How Do We Manage?

Teaching your kids about sex can be a daunting task, but it doesn’t need to be. And in today’s world, where young children are increasingly at risk of being exposed to explicit images online, it’s never been more important. Toltu Tufa is a psychologist and sex educator based in Australia, whose career has taken her from assessing convicted sex offenders in prisons, to designing sex education programmes in classrooms. She now runs sex education masterclasses for parents. Today, Toltu gives us tips for how to have age-appropriate conversations about sex with children without invoking feelings of embarrassment or shame, how to answer tricky questions, and tells us why it’s not just what you say - but how you react - that’s important. Resources & Links  Find out more about Toltu’s work at the Healthy Connections Institute Follow Toltu on Instagram Host: Stephanie von Bismarck  Guest: Toltu Tufa Producer: Holly Fisher Production Manager: Angela Crago  Executive Producer: Ellie Di Martino  The series was recorded and edited at PodShop studios

These days parents are presented with a minefield of conflicting information about fad diets, portion control, fussy eaters and weaning woes. So how do we feed our children in a way that feels manageable and healthy, even when they’re either refusing dinner or are seemingly never full? Charlotte Stirling-Reed is one of the UK’s leading child nutritionists. She runs SR Nutrition and has written plenty of books on how to feed your children. Charlotte is passionate about making nutrition simple, practical and evidence-based, particularly when it comes to pregnancy, babies, children and family life. In this episode, Charlotte joins Stephanie to cut through some of the confusion around what our children should be eating, when we should start weaning, how we can build healthy habits around food from a young age and how to feed a fussy eater. Resources & Links  Find out more about SR Nutrition and Charlotte’s work here Follow Charlotte on Instagram Buy Charlotte’s books on weaning and family nutrition here Host: Stephanie von Bismarck  Guest: Charlotte Stirling-Reed Producer: Holly Fisher Production Manager: Angela Crago  Executive Producer: Ellie Di Martino  The series was recorded and edited at PodShop studios

Have you ever been described as ‘too much’? Ever felt like your reaction was bigger than it should have been? Many of us feel emotions more deeply than others - but what if this isn’t something to suppress, but something to understand? This is the premise of a new book called ‘Too Sensitive’ by Dr Sasha Hamdani, a board-certified psychiatrist and ADHD Expert. The book explores RSD - rejection sensitive dysphoria - an extreme form of emotional sensitivity. In this episode of ‘How Do We Manage’ Stephanie asks Dr Hamdani how we can identify emotional sensitivity in ourselves and our children, and about its links to conditions such as ADHD. Resources & Links  Buy Sasha’s book, ‘Too Sensitive’ Follow Dr Sasha Hamdani on Instagram Host: Stephanie von Bismarck  Guest: Dr Sasha Hamdani Producer: Holly Fisher Production Manager: Angela Crago  Executive Producer: Ellie Di Martino  The series was recorded and edited at PodShop studios

Parenting has never come with more advice than it does today. Social media is full of people claiming that their style of raising a child is the right one, commenting on everything from discipline to nutrition to education. So how do you work out what to listen to? Dr Aliza Pressman is a developmental psychologist, podcast host and author of the book, ‘The 5 Principles of Parenting: Your Essential Guide to Raising Good Humans’. In this episode Dr Pressman joins Stephanie to talk about how we overcome parenting mistakes, the five principles of parenting that lead to resilient kids, and setting good boundaries. Resources & Links  Buy Dr Aliza Pressman’s book ‘The 5 Principles of Parenting’ Follow Dr Aliza Pressman on Instagram Host: Stephanie von Bismarck  Guest: Dr Aliza Pressman Producer: Holly Fisher Production Manager: Angela Crago  Executive Producer: Ellie Di Martino  The series was recorded and edited at PodShop studios

Navigating the online world for ourselves is hard enough, but trying to keep it safe for our children feels near impossible. We’ve talked a lot on the show lately about the dangers of posting pictures of our families, how children as young as three are using social media, and the sort of content that is being fed to our kids online. One thing that keeps coming up over and over is: how do we keep it under control? ‘Smartphone Nation: Why We’re All Addicted to Screens and What Your Family Can Do About It’ is a new book by Dr Kaitlyn Regehr, associate professor at UCL. It’s a toolkit for families to become more savvy about the ways that they use online technology. Dr Regehr is a world-leading expert on the cultural impacts of social media and is working on the guidelines accompanying the UK Government’s new social media ban for under 16s. In this episode Dr Kaitlyn Regehr joins Stephanie in the studio to give us tips on activities we can do with our children to become more intentional about algorithms, and how we can navigate the online world with our kids in a way that feels less overwhelming. Resources & Links  Buy ‘Smartphone Nation’ by Dr Kaitlyn Regehr Follow Dr Kaitlyn Regehr on Instagram Host: Stephanie von Bismarck  Guest: Dr Kaitlyn Regehr Producer: Holly Fisher Production Manager: Angela Crago  Executive Producer: Ellie Di Martino  The series was recorded and edited at PodShop studios