of fun but it’s also a really important part of childhood. Play allows us to fine tune our development and learn skills that will ensure we succeed in life and against the predator!! We hope you enjoy this episode as we certainly did.
We’ve taken your questions about kids who grow up too fast and distilled them into what Nick calls “The Big 4”. We talk about preventing kids growing up too fast, do kids need tough times, how to help kids that have grown up too fast and what steps to take if you feel like you may have missed steps yourself.
Growing up too fast can have a negative impact on many aspects of child development and mental health. Trauma, unrealistic expectations and a lack of opportunity with guidance are some of the risk factors for the kids we support, and for William Wallace. Many of us have also had to grow up too fast and we hope this episode helps to understand and approach this tough topic.
Amazing questions this week! We spoke about supporting language development in younger and older kids, dummies, swearing, academic concerns and selective mutism. We’re gonna try to get to the other questions on Instagram too as we ran out of time!! Thanks for sending them in and hope you enjoy!
Language development is so much more than learning how to talk. In fact that isn’t even the first step!!! This week Nick and Billy discuss the timeless classic Dirty Dancing & our role as instructors in teaching our children about language.
This week we reflect on last weeks chat about depression and answer your amazing questions. We talk about our role as parents, prevention, the details of therapy and medication and kids who won’t engage. Thanks for sharing your journey!!
Depression is more than feeling sad or low. It is a destructive mental illness that causes so much heartache and suffering in our communities. It is essential that we all understand depression to make sure we see and support those who are fighting against it. This week Nick and Billy chat about what is behind depression, how it presents in our kids and what we can do about it. We also learn about depression from the wonderful characters of the 80s fantasy classic - The Neverending Story!!
In our follow up screen time we spoke about what kids watch on screens, different types of screen use, talking to kids about screens, strategies for screens and how to get grandparents in the same page. We especially loved people sharing their honest experiences with screens and a special shout out to those with broken TVs and remotes 😂
Screen time causes so much stress and guilt for families and feels like a new phenomenon. This week Nick shines (as always) with his honest and practical experience with screens, while Dr Billy delivers practical strategies and evidence back learning
So many great questions from listeners about bullying this week. We talk about figuring out if it’s bullying or just fun between mates, at what age should we start talking about bullying, safe and healthy responses, sticking up for other kids, what to do if our kid is the bully and what schools can do. All of this plus a bonus question from Nick!
Bullying can be one of the most devastating experiences for kids to go through and sadly too many go through this trauma, often alone. As parents and professionals supporting children and teenagers it is really important we talk to our kids about bullying to protect them from it’s destructive impact. In this episode Nick and Billy use Back to the Future to discuss Bullying and how best to support all kids when it occurs (even if they're doing the bullying)
So many amazing questions this week about kids who can’t focus and ADHD. We cover how to talk to kids about it, emotional difficulties, the stigma, medication, education approaches and so much more! Thank you to all who guided us this week and we hope it helps you in guiding the kids you care for.
Lots of kids can’t focus for many different reasons. ADHD is a common cause with 7% of Aussie kids aged 4 to 17 years of age having the condition. Difficulties with attention, hyperactivity and impulsivity can have huge impacts on not only learning but also relationships and self esteem. This week Nick and Billy chat about how we support all kids to develop the skills required to succeed when they need to focus and control their impulses.
Huge contribution this week from listeners sharing their challenges and wisdom with grief and death. Part 2 is truely guided by loved experience thanks to one courageous and generous parents. Tough but important stuff for us and our kids.
Grief can be really tough for us and our kids. This week Nick and Billy talk about loss (a death, a relationship, your own independence) and how we can help our kids navigate this challenging experience.
Dozens of questions from listeners for part 2 of 'the power of friendship' episode. We consolidated down to 9 questions in total, including dealing with undesirable friendships, exclusion, shyness and some more complicated questions.
Genuine friendships are one of the most protective factors for our kids through out their entire lives. Billy and Nick use Dumb & Dumber to frame how to build good opportunities for kids to develop strong friendships and if kids are struggling to develop them, then how we bring them back.
Anxiety is the most common mental health illness in kids, but it can also be the most difficult one to pin point. In episode 30 of our series we answer listeners questions about how to manage performance anxiety, support kids as they're spiralling and develop tactics to help them through
Anxiety is the MOST common mental illness in kids, particularly after a pandemic. We dont focus a lot on sharks, but on more common things kids have a fear of (dogs, tigers, school, etc).
Part 2 of 'Breaking bad habits' gives people practical tips to create good habits with their kids, break the bad ones and also provides support to parents whos kids have a bit more going to create good habits. Here are the specific questions Dr Billy answers: 1. How do we build good habits about exercise, sleep, diet, money? 2. How to deal with bad habits pulling hair, picking skin, biting nails, screens.? 3. How to approach habits in children with neurodevelopmental or mental health concerns?
Want to know how to form good habits with your kids? Or maybe you want to get rid of some bad ones? Dr Billy helps us understand how good habits are formed and how you can instill them with your kids in some easy steps. Enjoy
"How you like them apples?" Part 2 of 'our role in kids resilience' is JAM PACKED with more than 10 questions from parents, professionals and 'fans'(lol). Dr Billy and Bec are direct in their responses and build on their answers with one another to make sure you get what you need on advice to help build kids resilience.
Our very first guest and what a way to celebrate episode 25 Good Will Hunting & our role in building kids' resilience! Bec Harris brings a wealth of knowledge about why and how we set our kids up to get through the tough times. Please send in your questions as Bec is going to join us next week to help answer them. To learn more about Bec and her work please visit traumainformedpractice.com.au
AMAZING questions from listeners makes for a fun episode. Dr Billy talks about the link between imaginative play with developing empathy in children.
Who knew Imaginary Friends and Empathy would be so closely linked? Dr Billy takes us on a journey this week and talks about the history and benefits of imaginary friends with the help of a little alien named E.T.
Nick and Billy share their stories about their own mental health and discuss how we can look after ourselves and those around us
Who could forget 'Big' (1988) with Tom Hanks? He received an Academy Award nomination for best actor, but now he'll truly be immortalised as we selected this film in Episode 21: Big + parental mental health. Now live on all podcast platforms.
In episode 20 Dr Billy tells you how to get kids to sleep and keep them asleep. The team gets deep into the evidence about kids who won’t sleep to address the many amazing questions that came in. Please enjoy and let us know what you think.
