The Best Time to Set a Routine is Before You Need it
A back-to-school starter kit to help this year’s goals actually stick
The Messy Middle by Belay Guidance
Welcome to The Messy Middle! Where the team from Belay Guidance grapples with parenting-life’s real questions and offers reliable answers grounded in science and decades of clinical practice.
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Latest episodes
Morning Routines: Simplify the Start to Your Day
A simple system for getting out the door without all the chaos
The Power of Routines: How Structure Helps All Kids Thrive
The reason routines work and what predictability does for your child's brain
After School Hustle: Creating Routine that Works
A simple, adaptable routine that brings predictability to the most unpredictable part of the day
Back to School, Back to Brave
What a wise teacher taught me about walking kids through fear, not around it.
Don't Let Fear Make the Decision
Helping your child tell the difference between 'I don't like this' and 'I'm scared I'm not good at this"
When Goodbyes Make Them Cry
A simple ritual can turn separation anxiety into separation confidence
Can we do more, than just make it through?
What Noah Kahan, a stack of clinical research and a stranger's question have in common
Validating in an Angry Moment
Would you want someone talking to you right now?
Why your "no" is doing more good work than you think
The life skills your child builds every time you hold a boundary
The Difference Between Response, and Reaction
Dr. Linda Pak Bruner on the pause that changes everything
When Validating Backfires
Why naming your child's feelings for them can make things worse and what to say instead
Whew, turns out perfect was a bad idea
A recent study on perfectionism and kids' mental health and what it means for us as parents, flaws and all.
Brave enough to try. Confident enough to stick with it.
The developmental stage behind a pre-teen's confidence (or lack of it) and the three things that shape how it goes
Why Kids Don't Need a Flawless Parent
How consistency most of the time beats perfect parenting every time and what to do when you lose your cool
The Case for Less Serious Parenting
Dr. Linda Pak Bruner on the phrase that used to annoy her and why it's become her favorite thing to tell overwhelmed parents.
Finding Freedom in Imperfection
The encouragement we all need when we mess up
Giving Your Child Permission to Struggle
A common practice that accidentally teaches a child to stop sharing
Simple Tips for Effective Praise
What the research says about how to actually build confidence
Is it Hyperactivity or Sensory Sensitivity?
Two very different causes can look almost identical on the outside