We all manage to be relatively productive during our daily life, putting one small task after another, one small step after another. But have you ever wondered how you actually learned how to do this?

Executive functioning is the ability to organize tasks in such a way as to accomplish goals, but how we do it can vary wildly from person to person. We see this especially in the ways our children approach homework, for example. One child can sit at a desk for hours doing their homework while another may need to sit on the floor, or even listen to show tunes!

Our guest today is Val Marsden Fitzhugh (she/her), founder and executive director of Next Level Learn (www.NYCLearn.com), who will help us unpack and understand exactly what Executive Functioning is and how do you know if your child has issues with it?

You’ll come away with a greater understanding of your child's learning style and why your brain is like a CEO (it’s probably not what you think.)

Understanding and leaning into your child’s executive functioning style sets them up for success, giving them skills to get through all of life's difficulties, not just school.

Summer’s coming up fast, so what’s it going to be for your kids? Summer job? Lazing around? Day camp? Sleep-away camp? TikTok and video games 24/7?

Even if your options are limited, a plan is always a good idea. Julie and Elizabeth talk about how to include your child in making plans for the summer and how you can help them benefit from the experience.

A fulfilling summer doesn’t have to cost money, just a little creativity on your part! Thinking outside of the box and avoiding rigidity will allow your children to have a positive growth experience during the summer.

For those families that do choose camp, we talk about the best ways to prepare your child for their summer experience and what to do if they absolutely HATE IT!!!!

For many families, the dinner table has become a war zone. Because there are so many emotions tied up in how we feel about food and eating, these feelings can mold your child’s relationship with food in ways that we never even suspected.

Counselor and parenting expert, Emilie Vogas M.Ed, discusses some of the common issues that come up around food including picky eating, over eating, eating disorders as well as the “rules” that govern how we approach mealtime (sitting at a table vs. in front of the television) or what kind of etiquette we observe (chewing with your mouth closed, etc.)

In order to pass on healthy eating habits it’s important for parents to examine their own relationship with food. Was it punitive? (“You can’t leave the table until you’ve finished everything on your plate.”) Shaming? (“There are starving children who would give anything to have what’s on your plate.”) Privileged? (Throwing a tantrum until mom makes you mac and cheese for the hundredth time.)

Ultimately, we want to acknowledge and respect our children’s autonomy over their own bodies without becoming a short order cook. It’s our job as parents to teach them (and model) how to have a healthy relationship with food and eating.

In the podcast we reference some resources you may want to check out.

If you are facing food insecurity, we encourage you to look up food assistance programs on your State’s website and look at the WIC program website or the Food Assistance website.

Table Topics (www.tabletopics.com/products)

These are conversation starters for family discussion that help keep you and your kids off of screens at mealtime. For those unable to afford these conversation decks, consult your local library for lists of conversation starters.

Emilie Vogas is available for private consultations and workshops:

1-646-241-7775

emilie@EmilieVogas.com

www.EmilieVogas.com

It’s no secret that children develop emotionally, intellectually and physically at different speeds. The part that often gets overlooked, however, is that we as parents are also continually growing and changing. All these transitions going on at the same time can lead to some occasional collisions. But is there a way to make these transitions smoother and create opportunities for connection instead of battlegrounds?

Julie and Elizabeth will reveal various techniques that parents can use to stay calm and effective during these family upheavals and how timing our responses increases our ability to teach the lessons we need to teach our children.

In this episode, Elizabeth Cohen and Julie Ross help you determine what feelings disarm you as an individual parent and, in turn, make you less effective in teaching, protecting and supporting your child. They will also give you tools to handle your feelings so that you can be the best parent you can be.

Also, Julie Ross opens up about how one four word sentence helped her handle her feelings and gave her the strength to support her own, grown daughter during a traumatic time in her daughter's life.

The world is full of people, especially on social media, telling your kids that they just aren’t good enough, that they should just “quit while they’re ahead.” But there are ways you can help your kids counter these negative thoughts and replace them a positive view of themselves and their potential.

In this episode we talk with “Coach” Kevin Baker, a certified Life Coach for Tweens and Teens about ways parents can help kids get over life limiting beliefs and improve the potential in their lives.

We’ll talk about how parents sometimes accidentally limit their children’s potential and ways to turn that pattern around by replacing communication blocks with curiosity. Using the same instincts that we have with babies we can lean in to what they are interested in and engage in what genuinely excites them .

By abandoning your preconceived expectations about what your child “should” be, you’ll learn the value of giving up trying to “control” your kid and instead opting for “influence.”

We tend to take speech for granted but some parents become anxious when their infants and toddlers don’t hit certain milestones. Realistically, when are these concerns founded and what can parents do to avoid the misinformation and bad advice from the internet?

In this episode we interview a speech-language pathologist Tala Hershey, M.S. CCC-SLP, TSSLD (https://www.hersheytherapypractice.com/) who gives us practical advice on how to look for and encourage realistic and appropriate speech milestones.

We’ll answer the questions:

Do we need to explicitly teach toddlers to speak? Isn’t it a skill that just develops organically or do parents actually need to focus on building speech and language? What’s the difference between Expressive vs. Receptive Language and Pragmatic skills?

Finally, we’ll address the WORST way to teach our toddlers to talk and whether to “reward” toddlers for saying certain words (and avoiding others.)

When it comes to drug and alcohol use, it’s very tempting as parents to put your head in the sand and say "Not my kid” but that strategy never works, even if your kid isn’t actively experimenting (yet.) Since the most important component of prevention is education, the first step for parents is to get educated and be honest with yourself.

In this episode we’ll talk about what you need to know as a parent to effectively communicate your values and concerns to your kids, without them shutting you down.

When do kids commonly start experimenting with drugs and alcohol? Should you start having conversations with your kids before then? How do you explain the difference between abstaining vs. postponing? We’ll talk about how to navigate denial (both yours and your child’s) and what are the pros and cons of using monitoring and tracking apps like Life360.

And with so much at stake, when is it okay to allow natural consequences and when should you step in?

This episode will give your practical advice on how to navigate this potential minefield, and keep your relationship with your kid intact.