S4E6: Eat! Please!

Brenna Thompson joins for this episode and brings her expertise as a nutritionist and a mom. Brenna teaches us the difference between picky eating and Avoidant restrictive food intake disorder or ARFID. Most parents will struggle with picky eating. We learned that some high sensory kids are afraid of eating! A facinating and informative conversation you won't want to miss.

Back to school is often an exciting time for kids because they get to see their friends, get new school supplies and sometimes clothes, meet new teachers, and get a fresh start. Then, there is after back to school. For some kids, the "honeymoon phase" of back to school can be very short lived and for other kids, it can be weeks or months before they get school fatigue and need a break. We talk about what to do when back to school excitement wears off.

Learn along with us when Dr. Shannon Goeke-Watson joins Rich and Dr. Bostwick to discuss the difficulties of parenting through domestic violence. Dr. Goeke-Watson is a specialist whose practice focuses on families experiencing domestic and/or sexual abuse. She explains how families enter into her care, how parents start the process of protection and how trauma therapy begins for parent and child. Difficult but important material.

How can kids be expected to behave or correct their behavior if bad behavior is a result of a medical condition? In this episode Dr. Bostwick discusses the top 7 medical problems that cause behavior problems in children and cause her to ask parents to see their pediatricians first.

Trichotillomania is a compulisve desire to pull out one's hair. Dr. Bostwick compassionately discusses what is often an embarrassing compulsion that often starts in young children with high sensory needs, when hormones shift in middle school, or during the stress of adolescence. It's one of the "hidden" problems of childhood and is often accompanied by pica.

It's hard being a dad, or father figure! Dr. Bostwick knows a little bit about being the figure of a father but has talked to thousands of father figures, dads, grandpas, mentors, uncles, aunts, and many others who take on the role of what we think of as a traditional fathers. So complex, but we give it a try.

The final episode of any season is always episode 13 celebrating all things quirky, spooky, or just strange. Episode 13 of season three is a lighthearted discussion about superstitions that we often just accept about being a kid. Did you avoid stepping on cracks? Does teaching or participating in superstitions with our kids hurt them, help them, does it matter? As usual, it's all in the presentation.

Past affects future. In this episode Dr. Bostwick and Rich discuss why it's important and the conscious effort it takes to keep good parenting practices and leave behind harmful or even traumatic parenting practices used by past generations.

Sometimes, the hardest part of parenting a child who is scared is managing our own fear as parents. In this episode Dr. Bostwick discusses childhood fears: when they are typical and when to get additional guidance.

When kids don't sleep, entire households can be disrupted. In this episode, Dr. Bostwick discusses sleep hygiene, sleep and ADHD, and when to get help when your child won't sleep.