Picture this: it's after school. Backpacks are in a pile. Shoes are somewhere not where shoes belong. Everyone's hungry. Your nervous system is already doing math you did not sign up for. And your kids are in what I call the sibling fairness tribunal. There's an iPad. There's a timer. There's a rule. And your strong willed, big feeling kid is on the verge of a full eruption. In this episode, Dr. Amy Patenaude teaches anger through a volcano lens so you can take it seriously without turning it into a character verdict. Anger is allowed (no shame). Boundaries around behavior are non negotiable (still no shame). You'll get a simple framework for before, during, and after the eruption, plus scripts you can use when your own brain goes offline.

• Why these moments can feel terrifying, and why your nervous system reacts (you're not dramatic, you're a parent with a pulse)
• The parent body check: what happens in your body when your child escalates, and why "a calmer grown up than the kid" is the goal
• The volcano map: deep lava, rising lava, near the top, eruption, cooling, and why catching it at stage 2 or 3 changes everything
• The core boundary: all emotions are okay, and not all behaviors are okay (anger is okay, hitting is not)
• The anchor script for eruption moments, when your job is safety, co regulation, and fewer words
• Extra scripts for fairness sensitivity, holding the line without shaming, and responding to "I hate you" while staying connected
• The repair plan after the lava cools: repair is not punishment, it's a life skill (clean up the impact without judging the feeling)
• The "School Psych in Your Back Pocket" bridge: what to bring to school conversations and a short email script to look for patterns
• The four step recap you can hold in your head: Notice, Name, Vent safely, Repair

• Teach a 1 to 5 "lava scale" during a calm time.
• Practice the exact script once when everyone is fine: "Let's settle the lava in your body."
• Choose one predictable hot spot (iPad timer, homework, bedtime) and make a one sentence plan: "When lava rises, we ___."
• After a calm moment, do a two minute repair: "What happened? What do we fix? What can we try earlier next time?"
• Do one 30 second role play this week: "Timer went off, what can you say besides yelling?"

Pick one. One is enough.

• Big Feeling Decoder
• Boredom Buster Guide
• 50 AI Prompts for Tired Parents
• School Psych in Your Back Pocket: The School Testing Toolkit (K–12)

"This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and is not medical, psychological, or legal advice. Listening to this podcast does not create a provider-client relationship. If you're concerned about your child's mental health, safety, or development, please consult a qualified professional in your area."

It starts as "one missing assignment" and somehow turns into you refreshing the grade portal like it's a slot machine. Your kid looks… fine. Eating chips. Talking about a video game. Meanwhile your nervous system is writing a five-act tragedy. In this episode, Dr. Amy Patenaude breaks down why this is so often not a motivation problem. It's a load problem. A systems problem. An executive function problem. You'll learn what executive function actually is, why middle school and high school can suddenly expose the cracks, what a good evaluation should tell you (beyond a label), and what to ask for so you leave with a real Monday-morning plan.

• What executive function actually is (and why "just be responsible" isn't a plan)
• Why this often shows up in middle school and high school even if elementary seemed "fine"
• How "missing assignments" can be the last stop in a whole chain of breakdown points
• What a good evaluation should answer so it changes what happens on Monday morning
• How to talk about bottlenecks (starting, planning, working memory, turning it in) without blaming your kid
• Simple, copy-paste scripts for meetings and emails when your brain forgets English

• Create a 5-minute after-school landing pad: backpack spot, charger spot, "TURN IN" folder.
• Add two project checkpoints: (1) directions/rubric captured, (2) first tiny step started.
• Try the "one missing assignment" experiment: recover one this week, not twelve.
• Reset before requests: snack, water, ten minutes, then homework talk.
• Externalize time: set a 10-minute timer to start, not finish.

Pick one. One is enough.

• Boredom Buster Guide
• Big Feeling Decoder
• 50 AI Prompts for Tired Parents
• School Psych in Your Back Pocket: The School Testing Toolkit (K–12)

"This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and is not medical, psychological, or legal advice. Listening to this podcast does not create a provider-client relationship. If you're concerned about your child's mental health, safety, or development, please consult a qualified professional in your area."

It's easy to keep trying to solve the same predictable problem in a crisis—like 7:14 a.m. chaos—then wonder why everyone's melting down. In this episode, Dr. Amy Patenaude shares a 12-minute weekly family meeting that makes the plan visible (so your house stops running on mind-reading and vibes) and gives strong-willed kids a way to use their power in a useful direction. You'll get a simple structure, scripts for the messy moments, and one tiny experiment to try this week.

• Why family meetings work: they move problem-solving to a calmer window so everyone's nervous system has a fighting chance
• How to run a meeting that's not a tiny courtroom (or a "tiny Senate" where bedtime gets filibustered)
• The 12–15 minute structure that keeps it short, doable, and repeatable
• The school-psych lens: treat behavior like data (pattern, skill demand, support), not a moral trial
• A simple home–school bridge for transitions (and a ready-to-use "partnership language" script)
• What "derailing" can really mean for big-feeling kids—and how to keep them on the team without blame

• Start an "Agenda" paper on the fridge so problems go there during the week instead of exploding in the morning rush.
• Run one 12-minute meeting this week—even if it's awkward. Timer on purpose.
• Pick one bottleneck (after school, sports gear, bedtime, homework) and choose one one-week experiment to test.
• Use one structure tool (talking object or jobs like timekeeper/note-taker/idea collector).
• End with a 2-minute light closer so your kid's nervous system remembers: "We're okay."

Pick one. One is enough.

• Boredom Buster Guide — https://psyched2parent.myflodesk.com/boredomebusterguide
• Big Feeling Decoder — https://psyched2parent.myflodesk.com/bigfeelingsdecoder
• 50 AI Prompts for Tired Parents — https://psyched2parent.myflodesk.com/aiprompts4parents

"This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and is not medical, psychological, or legal advice. Listening to this podcast does not create a provider-client relationship. If you're concerned about your child's mental health, safety, or development, please consult a qualified professional in your area."