Teaching Humanity Remotely with Dr. Mindy Shaw – Podcast Ep 33

In this latest podcast episode, number 33 in my series, we continue discussing the final section of my new parenting book which is the Q&A portion of that book. 

The book we are referring to is my recently published parenting guide titled I LIKE HOW YOU SPEAK TO ME… A PARENT’S GUIDE FOR EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION WITH CHILDREN which is intended to be a real “how to” book for parents, family members or teachers.  As the title directly states, the book is all about creating and maintaining the clearest possible model for parent-child communication.

The parenting book is divided into three sections, and the first section of the book lays out what I call my “10 Governing Principles” for communicating with children. These ten principles are interlocking and essential, and when one understands these principles and exercises the muscle of using them ALL, communication with children will be clear and effective.  For ten weeks in a row on my podcast, I examined each of these ten governing principles for effective communication with children, one at a time, podcast after podcast.

Now, we’ve reached a point where we will be using the podcast to go through the Q&A section of the book which is comprised of the TEN MOST FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS FROM PARENTS (plus one bonus 11thquestion).  Last week we reviewed the first question and its answer, and this week we’ve arrived at the SECOND question in that section of the book.  It’s a question that every parent can relate to:  How do I get my child to go to sleep at their bedtime?

In my answer to this question, we once again review the notion of making sure that your family dynamic is filled with the frontloading of agreements AND what the consequences are of not fulfilling those agreements.  Bedtime is one of those time slots during the day that is filled with rituals… the bathroom visit, the drink of water, the reading of a book or books and more.  You and your child need to pre-arrange the timing and the order of these little rituals and also agree on what happens when the schedule is not met.  Everything has to be agreed upon in advance, and nothing is to be altered in the moment.  It’s a losing proposition if your child alters the routine and you give in.  Certainly, there are exceptions to when bedtime agreements can be altered like for holidays, a party, an event or something similar, but any alterations in the ritual should also be done in advance.

The next podcast will focus on the third question in the Q&A section of the book about effective communication with children, so please stay tuned for that.  In the meantime, thanks for visiting and for listening.  You can hear Podcast 33 here:

https://learnwithmeremotely.podbean.com/e/teaching-humanity-remotely-with-dr-mindy-shaw-ep-33/

And you can find the parenting guide on Amazon right here:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08WJRX7JF

 

Teaching Humanity Remotely with Dr. Mindy Shaw – Podcast Ep. 32

In this latest podcast episode, the 32nd in my series, we move the discussion for the first time to the final section of my parenting book, the Q&A section.   For the past number of weeks, I’ve been focused solely on the content of the first section of my recently published parenting guide titled I LIKE HOW YOU SPEAK TO ME… A PARENT’S GUIDE FOR EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION WITH CHILDREN.  It’s designed as a “how to” for parents, family members or teachers in order to spell out as clear a path as possible to effective communication with children.

The parenting book is divided into three sections, and the first section of the book lays out what I call my “10 Governing Principles” for communicating with children. These ten principles are interlocking and essential, and when one understands these principles and exercises the muscle of using them ALL, communication with children will be clear and effective.  For ten weeks in a row on my podcast, I examined each of these ten governing principles for effective communication with children, one at a time, podcast after podcast.  Now, we’ve reached a point where we will be using the podcast to go through the TEN MOST FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS FROM PARENTS (plus one bonus 11th question).

The first question in this section of the book is a common one as parents often ask the following:  How can I stop getting impatient, frustrated or angry when we are in a hurry and my child is moving slower than a snail?  Even though it’s a common question and scenario, the answer is pretty simple.  Details are in the podcast, but in a nutshell, it’s all about frontloading your schedule with your child and agreeing upon consequences also in advance if you schedule isn’t met.

The next podcast will focus on the second question in the Q&A section of the book about effective communication with children, so please stay tuned for that.  In the meantime, thanks for visiting and for listening.  You can hear Podcast 32 here:

https://learnwithmeremotely.podbean.com/e/teaching-humanity-remotely-with-dr-mindy-shaw-ep-32/

And you can find the parenting guide on Amazon right here:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08WJRX7JF

 

 

 

 

 

 

Teaching Humanity Remotely with Dr. Mindy Shaw – Podcast Ep. 31

For my latest podcast episode, the 31st in my series, I decided to share the audio of a recent media appearance that I was fortunate to have scheduled recently.  Reporter Jimmy Alexander from the CW affiliate in Washington, DC, did a really nice piece about the social and emotion state of young schoolchildren now that schools are re-opening and looking ahead to being as “normal” as possible this fall, and thankfully, he made an interview with me the centerpiece of his report.

When I first saw the headline for his television report, I was a little startled because he called the piece “Are You Scared to Send Your Child Back to School?”  But after reviewing his report, his approach makes a lot of sense on a couple of levels.  Firstly, my work IS all about social and emotional well-being after all, and parents and children ARE skittish about re-entering the close quarters and social environment of schools after the year that we just experienced, especially considering that the pandemic isn’t really truly over.  In that regard, between my recent work in the field of social and emotional learning and my 30+ years of teaching Kindergarten/First Grade students, it really was a sensible approach to a news report.   Secondly, the fact that this was a news piece provided further perspective.  Jimmy and his news team at TV channel DCW-50 are in fact reporting on the news, and while I would love to think that my recent series of 21 children’s nonfiction picture books and my recent parenting guide are news in and of themselves, for a news reporter, there has to be “a story,” and the concern about returning to school truly is a real issue for so many families, so bravo to the TV station for recognizing that.

I truly appreciate Jimmy Alexander and the work he is doing.  He’s a smart, sweet, articulate media professional who works hard to present stories that are meaningful to his audience in the Washington DC area (and of course, since I wrote a children’s book about the Biden-Harris election I can also hope that the White House saw this piece on TV!).

The podcast this week is simply the audio from his television piece, and you can watch that report here:

https://www.localdvm.com/dcw50/are-you-scared-to-send-your-child-back-to-school/

And you can see my author’s page and all of my books on Amazon here:

http://www.tinyurl.com/DrShawAuthor

Teaching Humanity Remotely with Dr. Mindy Shaw – Podcast Ep. 30

In my latest podcast episode, the 30th in the series, we take a moment to do a complete review of the first section of my parenting book that just came out some weeks back.  That book is titled I LIKE HOW YOU SPEAK TO ME… A PARENT’S GUIDE FOR EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION WITH CHILDREN, and it was written after parents and teachers alike requested some formal guidance similar to what they were hearing in some of the earlier episodes of my podcast series.  The book was designed as a “how to” for parents, family members or teachers, specifically to give readers a clear path to effective communication with children.

The first section of my parenting book is where I lay out my “10 Governing Principles” for communicating with children. These ten principles are interlocking and essential, and when one understands these principles and exercises the muscle of using them ALL, communication with children will be clear and effective.

On my podcast, for ten weeks in a row, we took a closer look at each of the 10 governing principles for effective communication with children, one at a time, podcast after podcast.  In this podcast, we do a quick recap of those 10 principles and provide some quick examples of how they can be applied, but to me, the most important part of this podcast #30 is that I provide a reading of the children’s picture book that is embedded in the middle of my parenting guide.

How does that work to have a kid’s book in the middle of a communication guide for parents and teachers?  Well, the book, as just mentioned, has the 10 governing principles for effective communication with children as its first section.  Then, the third and final section of the book contains a series of Questions and Answers.  The questions are the ten most frequently asked questions that I get from parents regarding their parent-child communication, and then there’s an 11th bonus Q & A added in.  That entire Q & A section is very valuable because it offers illustrative examples of the practical applications of the governing communication principles, but the children’s book is even more valuable in a way as it completely serves as a model for adult-child communication.

The children’s section of the book is portion titled I Like How You Speak to Me, and those were the exact words spoken to me by my granddaughter, Olivia, when she was 3 ½.   It was in that moment when I knew that the way that I spoke with children was unlike the manner in which most other adults spoke to children.  That moment also inspired the writing of all of my children’s books for SEL (socio-emotional learning) because it is exactly the social and emotional development of a child that I am impacting with my direct, honest, respectful (and more) communication.  As a result, it was important to me to model my style of communication for parents, grandparents, teachers and all adults, really, and it is clearly modeled in the children’s story titled I Like How You Speak to Me which is embedded in my guide to effective communication.

You can hear Podcast 30 here:

https://learnwithmeremotely.podbean.com/e/teaching-humanity-remotely-with-dr-mindy-shaw-ep-30/

And you can find my parenting book here:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08WJRX7JF

And thanks for your continued support for and interest in my work.

 

 

 

 

Teaching Humanity Remotely with Dr. Mindy Shaw – Podcast Ep. 28

In this latest podcast episode, the 28th in my series, it’s another brief discussion as we continue to review, and actually wrap up our recap of the first major section of my new parenting book.  That book is titled I LIKE HOW YOU SPEAK TO ME… A PARENT’S GUIDE FOR EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION WITH CHILDREN, and it’s designed as a “how to” for parents, family members or teachers.  As the title indicates, the book was designed specifically to provide parents, teachers, and any adult, a clear path to effective communication with children.

My parenting book is divided into three sections, and the first section of the book lays out what I call my “10 Governing Principles” for communicating with children. These ten principles are interlocking and essential, and when one understands these principles and exercises the muscle of using them ALL, communication with children will be clear and effective.

For ten weeks in a row, I have used my podcast to take a deeper dive in each of the 10 governing principles for effective communication with children, one at a time, podcast after podcast. This podcast contains the TENTH and final discussion in that series, and the tenth governing principle that I’ve outlined as essential for communicating with children is to BE PRESENT AND IN THE MOMENT.

Clearly, we should always want to be present and in the moment in our lives, it’s not always so easy, especially when raising children. There’s lots to do, and there always seems to be a stressful moment.  Sometimes those moments get in the way of paying attention to the one entity that needs your attention right then and there, your child. Your child may come to you at a bad time… you may be in the middle of preparing dinner or juggling a number of other things all at once. Your child may have a real issue and a real need for your attention, but if you simply react quickly and stay focused on your chores you are likely missing an important parenting moment.  If you are present and “in the moment,” you will see what’s needed and pay the appropriate attention to your child.

Being in the moment, again is one of my 10 governing principles and it is intended to be used and applied in tandem with the other 9, and between this podcast series and her new parenting book, I am thrilled to share some great strategies for getting your parent-child communication to actually work.

My new parenting book has two more sections in addition to the Ten Governing Principles for Effective Communication with Children. The book also includes a short children’s picture book that models how to communicate with children, and that’s followed by a Q&A section where I answer the ten most frequently asked questions that I received from parents (plus one bonus question). I’m very proud of this book, and you can find my new parenting guide here:

The next podcast will focus on the tenth and final governing principle from my new book for parents, so please stay tuned for that. Thanks for visiting and for listening.  You can hear Podcast 28 here:

https://learnwithmeremotely.podbean.com/e/teaching-humanity-remotely-with-dr-mindy-shaw-ep-28/

And you can find my parenting book here:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08WJRX7JF

 

 

 

 

Teaching Humanity Remotely with Dr. Mindy Shaw – Podcast Episode 27

In this latest podcast episode, the 27th in my series, it’s another brief episode as we continue to review the theme of the first section of my new parenting book.  That new book for parents is titled I LIKE HOW YOU SPEAK TO ME… A PARENT’S GUIDE FOR EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION WITH CHILDREN, and it’s designed as a “how to” for parents, family members or teachers.  As the says, the book was designed specifically to provide parents, teachers, and any adult really, a clear path to effective communication with children.

My parenting book is divided into three sections, and the first section of the book lays out what I call my “10 Governing Principles” for communicating with children. These ten principles are interlocking and essential, and when one understands these principles and exercises the muscle of using them ALL, communication with children will be clear and effective.

For the last number of weeks on my podcasts I have been examining each of the ten governing principles for effective communication with children, one at a time, podcast after podcast. This podcast contains the NINTH discussion in that series, and the ninth governing principle that I’ve outlined as essential for communicating with children is to BE RESPECTFUL.

As parents, we often expect unconditional or automatic respect from our children, but I believe that respect is something that is earned in a mutual fashion.  It’s like the golden rule… treat someone the way you would want to be treated, and with children, mutual respect is both healthy and productive.  I often use the example, as I do in this podcast, of a response I would receive as a child.  I might ask one of my parents why I cannot do something, and their answer might be something along the lines of “Because I said so.” While that answer may be true, it is not respectful. A respectful response might be to explain a situation to a child whereby the child is offered responsibility for an action.  To be given responsibility is a symbol of respect. If you want effective communication with your child, speaking to them in a respectful manner goes a long way, and when that principle is implemented along with the other nine in my list of principles that govern effective communication, you would be amazed at the difference in your parent-child communication.

My new parenting book has two more sections in addition to the Ten Governing Principles for Effective Communication with Children. The book also includes a short children’s picture book that models how to communicate with children, and that’s followed by a Q&A section where I answer the ten most frequently asked questions that I received from parents (plus one bonus question). I’m very proud of this book, and you can find my new parenting guide here:

The next podcast will focus on the tenth and final governing principle from my new book for parents, so please stay tuned for that. Thanks for visiting and for listening.  You can hear Podcast 27 here:

https://learnwithmeremotely.podbean.com/e/teaching-humanity-remotely-with-dr-mindy-shaw-ep-27/

And you can find my parenting book here:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08WJRX7JF

 

 

 

 

Teaching Humanity Remotely with Dr. Mindy Shaw – Podcast Ep 26

In this latest podcast episode, the 26th in my series, we continue a recap of the central theme of my latest book project which is a parenting guide.  If you’ve been following my endeavors (and if you have, I thank you wholeheartedly), then you know that I recently assembled and published my first book designed FOR PARENTS. The book is titled I LIKE HOW YOU SPEAK TO ME… A PARENT’S GUIDE FOR EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION WITH CHILDREN, and it’s designed as a “how to” for parents, family members or teachers.  As the title states so directly, this book was assembled to provide parents, teachers and any adult really, a clear path to effective communication with children.

My new parenting book is divided into three sections, and the first section of the book lays out what I call my “10 Governing Principles” for communicating with children. These ten principles are interlocking and essential, and when one understands these principles and exercises the muscle of using them ALL, communication with children will be clear and effective.

For the last number of weeks on my podcasts I have been examining each of the ten governing principles for effective communication with children, one at a time, podcast after podcast. This podcast contains the EIGHTH discussion in that series, and the eighth governing principle that I’ve outlined as essential for communicating with children is to CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING.

While it sounds very obvious, parent-child communication cannot exist if your child doesn’t understand what you are saying.  In order to ascertain that there is understanding, you check and double-check that your messages are clear and understood. The way to do this is to ask… ask your child to repeat back to you what you expressed to them. If they cannot, make sure that you re-state what you intended to communicate.  REMEMBER, the onus is on you as the adult to make sure that your child understands. Perhaps you were not clear the first time… perhaps you needed to say what you wanted to say in a different way… but, regardless of the circumstance, it is your responsibility to be understood and to check for understanding. Communication cannot be effective without understanding.

My new parenting book has two more sections in addition to the Ten Governing Principles for Effective Communication with Children. The book also includes a short children’s picture book that models how to communicate with children, and that’s followed by a Q&A section where I answer the ten most frequently asked questions that I received from parents (plus one bonus question). I’m very proud of this book, and you can find my new parenting guide here:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08WJRX7JF

The next podcast will focus on the eighth governing principle from my new book for parents, so please stay tuned for that. Thanks for visiting and for listening.  You can hear Podcast 26 here:

https://learnwithmeremotely.podbean.com/e/teaching-humanity-remotely-with-dr-mindy-shaw-ep-26/

 

 

 

 

 

Teaching Humanity Remotely with Dr. Mindy Shaw – Podcast Ep 25

In this latest podcast episode, the 25th in this series, the discussion continues with the central theme of my latest book project.  I’m thrilled to say that I recently assembled and published my first book designed FOR PARENTS. The book is titled I LIKE HOW YOU SPEAK TO ME… A PARENT’S GUIDE FOR EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION WITH CHILDREN, and it’s designed as a “how to” for parents, family members or teachers. The goal of the books is as the title implies… to provide a clear path to effective communication with children.

As you may have heard me mention, my new parenting book is divided into three sections, and the first section of the book forms the backbone of this parenting guide … it’s my “10 Governing Principles” for communicating with children, and for the last number of weeks on my podcasts I have been taking a deeper dive into each of those ten guiding principles, one at a time, podcast after podcast. This podcast contains the SEVENTH discussion in that series, and the seventh governing principle that I’ve listed as essential for communicating with children is to HAVE HIGH EXPECTATIONS.

During this podcast, I relate a couple of stories that exemplify what it means to maintain high expectations for both your child and for yourself. One example literally appeared to me recently while walking in my neighborhood… a mom was bringing her two young daughters back to their home, apparently from school or after school activities, and the mom was doing all the work for her kids who started playing immediately after getting out of the car.  The mom was hauling multiple backpacks and lunchboxes and whatever else, while the kids did not contribute to the workload.  That action by the mom was teaching the girls that they are not able to help, and that is NOT having high expectations. I always maintain that children learn what we teach them, and if we teach them that they are not able, they will be unable… if we teach them that they are small, they will be small. When communicating with our children we must hold them and ourselves to a high standard and the results will be self-fulfilling.

This podcast concludes with a recap of the structure of my new book on parenting and how the 10 Governing Principles for effective communication with children are all inter-woven.  You can find my new parenting book here:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08WJRX7JF

The next podcast will focus on the eighth governing principle from my new book for parents, so please stay tuned for that. Meanwhile, you can hear Podcast 25 here:

https://learnwithmeremotely.podbean.com/e/teaching-humanity-remotely-with-dr-mindy-shaw-ep-25/

Thanks for visiting and listening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Teaching Humanity Remotely with Dr. Mindy Show – Podcast Ep 24

In this latest podcast episode, the 24th in this series, the discussion continues to focus on the central theme of my latest book project.  As you probably know if you’ve been following my podcasts and blogs that I recently assembled and published my first book designed FOR PARENTS. The book is called I LIKE HOW YOU SPEAK TO ME… A PARENT’S GUIDE FOR EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION WITH CHILDREN. The book is a prescriptive “how to” for parents, family members or teachers to have a clear path to effective communication with children.

The book is divided into three sections, and the first section of the book forms the backbone of this parenting guide … it’s my “10 Governing Principles” for communicating with children, and for the last number of weeks on my podcasts I have been taking a deeper dive into each of those ten guiding principles, one at a time, podcast after podcast. This podcast contains the SIXTH discussion in that series, and the sixth governing principle that I see as essential for communicating with children is DON’T BE AFRAID TO MODEL MAKING MISTAKES.

I have always held the believe that the mistake is one of the most essential components of learning.  It is in the mistake that the learning opportunity arises.  So many parents and educators focus on the incorrectness of the mistake and not on the invitation to figure out what is correct. As a result, children often feel shame about making a mistake and too much attention and focus is spent on eradicating the mistake instead of using it to move learning in the right direction. When I was a teacher, we hardly ever encouraged the use of erasers in my classroom for that very reason. Children generally do not enough attention to both spend energy on erasing something and also move ahead with the learning lesson, so we didn’t focus on the erasing, just on the learning.

In this podcast I also shared my long-time analogy of what actors go through when making a movie.  A mis-take results in a re-take, and in the performing the re-take, there is the opportunity to edit and improve upon the performance. Whether it’s the classroom or a movie set, it is in the mis-take that the learning occurs, and therefore we should eliminated the shame associated with a mistake and celebrate the mistake for the learning opportunity it invites.  Parents and teachers can accomplish a great deal by pointing out their own mistakes in a light-hearted manner… by modeling making a mistake, children will feel that a weight is lifted when they make a mistake and then be open to learning.

This podcast concludes with a recap of the structure of my new book on parenting and how the 10 Governing Principles for effective communication with children are all inter-woven.

You can find my new parenting book here:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08WJRX7JF

The next podcast will focus on the seventh governing principle from my new book for parents, so please stay tuned for that. Thanks for visiting and for listening.  You can hear Podcast 24 here:

https://learnwithmeremotely.podbean.com/e/teaching-humanity-remotely-with-dr-mindy-shaw-ep-24/

 

 

 

 

Teaching Humanity Remotely with Dr. Mindy Shaw – Podcast Ep 23

For my latest podcast episode, number 23 in this series, we continue talking about the central theme of my latest book project.  As you probably know if you’ve been following my podcasts and blogs (and thank you if you do!), I am thrilled that I was able to publish my first book designed FOR PARENTS. The books is called I LIKE HOW YOU SPEAK TO ME… A PARENT’S GUIDE FOR EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION WITH CHILDREN.   As the title states clearly, the book lays out a clear path for parents, family members or teachers to establish a paradigm for ensuring the most effective communication possible with children.

The opening section of the book which forms the backbone of the guide is something I am calling my “10 Governing Principles” for communicating with children, and on my most recent podcasts, my aim has been to delve deeper into each of the ten guiding principles one at a time, podcast after podcast.  This podcast contains the FIFTH discussion in that series, which means the theme of this podcast is the fifth governing principle that I see as essential for communicating with children.  That fifth principle is to BE CONSISTENT AND HAVE FOLLOW-THROUGH.

Having consistency and follow-through is an essential quality for any adult to model for children.  It’s also not just about modeling, it’s about making sure that agreements between you and your child are upheld and successful.  In this podcast, we review a detailed example of being consistent when we discuss a dispute between a parent and child at bedtime.  There’s also another example of a child acting out in a store when they want something.  Having consistency is the way to teach the appropriate lesson and the appropriate behavior.

This podcast concludes with a recap of the structure of my new book on parenting and how the 10 Governing Principles for effective communication with children are all inter-woven.

Again, my new book is out, and you can find it here:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08WJRX7JF

The next podcast will focus on the sixth governing principle from my new book for parents, so please stay tuned for that. Thanks for visiting and for listening.  You can hear Podcast 23 here:

https://learnwithmeremotely.podbean.com/e/teaching-humanity-remotely-with-dr-mindy-shaw-ep-23/