Plenty of parents jumped for joy on October 7th when Pfizer asked the FDA to grant Emergency Use Authorization to give its COVID-19 vaccine to kids aged 5–11.
While the official EUA approval hasn't yet been announced, the timing of when kids can potentially get the vaccine has led many parent to wonder whether the COVID vaccine can be given with the flu shot, or if some sort of spacing is needed.
In this episode, I break down a recent study that gives us the answer!
Important links:
People seem to think that sleep problems are only for babies. The moment you bring your newborn home, people start asking "How much sleep are you getting?"—and the question is more annoying than the lack of sleep!
No one asks you that once you have a toddler or your kid's in school—and yet kids at these ages are often just as difficult to get to bed when they're supposed to.
Enter: My 6 tips for getting kids to bed on time.
This is an episode I've been asked to record for years, and I'm glad to be getting it out to you now—because we all need the sleep!
You can share the article & audio version of this episode by sharing this link: www.drstevesilvestro.com/135
A few items mentioned in this episode (purchasing through these links helps support The Child Repair Guide):
As part of the huge response to the last episode (thank you!) in which I broke down the new CDC guidelines on how vaccinated and unvaccinated people can mix, I received dozens of emails and Instgram messages from people asking questions about how the PB&J Method applies to their family's particular situation.
Many of those questions had common themes—and I bet those themes are questions you might have, as well.
In this episode, I present the latest data to answer those questions & help you navigate this new world where some people (adults!) are vaccinated and others (kids!) are not.
You can SHARE the article version of this episode here:
https://www.drstevesilvestro.com/134
You can BUY your own "Love Is Bigger" t-shirt or tote HERE:
Now that the COVID vaccine rollout is well under way around the world—and the light at the end of the tunnel is within grasp!—we're still left with one wrinkle:
How to handle gathering with family & friends when some people have gotten the vaccine and some haven't?
This is especially important for families, as kids aren't likely to be able to get the vaccine until this fall or even this winter.
I break down the CDC's guidelines, PLUS give you a super-simple way you can figure out what's safest for every possible situation: The Peanut Butter & Jelly Method.
Hear me out on this—it'll make total sense!
You can share this episode as both a podcast and and article by sharing this link: www.drstevesilvestro.com/133
***And for listeners of the podcast, a special coupon to take 20% off my Mindfulness for Parents Online Course! Use the coupon code PODCAST and sign up at www.drstevesilvestro.com/courses
I can't believe it, but The Child Repair Guide is celebrating a HUGE milestone!
And to celebrate, I've dug deep into the archives to share a topic that I know impacts almost every family. I've said before that my job as a pediatrician & host of this podcast is to not just make all the parenting missteps myself, but to research the solutions & share what I find with you.
Well, this one is a prime example!
If this episode strikes a chord with you, take a screenshot of your podcast player as you listen, post it to your Instagram story & tag me @zendocsteve!
You can share this episode by sharing the link drstevesilvestro.com/132
Hey, I designed a t-shirt! Get your 'Love Is Bigger' t-shirt right here!
With many areas approaching the dates and metrics they've set for reopening school—or back at school already—the question of schools' role in COVID spread has weighed heavily on many parents' minds.
Well, it turns out that 50% of kids in the U.S. have been at school in-person, in one form or another, since the fall—and the data is in.
I take a look at what we currently know, trying to tackle what has become an emotional topic for many, and shed some light on what we know works—and exactly what doesn't.
You can share this episode as both a podcast AND an article by sharing this link: drstevesilvestro.com/131
Find me on Instagram @zendocsteve
and on YouTube at youtube.com/drstevesilvestro
It goes without saying that the ability to manage stress and recover from trauma would certainly come in handy these days.
For parents, these skills of mental resilience are important even in “normal times,” as our kids learn how to handle challenges and stress by watching what we do in front of them. And yet the very act of being a parent—dealing with tantrums, poor sleep, questions about behavior and big decisions to make—is stressful in and of itself.
How can parents learn to manage stress in a healthy way that’s also good for their kids?
My guest in this episode has an answer. Elizabeth Stanley, PhD is Associate Professor of Security Studies at Georgetown University, a military veteran, author, and the creator of Mindfulness-Based Mind Fitness Training.
And in her most recent book, Widen the Window: Training Your Brain and Body to Thrive During Stress and Recover from Trauma, Dr. Stanley outlines a powerful approach to help you cope with stress, become less driven by compulsions and emotions, recover from trauma, and enhance your resilience so you can live a truly whole life once more. This is so useful for all of us as parents—especially right now—and arming our kids with these skills would be like giving them superpowers.
You can learn more about Dr. Stanley & her Mindfulness-based Mind Fitness Training—and see if you can take it for free—by visiting www.drstevesilvestro.com/130
We are finally here—the end of 2020 & the start of 2021!
But the truth is, we can’t walk into 2021 hoping to reset the clock back to what life was like in 2019. This year changed us—and we need to let its lessons sink in and choose how we want to use them to direct us as we move forward.
This episode explores how you can honestly assess what was good and bad, positive and painful for your family this year—and how to sort out new priorities for your family in the year ahead.
TAKE $25 OFF the Mindfulness for Parents Online Course with the code NEWYEAR—sign up at drstevesilvestro.com/courses and start your year off on the best foot possible!
If this episode resonates with you, SHARE it by sharing the link drstevesilvestro.com/129
This is a super-special & super-exciting episode!
At long last, vaccines against COVID-19 are being rolled out and administered. Parents have been asking me a host of questions, and I'm answering as many as I can right here.
This episode goes over everything we currently know about how this vaccine's new approach works, its effectiveness and safety, plus the little we know about it for kids and pregnant or breastfeeding moms.
Take a screenshot of your podcast player, post it to Instagram, and tag me @zendocsteve!
You can share this episode by sharing the link drstevesilvestro.com/128
Start the new year with the right mindset - Register for my Mindfulness for Parents Online Course here!
Perhaps the greatest challenge we all face as we grow up is finding our identity—figuring out who we are and who we want to become.
It’s no easy task—some of us adults (maybe even most of us?) are still trying to figure this out. But the challenge is even greater for cross-cultural kids & teens. Whether they’ve lived in several cultural environments, have parents whose cultures are different from that of where they live, or have multiple cultural backgrounds in their families—cross-cultural kids & teens have a wealth of ingredients mixed in together to create the recipe of who they are.
Their challenge is to figure out what that recipe becomes—and it’s the challenge of their parents to sort out how and how much to help them along the way.
My guest today is Dr. Anisha Abraham. As a physician, educator, and parent, Anisha helps teens to discover their strengths, focus on their wellbeing, and successfully navigate a changing world. In this conversation, we talk about tips from her new book, Raising Global Teens: Parenting in the 21st Century.
Get Dr. Abraham's book, Raising Global Teens: Parenting in the 21st Century right here.
Share this episode by sharing the link drstevesilvestro.com/127
This holiday season, everyone is asking the same questions:
“Can we find a way to get together with family? What if we all get tested first? Do we risk it?”
COVID is destined to throw a massive wrench in what is often a time of gathering together.
In this episode, I break down the risks + lay out some points to consider if you aim to make your family events safer.
Think of this episode as the “sex ed” of COVID holidays—I’d rather you didn’t do it at all, but since you might anyway, here’s how to potentially lower your risk!
You can find the shareable article version of this episode at www.drstevesilvestro.com/126
**This episode is sponsored by happyly. Happyly was created to help every parent feel like a super parent, with inspiration for activities and curated adventures near home or on the go. Take the pressure out of planning family adventures & download the free happyly app today.
It goes without saying that COVID has turned everything we know on its head.
This is equally true for almost all things parenting. Things we used to take for granted—like scheduling a playdate in a park or seeing family—now take on extra layers of awkwardness and caution. Is the other family on the same page precaution-wise as you? How to handle the requests from Grandma to come visit when you know Grandma thinks differently about what is & isn't safe?
Sarah Davis & Evie Granville are here with tips for handling all the awkward & uncomfortable situations of our brand new world. Their new book, Modern Manners for Moms & Dads: Practical Parenting Solutions for Sticky Social Situations, is packed with useful insights into modern parenting etiquette—and in this super-entertaining episode, they apply their approach to answer the questions we've all been asking.
Find all the shownotes for this episode here.
And get a copy of Evie & Sarah's book here.
**This episode is sponsored by happyly. Happyly was created to help every parent feel like a super parent, with inspiration for activities and curated adventures near home or on the go. Take the pressure out of planning family adventures & download the free happyly app today.
Hey, we’re all trying to do our best when feeding our kids healthy food.
And what might be your best effort right now may not be your best effort at some other time, or the same as someone else’s best effort—and that’s okay.
But what isn’t fair is when the cards are stacked against you—when things that have been marketed to us as “food” are really causing harm to us and to our kids.
The biggest, most prolific culprit? Sugar. It’s everywhere—but it’s not just in the places you’d expect. In the last several decades, sugar has silently found its way into so many foods we eat, many of which would surprise you. In fact, I recently shared a video on Instagram highlighting a fruit and chia cup that had 14 grams of sugar ADDED to the natural sugar already in the fruit. Nowadays, sugar is added to yogurt, tomato sauce, even the bread you use to make your kids’ sandwiches.
And this invasion of sugar into everything we eat isn’t without consequence. We see its effects in everything from the obesity epidemic to kids’ mood, behavior, and brain function. We’re even seeing problems like fatty liver disease pop up in children.
But there is hope.
In their new book, Sugarproof: The Hidden Dangers of Sugar That Are Putting Your Child’s Health at Risk and What You Can Do, Dr. Michael Goran and Dr. Emily Ventura paint not only the intimidating sugar-laden landscape of modern American diets, but also simple steps you can put into action with your family right now.
In this enlightening conversation, Drs. Goran and Ventura show you how to “Sugarproof” your kids.
**This episode is sponsored by happyly. Happyly was created to help every parent feel like a super parent, with inspiration for activities and curated adventures near home or on the go. Take the pressure out of planning family adventures & download the free happyly app today.
**Get your own "Happy Little Trees" Broccoli t-shirt here -- available in adult, kids, and baby sizes!
When a pediatric dietician has over 1 Million followers on Instagram, you know she's got amazing tips.
Jennifer Anderson is the brilliant mind behind @kids.eat.in.color, the wildly successful Instagram through which she helps families around the world develop healthy eating habits in their kids without battles.
And as you'll see in this interview, she's the real deal. We cover everything from picky eating and "one-bite rules," to kids who won’t sit still for a meal, snacking tips and concerns, how to get them to eat a variety, and how to talk about nutrition in a way that doesn’t develop problems later.
This episode is packed with useful tips & insights, and I'm so excited to share it with you!
**This episode is sponsored by happyly. Happyly was created to help every parent feel like a super parent, with inspiration for activities and curated adventures near home or on the go. Take the pressure out of planning family adventures & download the free happyly app today.
**Get your own "Happy Little Trees" Broccoli t-shirt here -- available in adult, kids, and baby sizes!
We’re about nine months into this pandemic—do you feel like you have a handle on how to tell if it’s getting better or worse? Do you have a sense of how to know when it’s OK for your family to “open up“ and start doing some things you’ve been holding back on?
If your answer either of those questions is “no,” you’re not alone. Absolutely. Not. Alone.
A huge part of the problem for the average person trying to tease out useful information is that it’s challenging to figure out exactly what information is indeed useful. There are a dozen different types of statistics discussed in the news or online dashboards, let alone different ways to measure them and different ways the numbers are spun depending on who’s doing the talking.
So in this episode, I’m here to simplify this for you.
If you find this episode helpful, take a screenshot of your podcast player as you listen, post it to your Instagram Story, and TAG ME @zendocsteve.
You can find the shareable article version of this episode at drstevesilvestro.com/122
It's a valid concern—but also one that you can learn to address right at home.
I sat down with the wonderful Monica Silvestro—yup, the Monica Silvestro of 10-Minute Preschool fame & my favorite person of all-time—to discuss all her best tips for how parents can help their kids learn necessary social skills at home.
See, Monica is an early childhood educator—and a well-loved one at that. She began her career in health communication, developing curricula for kids and teens to best learn about health and nutrition. She then segued into working directly on nutrition counseling, before combining many of her skills to transition into early childhood education.
Follow Monica on Instagram @justanotherpreschoolteacher
Find me on Instagram @zendocsteve
Watch 10-Minute Preschool here.
Take my Mindfulness for Parents Online Course at your own pace here.
There's been a great debate these past few months about whether and how to send kids back to school.
But something's been missing from the conversation—the fact that most kids will experience online learning at some point this fall/winter no matter what, whether for a semester, a month, or just a few weeks.
In this episode, I lay out why that's the case—PLUS tips from online learning expert Zoie Hoffman to help you make online learning most effective for your kids.
Thanks as always for your support!
SUBSCRIBE to my YouTube Channel here.
WATCH my 2-minute video on "How To Get Kids To Stop Touching Their Masks" here.
GRAB my "Love Is Bigger" T-shirt here.
Find more about Zoie Hoffman here.
Be Well & Have Fun!
If you’ve felt like these past few months have both dragged on and flown past at the same time, you’re not alone.
We’re all waiting with bated breath...
“I can’t wait until this is over.”
But what does it do to us—as individuals? as a society?—when we “can’t wait” for a whole year to go by?
What happens to life in the meantime?
This episode tackles this question & presents a philosophy I've been trying to live by—and have been trying to instill in my kids—these last several months.
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Share this episode with the link: drstevesilvestro.com/119
Check out my 'Love Is Bigger' t-shirt here
Sign sup for the Mindfulness for Parents Online Course here and use the code 99OFF for $99 off the regular price.
These last several months, many parents have had to fill the roles of parent, educator, and teleworker with few, if any, clear boundaries between them.
The result? The nagging feeling that you're failing at every single one of those jobs.
If this sounds like you, you're not alone—and as Dr. Andrea Bonior discusses in this insightful & fun interview, you're not doomed to feel this way forever. In fact, there are clear, simple steps you can take to feel more confident as you juggle all of these responsibilities at once.
Dr. Andrea Bonior is a best-selling author, speaker, professor, and licensed clinical psychologist. She's the winner of a 2020 national Excellence in Teaching Award from the Society for the Teaching of Psychology, and author of three books—including her latest, Detox Your Thoughts: Quit Negative Self-Talk for Good and Discover The Life You’ve Always Wanted.
This is Dr. Bonior's second appearance on The Child Repair Guide and I walk away with a plan to put into action every time I talk to her.
You can share this episode on social media by sharing the link www.drstevesilvestro.com/118
Limited Time: Take $99 off my Mindfulness for Parents Online Course by using the coupon code 99OFF - register at drstevesilvestro.com/courses
The most common answer pediatricians have been asked by parents of young kids is: "Is it safe to send my child to daycare right now?"
The best, most honest answer we currently have?
Probably. Maybe. We think.
In this episode, I outline everything we currently know so you can make the best decision for your family.
*You can share this episode by sharing the link: drstevesilvestro.com/117
*Find all '10-Miute Preschool' videos PLUS my video explaining PPE to kids at youtube.com/drstevesilvestro
*And the coupon to get the $149 Mindfulness for Parents Online Course for only $20 expires July 31st. Use the code TWENTY20 and sign up here: drstevesilvestro.com/courses
We're halfway into 2020 & it's clear that we could all use a glimmer of hope right now.
This is a tool that I've mentioned before, but that has taken on even more importance for my family right now.
My hope is that it can help yours, too.
You can find the article version of this episode at drstevesilvestro.com/115
I've also extended the discount for my Mindfulness for Parents Online Course through July -- take the $149 course for only $20 by using the code 'TWENTY20'. Learn more here.
Like much of the country, I’ve been thinking a lot about inequality and bigotry of late, trying to put so many feelings into coherent thoughts.
And as I do, the memory of one impactful experience from when I was 19 keeps coming back to me...
You can find the article version of this episode at drstevesilvestro.com/116
The moral arc of the universe bends toward justice—but we have to be the ones who bend it.
It's as if teenage boys and those who raise them are in an Indiana Jones movie, dodging blades and poisonous darts flying past them at every turn. And the snake-filled pit, of course, is the constant barrage of headlines showing masculinity gone wrong.
So how do we crack the code of raising boys—and do so right at a time when they typically start growing quiet?
That’s the focus of Decoding Boys: The New Science Behind the Subtle Art of Raising Sons—the newest book from Cara Natterson, MD. You might remember Dr. Natterson from our episode together on “How to Talk to Kids about Puberty” (and if you haven’t listened to that, you should—it’s a fan-favorite!). Dr. Natterson is a superstar pediatrician who wears many hats, but its her work as caretaker of the modern iteration of The Care and Keeping of You and her book Guy Stuff: The Body Book for Boys—that makes her the go-to expert on helping families ride the ups and downs of puberty.
"Fear and what you do with it are two separate things."
I love this quote from Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, especially right now.
What we and our kids do with big emotions can have more of an impact on our lives than feeling the emotions themselves.
In this episode, Robin Brannan, founder of Better Together Family Therapy, shares tips to help kids cope in difficult times.
You just might find that many of these tips helpful for yourself, too!
And on another note:
If you or someone you know has a preschooler, be sure to check out 10-Minute Preschool, a new video series featuring the one and only Monica Silvestro! Monica takes the magic of her preschool classroom and brings it to your preschooler in fun, educational videos that are 10 minutes or less.
Check them all out here, with more to come:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLK2JtHmTfH5lXyUH6S8z8TY2WSnp9TdY0
When I last spoke with Dr. Michael Daignault 6 weeks ago, the COVID-19 storm was approaching.
Now that we're in the thick of it, he and I catch up to discuss what it's been like on the front lines in the Emergency Department.
We also dispel some rumors you may have heard about treatment & prevention, discuss what's necessary to "open the country," and silver linings in this new normal.
Find video of our conversation at youtube.com/drstevesilvestro
You can help! Go to www.covid-meals.org and learn how to sponsor meals delivered from your local restaurants to your community hospital.