Securely Attached24 Jun 2025

The neuroscience of control: Helping kids cope with stress and become self-driven with Dr. William Stixrud

Clinical neuropsychologist and co-author of The Self-Driven Child, Dr. William Stixrud joins me for a powerful conversation about how we can raise confident, resilient kids by helping them feel a greater sense of control, without giving up our role as parents.

Together we explore:

Why a low sense of control is one of the most stressful experiences a child (or adult) can have, and how we can support our kids in feeling more agentful in their lives.
How secure attachment and autonomy are deeply connected—and why attachment must come first.
What SPACE (Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions) is and how parents can use techniques from this modality whether your child has anxiety or not.
Why Dr. Stixrud started saying "I love you too much to fight with you about homework" and how you can use this too to defuse power struggles and build internal motivation.
Tips for how parents can more successfully respond to children's behaviors that they can't control, like tantrums, hitting, or screaming.
Why stepping in too often can interrupt neurological processes that help kids learn, adapt, and build resilience.
How to support self-driven learning, encourage safe risk-taking, and build a foundation of mutual respect in your family.

If you're looking to reduce conflict and build more trust in your parent-child relationship, this conversation is filled with evidence-based insight and practical tools you won't want to miss!

LEARN MORE ABOUT MY GUEST:

👉🏻 https://stixrud.com/

ADDITIONAL REFERENCES AND RESOURCES:

📚 The Self-Driven Child: The Science and Sense of Giving Your Kids More Control Over Their Lives

📚 What Do You Say?: How to Talk with Kids to Build Motivation, Stress Tolerance, and a Happy Home

📚 The Seven Principles for Raising a Self-Driven Child: A Workbook

🎧 The Self-Driven Child Podcast

👉🏻 Learned Helplessness at Fifty: Insights from Neuroscience

CHECK OUT ADDITIONAL PODCAST EPISODES YOU MAY LIKE:

🎧 72. Supportive parenting for anxious childhood emotions space how a new treatment for childhood anxiety and OCD is revolutionizing care with Dr. Eli Lebowitz

🎧 244. Understanding parental dysregulation: How to identify and manage your triggers with Dr. Amber Thornton

🎧 146. The hidden dangers of an achievement centric approach with Jennifer Breheny Wallace

🎧 206. Picky eating, ARFID, and SPACE: How a new anxiety treatment can help your child be more flexible around food with Dr. Yaara Shimshoni

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(453)

The surprising link between your child's vision, behavior, and screen time with Dr. Meenal Agarwal

What if your child's difficulty focusing, struggles with reading, or even some of their behavioral challenges had something to do with their vision, even if they can see perfectly well? In this episod...

10 Nov 59min

Q&A: How to know if my child may have depression?

Beyond the Sessions is answering YOUR parenting questions! In this episode, Dr. Rebecca Hershberg and I talk about what to do when your young child seems sad all the time, how to know when it's some...

3 Nov 24min

How stress affects your child's brain and body: The science of co-regulation, resilience, and healing with Dr. Nicki Bush

Developmental psychologist and UCSF professor, Dr. Nicki Bush, joins me this week to explore stress and how it affects our children and what parents can do to help protect their child's developing bra...

27 Okt 59min

Beyond chores: How to teach kids to notice what needs to be done and share the mental load with Sam Kelly

Sam Kelly, author of Notice and Do, and I talk about why simply assigning chores may not be enough. While chores can teach responsibility, they often overlook an important first step. Before kids can ...

20 Okt 45min

Raising emotionally healthy boys: How to protect connection, vulnerability, and their authentic selves with Dr. Adam McCormick

Dr. Adam McCormick, professor, social worker, and author joins me to explore what happens to boys' emotional worlds as they grow up, and how parents can help their sons stay connected to the parts of ...

13 Okt 56min

Q&A: Am I wrong...or did my doctor give bad parenting advice?

Beyond the Sessions is answering YOUR parenting questions! In this episode, Dr. Rebecca Hershberg, Dr. Emily Upshur, and I talk about... What to make of advice that tells you not to comfort your ...

6 Okt 11min

The neuroscience of resonance: How to use language to strengthen attachment with your child with Sarah Peyton

Author, speaker, and neuroscience educator Sarah Peyton joins me to explore what happens when attachment theory, Nonviolent Communication, and the science of resonance come together. Together we exp...

29 Sep 59min

The connection crisis: Why kids are struggling with friendship and what parents can do with Dr. Niobe Way

Dr. Niobe Way, developmental psychologist and bestselling author, sits down with me to explore why meaningful connection is so essential for our children, and what may be getting in the way of their n...

22 Sep 1h 6min