You’re listening to Voices of Your Village, and today we’re talking about those spicy ones. The kids who are big in personality, big in emotion, and big in challenging parents. Maybe you're raising one—or maybe you were one. I’m joined by parenting coach and author Mary Van Geffen, whose book Parenting a Spicy One is part memoir, part survival guide, and completely validating for the parents who feel like they’re doing everything “right” and still getting steamrolled by meltdowns, back talk, and constant negotiating.

We talk about what it actually looks like to parent a strong-willed child, why traditional discipline often backfires, and how to stay connected even when your kid is pushin...

Alyssa: [00:00:00] You're listening to Voices Of Your Village, and today's episode is one so many of you have asked for how to navigate the rocky transition back to school after the holidays, and not just for our kids, but for ourselves too. I'm joined by my friend Laura Petix, also known as The OT Butterfly. She's a pediatric occupational therapist, a neurodivergent mom raising a neurodivergent kid, and the author of a kid's book about neurodiversity. This convo is a mix of validation, strategy, and yep, me too moments you're going to want to come back to. We talk about how to actually support regulation in those first few weeks back, whether your kid is a sensory seeker or sensory se...

00:00:00    Alyssa 

You're listening to Voices of Your Village, and I got to hang out with an OT that I adore, Madeha Ayub. We got to dive into what the roots of behaviors can be and how our nervous system and our sensory systems can play a role. Madeha was born and raised in the heart of New York City. She's currently residing in Central New Jersey with her husband and two adventurous little humans, both under the age of four. She gets it, she's in it with us. She's been working as a pediatric OT for about eight years and the first five years primarily in school settings before switching to home health OT. She understands the need to identify and support sensory challenges in the sch...

00:00:00    Alyssa

You're listening to Voices of Your Village, and today we get to dive into all of those big feelings that are coming up in this back -to -school time. We get to chat about something called restraint collapse, where kids restrain everything and kind of hold it in throughout the day, and then they collapse and let it all out with us. This is a doozy when they're navigating something new and hard, like back -to -school. It's like it's starting a new job or moving to a new house or any big life change where your brain is trying to figure out all the newness and what it means and it's exhausting. And so then we have these big meltdowns and feelings about things that typic...

00:00:00    Alyssa

You're listening to Voices of Your Village. And today, I got to hang out with Maria Davis-Pierre to chat about Black families who are navigating autism diagnoses and what that Black side of autism looks like, both within the Black community and outside of the Black community. Maria graduated from Florida State University with a Bachelor's of Science in Sociology and went on to obtain a Master's of Science in Mental Health Counseling from Nova Southeastern University. As a licensed mental health therapist, Maria primarily works with Black parents to provide support through education and advocacy training. Her passion for working in the field stems from her personal j...

00:00:00    Alyssa

You're listening to Voices of Your Village, and today I have such a special guest for you. I got to hang out with Dr. Stephen Nowicki. He is a professor of psychology at Emory University, and he has served as the director of clinical training, head of the psychological center, and head of the counseling center. Dr. Nowicki remains in active clinical practice as a diplomat in psychology, and let me tell you, he is a gem. His latest book, Raising a Socially Successful Child: Teaching Kids the Nonverbal Language They Need to Communicate, Connect, and Thrive, is so good, and we had such a rich discussion. Honestly, the only thing I wish I had was more time. I could have...

00:00:00    Alyssa

You're listening to Voices of Your Village, and I got to hang out with Kelley Coleman. She is the author of Everything No One Tells You About Parenting a Disabled Child. Kelley is a feature film development executive turned author and a passionate advocate for parents and caregivers and individuals with disabilities. She is the parent of two amazing boys, one of whom has multiple disabilities, and her book, Everything No One Tells You About Parenting a Disabled Child draws upon over a decade of advocacy with candor, humor, and relatability earned in her prior career of writing and developing talking animal movies. She was recently named best mom ever by her two d...

00:00:00    Alyssa 

You're listening to Voices of Your Village and today Monica Packer and I got to dive into how to create habits when you're drained and overwhelmed. For me, when it comes to habits, it can feel like, okay, I'm going to do this thing and then I go all in on something and then it feels really overwhelming and it doesn't continue. Or I look at it and I'm like, oh, that sounds great and I'm so spent or beyond my bandwidth that I cannot add another thing in. Even if my current system isn't working, that sometimes even accessing the bandwidth for change feels overwhelming and hard. I love that Monica has broken down specific steps, ways to form habits with little time, lo...

00:00:00    Alyssa

You're listening to Voices of Your Village. This is episode 263. Y 'all know I love hanging out with an OT, an Occupational Therapist, and today I got to hang out with OT Julia Ieslin to talk about high energy kiddos. We are diving into what it looks like to support those sensory seekers who have a lot of energy, and trying to meet those needs-- and what does that look like? How do we do that as an adult? How do we do that in families of multiples or in a classroom setting when you can't give one-to-one attention? It can be exhausting. I loved getting to team up with Julia for this episode and I'm so jazzed to get to bring it to you. I don't think this is a conversa...

00:00:01    Alyssa

You're listening to Voices of Your Village and boy, do I have a banger of an episode for you today. I got to hang out with Eli Harwood. She is such a dreamboat. Her Instagram handle, @attachmentnerd, if you're not following already, is a gem. And she wrote the book, Securely Attached. Y 'all, attachment is at the root of how we show up in this world. There is a whole section in Tiny Humans Big Emotions about it because we can't talk about how we interact with kids without talking about attachment, and Eli has an entire book on it and my favorite part of this is that it's a workbook- so she guides you through figuring out what your attachment style is and what's coming ...