EVERYONE Has A Watchdog And Possum Brain! {EP 178}


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Believe it or not, we don’t want to get rid of our kids’ watchdog and possum brains!

We want to help their watchdog and possum brain rest so they aren’t working so hard.

Their watchdog and possum brains are overworked and overactive.

In this episode, you’ll learn

  • Why we must remember that everyone has a watchdog and possum brain
  • How gratitude and acceptance of the watchdog and possum brain strengthens the owl brain
  • We don’t want to get rid of our children’s Wa1tchdog and Possum brains- we want to help them rest

Resources Mentioned on the Podcast

Listen on the Podcast

This blog is a short summary of a longer episode on The Baffling Behavior Show podcast.

Find The Baffling Behavior Show podcast on Apple Podcast, Google, Spotify, or in your favorite podcast app.

Or, you can read the entire transcript of the episode by scrolling down and clicking ‘transcript.’

Robyn

Author of National Best Selling Book (including audiobook) Raising Kids with Big, Baffling Behaviors: Brain-Body-Sensory Strategies that Really Work

/by

Why Possums Sometimes Become Watchdogs {EP 177}


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When I work with parents whose child spends a lot of time on the possum pathway, I warn them that sometimes possum kids become watchdog kids before the finally have a nice, strong owl brain.

Because watchdog behaviors are often more intense and scarier than possum behaviors, this can feel like your child is ‘getting worse.’

It’s actually a sign of healing, and here’s why!

In this episode, you’ll learn

  • Why kids who have a lot of possum behavior can sometimes become kids who have a lot of watchdog behavior
  • Why this phenomenon usually means there is progress and healing happening
  • Why do sometimes kids move from Possum behaviors to Owl behaviors without having Watchdog behaviors

Listen on the Podcast

This blog is a short summary of a longer episode on The Baffling Behavior Show podcast.

Find The Baffling Behavior Show podcast on Apple Podcast, Google, Spotify, or in your favorite podcast app.

Or, you can read the entire transcript of the episode by scrolling down and clicking ‘transcript.’

Robyn

Author of National Best Selling Book (including audiobook) Raising Kids with Big, Baffling Behaviors: Brain-Body-Sensory Strategies that Really Work

/by

Feel Better, Even If Nothing Changes {EP 176}


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Is it possible to feel better even if your child’s behavior doesn’t change?

Even if the stress doesn’t change?

Theoretically, yes.

Your chronic watchdog or possum state means you are in chronic protection mode. Is it possible to shift out of protection mode before the chaos in your life changes?

That’s exactly what we address in today’s episode!

In this episode, you’ll learn

  • The two different paths you can take to feel better (come out of protection mode) even if the chaos in your life never changes
  • The neuroscience behind how connection and co-regulation (for you!) becomes twice as important for your ability to stay more regulated even when things are really hard
  • Resources to help you feel better (shift out of protection) that you can do by yourself, as well as resources that are based in connection and co-regulation

Resources Mentioned on the Podcast

Listen on the Podcast

This blog is a short summary of a longer episode on The Baffling Behavior Show podcast.

Find The Baffling Behavior Show podcast on Apple Podcast, Google, Spotify, or in your favorite podcast app.

Or, you can read the entire transcript of the episode by scrolling down and clicking ‘transcript.’

Robyn

Author of National Best Selling Book (including audiobook) Raising Kids with Big, Baffling Behaviors: Brain-Body-Sensory Strategies that Really Work

/by

Secure Relating with Guests Sue & Ann from Therapist Uncensored {EP 175}


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Settle in for a fun and inspiring chat with hosts from Therapist Uncensored and authors of the new release Secure Relating, Sue Marriott & Ann Kelley.

In this episode, you’ll learn

  • How responding to our children’s (and partner’s) needs in the present moment, instead of from a place of anxious or avoidant states, can improve our relationships
  • About the intersection of attachment and trauma in our systems of care- like the child welfare and mental health systems
  • How much hope there is when we shift to looking at attachment in the here and now instead of based on our histories

Resources Mentioned on the Podcast

  • Resources mentioned in the podcast go here

Listen on the Podcast

This blog is a short summary of a longer episode on The Baffling Behavior Show podcast.

Find The Baffling Behavior Show podcast on Apple Podcast, Google, Spotify, or in your favorite podcast app.

Or, you can read the entire transcript of the episode by scrolling down and clicking ‘transcript.’

Robyn

Author of National Best Selling Book (including audiobook) Raising Kids with Big, Baffling Behaviors: Brain-Body-Sensory Strategies that Really Work

/by

When It’s Hard To Keep Offering Connection {EP 174}


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I’m sure you’ve had moments (days, weeks, months) where it felt hard, maybe even impossible, to keep offering connection to your child.

It is hard to offer connection to someone who seems to constantly reject it!

If it feels hard to keep offering your child connection, I actually want you to shift your focus. Don’t prioritize offering connection to your child. Instead think about:

  • Who can offer YOU connection?
  • How can you offer connection to yourself?
  • Who could you offer connection to who is able to receive it, and offer connection back?

You’ll also learn how glitter boots are related to giving and receiving connection! Resources Mentioned on the Podcast

  • Resources mentioned in the podcast go here

Listen on the Podcast

This blog is a short summary of a longer episode on The Baffling Behavior Show podcast.

Find The Baffling Behavior Show podcast on Apple Podcast, Google, Spotify, or in your favorite podcast app.

Or, you can read the entire transcript of the episode by scrolling down and clicking ‘transcript.’

Robyn

Author of National Best Selling Book (including audiobook) Raising Kids with Big, Baffling Behaviors: Brain-Body-Sensory Strategies that Really Work

/by

Are Connected Kids Always Cooperative? {EP 173}


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If regulated, connected kids who feel safe do well, does that mean connected kids are always cooperative?

Definitely not! In fact, there’s a level of connection to others- and to themselves! – that invites in the safety to be UNcooperative!

In this episode, you’ll learn

  • How safety can invite both cooperative and UNcooperative behavior
  • Why too much cooperative would actually be a bad thing
  • How parenting with co-regulation and connection helps kids become more connected to themselves

Resources Mentioned on the Podcast

  • Resources mentioned in the podcast go here

Listen on the Podcast

This blog is a short summary of a longer episode on The Baffling Behavior Show podcast.

Find The Baffling Behavior Show podcast on Apple Podcast, Google, Spotify, or in your favorite podcast app.

Or, you can read the entire transcript of the episode by scrolling down and clicking ‘transcript.’

Robyn

Author of National Best Selling Book (including audiobook) Raising Kids with Big, Baffling Behaviors: Brain-Body-Sensory Strategies that Really Work

/by

What Does It Mean To ‘Heal’? {EP 172}


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The question of ‘can I heal’ or ‘can my child heal’ or ‘how do I (or my child) heal’ is a tricky one. 

Healing is a word that gets used a lot without really pausing to ask ourselves what it actually means. 

If we are aiming for a nebulous goal that hasn’t been defined, it will feel impossible to reach. Impossible tasks often feel hopeless.

In this episode, you’ll learn

  • Why it’s most useful to stay focused on widening our window of stress tolerance
  • How co-regulation contributes to healing
  • How memory relates to trauma symptoms and healing

Resources Mentioned on the Podcast

  • Resources mentioned in the podcast go here

Listen on the Podcast

This blog is a short summary of a longer episode on The Baffling Behavior Show podcast.

Find The Baffling Behavior Show podcast on Apple Podcast, Google, Spotify, or in your favorite podcast app.

Or, you can read the entire transcript of the episode by scrolling down and clicking ‘transcript.’

Robyn

Author of National Best Selling Book (including audiobook) Raising Kids with Big, Baffling Behaviors: Brain-Body-Sensory Strategies that Really Work

/by

Living With Someone Chronically Dysregulated {EP 171}


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Do you live with someone or love someone who is chronically dysregulated?

This episode isn’t an episode that is going to tell you what to do.

This is an episode of commiseration. Of “I see you.”

It is exhausting to live with someone who is chronically unhappy, or chronically dysregulated. Knowing you’re not alone can help.

In this episode, you’ll learn

  • How nervous systems match each other
  • How we get our sense of safety from the state of each other’s nervous system
  • The serve & return and rhythms of relationship, and what happens when that gets disrupted 

Resources Mentioned on the Podcast

  • Resources mentioned in the podcast go here

Listen on the Podcast

This blog is a short summary of a longer episode on The Baffling Behavior Show podcast.

Find The Baffling Behavior Show podcast on Apple Podcast, Google, Spotify, or in your favorite podcast app.

Or, you can read the entire transcript of the episode by scrolling down and clicking ‘transcript.’

/by

Why Kids Act Better For Other People {EP 170}

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It’s very common for all humans- kids and adults- to have more behavior struggles and dysregulation. Kids with vulnerable nervous systems, as well as attachment trauma, are especially likely to demonstrate some confusing patterns with regard to where they are regulated and where they aren’t.

In this episode, you’ll learn

  • The neurobiology behind why it’s normal for kids (and adults) to behave better at school (or work or out shopping or wherever)
  • How the connections in a family could be the trigger for dysregulation
  • How all families tend to have moments that ebb and flow in dysregulation- this is normal

Resources Mentioned on the Podcast

  • Disorganized Attachment podcast
  • Stress Response Podcast
  • When Connection isn’t Safe podcast

Listen on the Podcast

This blog is a short summary of a longer episode on The Baffling Behavior Show podcast.

Find The Baffling Behavior Show podcast on Apple Podcast, Google, Spotify, or in your favorite podcast app.

Or, you can read the entire transcript of the episode by scrolling down and clicking ‘transcript.’

Robyn

Author of National Best Selling Book (including audiobook) Raising Kids with Big, Baffling Behaviors: Brain-Body-Sensory Strategies that Really Work

/by

The Privilege of Parenting With Safety {EP 169}


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Parenting with co-regulating and seeing below our kids behaviors is actually a privilege we rarely talk about. It’s always a privilege, but especially when we consider different marginalized and oppressed identities that a lot of kids- and those of you listening- intersectionally hold. 

In this episode, you’ll learn

  • The definition of privilege (it is NOT a criticism)
  • The privilege of safety for folks with histories of trauma
  • The privilege of safety for folks with other marginalized and oppressed identities
  • How this relates to parenting 

Resources mentioned in this podcast:

Listen on the Podcast

This blog is a short summary of a longer episode on The Baffling Behavior Show podcast.

Find The Baffling Behavior Show podcast on Apple Podcast, Google, Spotify, or in your favorite podcast app.

Or, you can read the entire transcript of the episode by scrolling down and clicking ‘transcript.’

Robyn

Author of National Best Selling Book (including audiobook) Raising Kids with Big, Baffling Behaviors: Brain-Body-Sensory Strategies that Really Work

/by

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