What a treat - an interview with the great Sally Donovan, author, blogger, editor and adoptive parent. If you haven't read any of Sally Donovan's books, I urge you to look them up and buy them.....NOW!  Here she talks more about her newest book, The Strange and Curious Guide to Trauma.  It's aimed at kids between 8 and 12 years old to help them understand what trauma is and how it can affect us all. It was launched on 21st March 2022 and is now available in all good book stores. Enjoy! Trauma, neurodevelopmental trauma, adoption, adoptive parents, adoptive parenting, special needs, additional needs, attachment disorder, PTSD, therapeutic parenting

Does your child try and control you?  How does that feel for you?  In this episode, we try and dig out the root causes of controlling behaviours in kids and find phrases that we can use to help respond empathically to them to help them manage and make sense of those behaviours as they mature.

Sometimes, kids who display behaviours such as emotional or physical shut down or who like to hide away don't get as much airtime as those who display big behaviours such as anger or rage.  But let's not ignore these behaviours - they are still a sign of struggle.  Let's look at what we can say to kids in shut down or who are hiding away and how our words and actions can help them.

How do you deal with lies?  They're hard to accept and understand.  But how you respond to your lying fizzy kid may help them learn to not lie in the future.  

Why do fizzy kids get hyperactive?  And what can we say and do for them in those moments to help them re-regulate? Join me as we look beyond the behaviours and find phrases and strategies to help our hyperactive kids.

We're not shying away from difficult topics this season - in this podcast we find language that can help in situations where your child may be hitting or hurting you and/or others.  We explore phrases that may help during an incident, after an incident and also language to use with siblings who are witnessing these difficult moments.

We're back!  Season 3 kicks off with a reminder of how what we say, and how we say it, can dramatically improve your family dynamics.  Because we learn to use language and phrases that either prevents our kids going in to their primary brain and survival mode OR helps them come out of survival mode a bit quicker. I tell you a little bit about our family story and how we ended up with idea of re-learning our parenting language. And there's a great bit of feedback from a lovely follower who shares her experience of using a different language approach to help her autistic son. parenting parenting advice special needs parenting special needs mum special needs dad special needs family parenting differently respectful parenting responsive parenting mindful parenting intentional parenting curious parenting special needs autism reactive attachment disorder sensory processing disorder post traumatic stress disorder dyspraxia dyslexia adhd

Well folks, it's been a pleasure to start this podcasting journey with you!  We finish off this first Season with an 11 step checklist to help think about not just what you say to your fizzy kids (your ALL NEW SPARKLY parenting language!) but also how to say it. Join Ali as she goes through a checklist that has helped her remember the importance of noticing her own feelings, the body language she uses with her kids and the power of silence and walking away.   We are at the end of the first season of FizzyKids: The Podcast where we have been sharing our journey to re-learn our parenting language and skills in order to help become the parents our kids need us to be.  Fizzy kids (those taking longer to learn to manage their big feelings or those with hidden disabilities) find it so much harder to express their feelings without displaying big behaviours; but how we talk to our kids has a huge impact on how a family and household can function. We are aiming to be back in early 2021 with a new Season where we chew the cud with parents, carers and professionals who work with fizzy kids - and some may even have been fizzy kids themselves... Thanks for all your support and feedback so far! Learning to parent, parenting podcast, special needs, additional needs, mindful parenting, responsive parenting, gentle parenting, intentional parenting, positive parenting, attachment parenting, parenting advice, parenting differently, how to parent, autism, learning difficulties, special needs parents, new parenting approaches, parenting language, special needs mum, special needs dad.

Guilt is thinking you have done something bad; shame is thinking you are bad.  In this epsiode we discuss the impact that shame can have on fizzy kids, and how we as parents and carers can unintentionally induce a sense of shame in our kids. Shame is such a powerful emotion and what we say and how we say it to our kids can add shame into our families and households.  Join Ali as she shares ideas and phrases that can help create a SHAME FREE ZONE in your homes. We are nearing the end of the first season of FizzyKids: The Podcast where we have been sharing our journey to re-learn our parenting language and skills in order to help become the parents our kids need us to be.  Fizzy kids (those taking longer to learn to manage their big feelings or those with hidden disabilities) find it so much harder to express their feelings without displaying big behaviours; but how we talk to our kids has a huge impact on how a family and household can function. We have spent time in this first season thinking about our language for the Angry Child and Rude Child, and the final episode will cover a Checklist to help re-learn our parenting language. Thanks for all your support and feedback so far! Learning to parent, parenting podcast, special needs, additional needs, mindful parenting, responsive parenting, gentle parenting, intentional parenting, positive parenting, attachment parenting, parenting advice, parenting differently, how to parent, autism, learning difficulties, special needs parents, new parenting approaches, parenting language, special needs mum, special needs dad.

Anger masks fear; rudeness masks fear; over-confidence masks fear; hiding away masks fear. Identifying anxiety in our kids is such a hard task because it can be masked by many other emotions and behaviours; but how we draw out and talk to the anxiety is key in helping our kids to learn to manage their big feelings (and resulting big behaviours) around anxiety.  We may not be able to stop them feeling anxious, but we can help them find ways to talk about their worries and fears without making them feel ashamed or embarrassed about them. We are half way through the first season of FizzyKids: The Podcast where we have been sharing our journey to re-learn our parenting language and skills in order to help become the parents our kids need us to be.  Fizzy kids (those taking longer to learn to manage their big feelings or those with hidden disabilities) find it so much harder to express their feelings without displaying big behaviours; but how we talk to our kids has a huge impact on how a family and household can function.   We have spent time in this first season thinking about our language for the Angry Child and Rude Child, and further episodes will cover The Ashamed Child and a Checklist to help re-learn our parenting language. Thanks for all your support and feedback so far! Learning to parent, parenting podcast, special needs, additional needs, mindful parenting, responsive parenting, gentle parenting, intentional parenting, positive parenting, attachment parenting, parenting advice, parenting differently, how to parent, autism, learning difficulties, special needs parents, new parenting approaches, parenting language, special needs mum, special needs dad.