If you ask any parent about big emotions, they will know exactly what you mean.

When we talk about kids’ big emotions, it’s generally the challenging ones, rather than the big joys.

Here we discuss why kids have big emotions, both the psychological and physiological reasons.

Gheorg founder and psychologist Dr Louise Metcalf speaks with Gheorg’s Schools Program Manager and Mindset Coach, Cynthia Painter, about supporting your child to develop emotional regulation skills.

Listen to the episode to learn about the purpose of big emotions, and how to teach kids to manage them in a purposeful way.

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Intro: Big emotions, and how to help both ourselves and our kids with them at the same time

01:32 Navigating our world: the role of the brain’s prefrontal cortex in children's emotions vs. adult's emotions

05:00 The stages of emotional development from birth, and how each can affect big emotions

10:34 How we can help our kids have a positive & healthy relationship with their emotions

11:54 What kids emotions are trying to to tells us, and how we can better understand them

13:48 How adult’s behaviour can trigger kid’s big emotions, and leading with empathy before logic

15:20 Being an imperfect parent is better for your child’s development, and the importance of self-compassion

17:26 Why managing our own emotions will support our kids big emotions

19:32 Tips to ground ourselves emotions during stressful moments,

21:34 Discovering what helps your child to regulate emotions, and how to teach them to practise these skills

22:42 Discussing emotional regulation strategies with your child

25:05 Developing children’s language and vocabulary to describe their emotions, and tools you can use to support this

28:04 Teaching kids to locate emotions in their body, notice the sensations, and to recognise these same cues in others

28:58 The importance of having hope, and how it can help us to develop emotional regulation skills

31:30 The crucial mental and physiological mechanics behind fear, and why facing it creates positive outcomes

32:03 Dealing with guilt and shame as adults, and what their purpose is in our life

32:51 How to reframe challenging times through a hopeful mindset, and grow through processing difficult emotions

34:16 Key takeaways: Regulate yourself first and work out what works for you - as the beautiful, imperfect parent that you are

Social media has a huge impact on our lives. But it's not always good.

Here we discuss social media, how it impacts kids and In this episode, Gheorg founder and psychologist Dr Louise Metcalf speaks with Gheorg’s Schools Program Manager and Mindset Coach, Cynthia Painter, about how to best engage with social media.

Listen to the episode to learn about the impact of social media and how to best use it with kids.

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 The definition of social media and the many factors to review when considering social media use

03:00 How social media is designed to create tribes and the way different social media platforms work

05:50 The way Louise talks about social media as a psychologist and ways parents can talk to their kids about social media

09:00 The impact of procrasti-scrolling

11:40 The positives of social media and easy access to information

15:00 How scrolling impacts our brains, our cortex and our sense of connection to others

17:20 The unseen impacts of social media - it’s not actually socialising

19:00 How social media impacts self worth and the comparison elements of being online

22:00 The impact of comparing someone else's highlight reel to our lives

24:00 The evolution of technology and how we’re wired to care about what other people think

27:30 How we can help our kids and teens to deal with the series impacts that can come out social media

28:00 Some of the negative impacts of social media: FOMO, pressure to respond to messages, fear of not being enough, can increase negative self talk, and sense of isolation

30:50 The ugly scary stuff that can come out of social media: online abuse, bullying, online scams and what kids are up against

36:00 Ways to talk to your kids about their social media use and protecting them in the online world

38:00 How to really engage with kids and encourage them to have boundaries

39:30 How to break down complicated information and talking to young kids about safety

41:15 Questions you can ask kids help them open up and how to support them when they want to take initiative

43:00 The long-term impacts of parents sharing about their kids online

46:50 How to use social media to create more hope in your life and your kids lives.

47:00 How social media is like the story of the two wolves - which one do you feed?

In this episode, Gheorg founder and psychologist Dr Louise Metcalf speaks with Gheorg’s Schools Program Manager and Mindset Coach, Cynthia Painter, about how to make the most of technology with kids.

When to use technology, different types of screens, the impact it has on kids, and ways to make technology even better for your family.

Listen to the episode to learn more about kids and the impact of screen-time.

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Introduction to kids, hope and their screen time use

02:30 What are the different types of screens that we use

03:45 Breaking down screens - devices, the use of the screen, and what are we exposed to

08:20 The different types of screen time usage and the amount of time we spend on screens

14:30 Critical thinking and the psychological impacts of screen time

17:00 Emotional impacts of screen time

19:30 Screen time, attention, eye time and gaming

23:30 How parents can talk to their kids about their screen time and the importance of talking about what technology and incentives do

26:00 The impact screens have on kids socialising skills and using technology at nighttime

29:00 Taking care of your digital health and getting support from your kids, their friends and their parents by keeping them informed about the boundaries for your kids screen time, technology and hope

33:30 Practical tip: doing a screen audit of your technology use

37:00 The importance of regularly discussing and being away of your technology and screen use

In this episode, we discuss how best to transition out of lockdown with kids.

During the world-wide pandemic, there have been some intense lockdown or stay-at-home orders for people around the world and in particularly in Australia and New Zealand.

In this episode, Gheorg founder and psychologist Dr Louise Metcalf speaks with Gheorg’s Schools Program Manager and Mindset Coach, Cynthia Painter, about how best to transition out of lockdown with kids.

Listen to the episode to learn about the impact of lockdowns and strategies you can use to empower kids to ease out of lockdown.

The episode includes:

• the impact of the pandemic and lockdowns
• dealing with challenging conversations
• how to prepare yourselves and your kids for the transition
• practical steps parents can take to support kids

TIMESTAMPS

• 00:00 Introduction, being in lockdown and building hope to transition out of lockdown
• 02:45 The impacts of lockdowns and big challenging events on people
• 12:00 The impacts of lockdown on kids and navigating re-entry anxiety
• 14:15 Dealing with challenging conversations and impacts of the pandemic
• 17:00 What kids are dealing with as transition out of lockdown
• 19:00 How has lockdown impacted the way we think about the world
• 25:00 Practical things parents can do to support kids in this transition
• 29:00 How to deal with upsets after going back to school?
• 31:30 What can we do to support our kids when they’re struggling with the transition back to school
• 35:00 How to prepare yourselves and your kids for the return to school and life outside of lockdown

A podcast for parents with practical tips to improve mental health for themselves and their kids. 

We all know that taking care of our mental health is important. And it’s essential that we talk about mental health. 

It’s always been important, but now more than ever our kids are faced with new challenges that can cause stress, anxiety, depression and other mental health issues. 

Dr Louise Metcalf started this podcast as she wanted to do even more to support parents. Louise has been a psychologist for over 30 years and created a mental health app for kids, Gheorg, so they can learn to manage their mental wellbeing and reduce anxiety. 

In these conversations, Louise sits down with mindset coach Cynthia Painter to break down big discussions about mental health for parents. 

Each episode is focused on how to support parents and includes practical tips to support and empower kids with skills to improve their mental wellbeing.

Join us to learn about mental wellbeing and how HOPE can be a key tool for positive mental wellbeing.

TIMESTAMPS

• 00:00 Introduction to the Hope Ninja Parents podcast, Dr Louise Metcalf & Cynthia Painter
• 02:20 What is hope and why are we talking about it?
• 03:30 What’s the neuroscience approach to hope?
• 07:00 Talking about big emotions and what does hope have to do with parenting?
• 08:30 Homeschooling during the pandemic and how parenting is like teaching problem solving
• 10:15 How do parents know if they need to focus more on hope?
• 12:00 How our brain structure deals with comparison and risks
• 14:00 When we focus on the positive, why it’s important and building hope muscles
• 17:45 How parents practice and role model hope
• 19:40 How do we do this in challenging times like losing a loved one? Why should we process rather than suppress emotions?
• 23:00 Hope Ninja Parents practical takeaway: having a conversation about the day and having a conversation about hope
• 24:00 Positive psychology, why we need to make hope cool again for parents and why we need to be able to talk about things we hope for (even if they might not happen)
• 27:00 Being about to navigate both positive and challenging emotions