[00:00:00] Alyssa: You're listening to Voices of Your Village, and today's episode is such a treat. I get to sit down with my friend, Ash Brandin, educator, researcher, author of the new book, Power On, to talk all things screen time, video games, and what it really means to raise emotionally regulated kids in a digital world.

[00:00:19] Ash brings so much nuance and compassion to this conversation. We go beyond the usual screen time debates and dig into what screens are doing for our kids, how we can shift power struggles into collaboration, and how regulation-- not restriction is the key. Ash is phenomenal, and I highly recommend following them over on Instagram at the Gamer Educato...

Disclaimer: This transcript was generated with the help of AI and may contain minor errors or inconsistencies. Please refer to the audio for the most accurate representation of the conversation.

[00:00:00] Alyssa: You're listening to Voices of Your Village, and this episode was such a blast. We posted in stories on Instagram @seed.and.sew asking for your questions for Rach and I, and just did a full just q and a, pulled some questions directly from you to dive into, to answer, and it was a blast, so we're for sure gonna do that again.

[00:00:23] Make sure you're following along @seed.and.sew, also, if you're not following on your podcast app that you tune into, make sure you hit follow....

Before we dive in: this episode includes discussion of severe car accident injuries. Please take care while listening.

Disclaimer: This transcript was generated with the help of AI and may contain minor errors or inconsistencies. Please refer to the audio for the most accurate representation of the conversation.

 [00:00:00] Alyssa: You're listening to Voices of Your Village, and today I got to chat about Car Seat Confidence with Michelle Pratt from Safe in the Seat. I have followed Michelle for so long and she has been so helpful for me in my journey as a parent. Safe in the Seat is every overwhelmed and anxious parents' go-to resource for Car Seat Safety. As a mom and nationally certif...

Disclaimer: This transcript was generated with the help of AI and may contain minor errors or inconsistencies. Please refer to the audio for the most accurate representation of the conversation.

[00:00:00] Alyssa: You're listening to Voices of Your Village, and today I got to hang out with Dr. Cathryn to chat about some of my favorite humans. We got to dive into toddlers. Dr. Cathryn has over 35 years of experience as a pediatrician and mother of four, and the founder of Healthiest Baby with 1.2 million followers over on Instagram.

[00:00:21] Dr. Cathryn has dedicated her career to raising emotionally strong and happy kids. She's the author of three parenting books and the host of To...

0:00:00    Alyssa

You're listening to Voices of Your Village, and today we're bringing back a conversation that resonated with so many of you. In this episode, I'm hanging out with Libby Ward. You might know her as Diary of an Honest Mom. Libby is a digital creator, speaker, and mental health advocate with a deep commitment to changing the motherhood narrative. She's been featured on Good Morning America, The Tamron Hall Show, BBC, and more. Truly a thought leader when it comes to navigating the complex mental health experiences that so many moms face today. What I love so much about Libby is how genuinely she shows up. We hear the word authenticity quite a bit these days, but Libby trul...

 0:00:00    Alyssa

You're listening to Voices of Your Village, and in this episode, Rach and I chatted all about when kids are saying like rude things to you, those hurtful phrases that really dig deep, things like, you're stupid and all that jazz, you're the worst mom in the world. We also have way more about this in our book, Big Kids, Bigger Feelings, publishing in the fall of 2025. Snag that bad boy wherever books are sold. It is going to be packed full of stuff for navigating the elementary years that like kindergarten to fifth grade range, where we know a lot of these phrases. You're like, where did my sweet little human go? And why are they saying these rude things now? We've got ...

00:00:00    Alyssa

You're listening to Voices of Your Village, and today we are sharing one of my favorite episodes that I've done that just feels so appropriate in this season, where we get to talk about decluttering your holiday shoulds. We aired this last year with Rachel Nielsen from 3 and 30 Takeaways for Moms podcast. I have been on her podcast before as well, if you wanna check that out. This episode, she joined me and we are re -airing it today and adding in the breakdown with Rach and I at the end. We have heard from so many of you that you're loving the breakdowns. They're so fun for us too, to take these conversations with experts and really look at what does it look like in ...

00:00:00    Alyssa

You're listening to Voices of Your Village, and today I get to bring a special guest to you, someone I have followed online for a long time, and it was lovely to get to chat with. We get to hang out with Ralphie Jacobs from Simply on Purpose. Ralphie lives in Austin, Texas with her husband and their four daughters. As an early childhood education expert, Ralphie quickly learned that the best way to impact a child's life for good is to teach parents. She founded Simply on Purpose where she's built a community of over 650 ,000 families and writes about parenting, family culture, and living with purpose. Her audio course has changed thousands of homes and she travels a...

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 get to dive into punishment -free parenting with Jon Fogel. He's a parenting educator and soon -to -be author who operates under the moniker Whole Parent on social media where he has over 1 million followers across multiple platforms. As Whole Parent, Jon offers a unique perspective on parenting grounded in evidence -based research in areas of child development, adolescent psychology, and basic neuroscience, which synthesizes strategies from the worlds of cognitive behavioral therapy, general counseling, and even contemplative meditation to help parents manage problematic behaviors and grow deeper in their rela...