You're listening to Voices of Your Village, and today I get to hang out with Dr. Anna Housley Juster. Anna brings over 25 years of experience supporting children and families as a mental health clinician, education consultant, award -winning author, and parent. Anna specializes in early childhood trauma, anxiety, and behavioral challenges, blending her expertise in child development and mental health to support families, teachers, and social workers. She's also the author of How to Train Your Amygdala, a powerful tool for helping kids understand and manage big emotions. Anna's approach is informed by evidence -based therapies like TF -CBT, play therapy, and SPACE parent guidance. She's passionate about equipping caregivers with practical strategies to nurture emotional well -being. It was so rad to get to chat with Anna because I love her kids book, How to Train Your Amygdala, and how applicable her information is. I'm obsessed with talking to kids about their bodies and really teaching them how they work and not shying away from terms like amygdala because they feel really big and sciencey and foreign for a lot of us, and really leaning into that. I so dig that about Anna. I'm stoked for y 'all to dive into this episode and can't wait to hear your thoughts and feedback over on the gram. Come follow us at seed.and.sew on Instagram and let's chat more about this bad boy. All right, let's dive in. 

Connect with Anna:

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/anna-housley-juster

Website: www.annahousleyjuster.com

Order the book: How to Train Your Amygdala

Connect with us:

Instagram: @seed.and.sew 

Podcast page: Voices of Your Village

Seed and Sew's Regulation Quiz: Take the Quiz

Order Tiny Humans, Big Emotions now! 

Website: seedandsew.org

Music by: Ruby Adams and  Bensound

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You're listening to Voices of Your Village and today I get to hang out with Nancy Reddy. She's the author of The Good Mother Myth. Her previous books include the poetry collections Pocket Universe and Double Jinx, a winner of the National Poetry Series. I think we need to be screaming this from the rooftops that when we're trying to be a good mom, it actually leads to bad mental health and that there isn't this spot where we're like, okay, check, we're a great mom now. We're going to drop the ball and we're going to make mistakes. And what it means for us as individuals to feel like we're doing enough and being enough is so personalized. I loved this breakdown with Rach after where we got to dive into what this looks like in everyday life for us and how it shows up personally. I'm super stoked to share this episode with you. I think it's a message that so many of us need on repeat. All right, folks, let's dive in. 

Connect with Nancy:

Instagram: @nancy.o.reddy

Website: www.nancyreddy.com

Order the book: The Good Mother Myth

Join the newsletter:  https://nancyreddy.substack.com/

Connect with us:

Instagram: @seed.and.sew 

Podcast page: Voices of Your Village

Seed and Sew's Regulation Quiz: Take the Quiz

Order Tiny Humans, Big Emotions now! 

Website: seedandsew.org

Music by: Ruby Adams and  Bensound

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You're listening to Voices of Your Village, and today I get to hang out with Dr. Cara Natterson and Vanessa Kroll Bennett to chat about how to make puberty and sex talks less awkward. Our editor, Kristin, for the podcast and Rach both were like, oh my gosh, this episode is gold. I love how approachable Cara and Vanessa are and how much they let me be me in this and share about how little I was spoken to about puberty and sex and how awkward it is now when my kids do things like ask if they can invite me to their penis party. Fear not, Dr. Cara Natterson is a pediatrician and New York Times best -selling author of 10 books including the Care and Keeping of You series and Vanessa Kroll Bennett is a best -selling author and puberty educator. Together, they're two of the most trusted voices on puberty, co -authoring the national bestseller, This Is So Awkward: Modern Puberty Explained, and co -hosting This is So Awkward, the podcast. Cara and Vanessa run Less Awkward, the first company aimed at making puberty more comfortable with a membership for parents, an innovative health and sex ed curriculum for schools, and game -changing products. Cara and Vanessa speak to audiences across the country using science and humor to encourage open, albeit awkward, conversations. A relatable, reliable approach to help keep kids safe and healthy. They don't just hand out this advice, they live it. Between them, they are raising six teenagers. Y 'all, I'm so stoked for you to dive into this episode and to tune in to This is So Awkward, the podcast, and snag their book, This Is So Awkward. All right, folks, let's dive in. 

Connect with Cara and Vanessa:

Instagram: @less.awkward

Website: https://lessawkward.com/

Order the book: This Is So Awkward: Modern Puberty Explained

Podcast: This is So Awkward

Connect with us:

Instagram: @seed.and.sew 

Podcast page: Voices of Your Village

Seed and Sew's Regulation Quiz: Take the Quiz

Order Tiny Humans, Big Emotions now! 

Website: seedandsew.org

Music by: Ruby Adams and  Bensound

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You're listening to Voices of Your Village and today we are sharing an episode we've aired before with Gabor Maté. It's been two years since the air date and it's still one of our most popular episodes because it absolutely slays. I adore him. He's a renowned speaker and bestselling author. Dr. Gabor Maté is highly sought after for his expertise on a range of topics including addiction, stress, and childhood development. He's written several bestselling books, I love The Myth of Normal, there are so many more here, Realm of Hungry Ghosts, Close Encounters with Addiction, When the Body Says No, Exploring the Stress -Disease Connection, and Scattered Minds: How Attention Deficit Disorder Originates and What You Can Do About It. He has also co -authored Hold On to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More than Peers. He is so profound and I learn from him every time I get to hear him talk. I'm so excited to dive into this episode with you again because I learn new things every time I listen. All right, folks, let's dive in. 

Connect with Dr. Gabor Mate:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabormatemd/

Website: https://drgabormate.com/

Order the book: The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture

Connect with us:

Instagram: @seed.and.sew 

Podcast page: Voices of Your Village

Seed and Sew's Regulation Quiz: Take the Quiz

Order Tiny Humans, Big Emotions now! 

Website: seedandsew.org

Music by: Ruby Adams and Bensound

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You're listening to Voices of Your Village and today I'm so jazzed to share today's special episode with you. It's a sneak peek into our 2025 Seed Teacher Summit coming at you March 11th to the 13th. We're so grateful to have a brand new batch of incredible speakers this year and so many essential topics like Connecting with Kids who Challenge You, How to Handle Weapon Play at School, and Resilience for Educators. This is going to be a compilation episode with little snippets from a handful of the interviews just to give you a taste of what's to come and see if it's right for you. The Summit is free, F -R -E -E, to watch, so please share it with any educators, administrators, or fellow caregivers in your life who would benefit from learning more about supporting teachers and kids with the resources they need to thrive. We're all in this thing together, my friends, and it fills my cup to be able to hand over high -quality professional development and learning opportunities completely for free. Head on over to seedandsew.org/summit. That's seedandsew.org/summit to register. That's seedandsew.org/summit. All right, folks, let's dive in. 

Connect with us:

Seed Teacher Summit: https://www.seedandsew.org/summit

Instagram: @seed.and.sew 

Podcast page: Voices of Your Village

Seed and Sew's Regulation Quiz: Take the Quiz

Order Tiny Humans, Big Emotions now! 

Website: seedandsew.org

Music by: Ruby Adams and  Bensound

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You're listening to Voices of Your Village and today we get to talk about a topic that I really need consistently just around me in my space. We got to dive into learning to parent in the language of play with Georgie Wisen -Vincent. She co -authored with Dr. Tina Payne Bryson, one of my favorite parenting authors, their new book, The Way of Play. Georgie is the founder and director of the PlayStrong Institute, a center devoted to the study, research, and practice of play therapy through a neurodevelopment lens, along with Dr. Bryson, the founder and executive director of the Center for Connection, a multidisciplinary clinical practice in Southern California. These are two powerhouses in the field of child development, and I'm so jazzed about this book. It's a phenomenal resource, and you get to hear the real talk with Rach and I at the end in the breakdown. Head on out and snag The Way of Play if playing with the tiny humans doesn't come naturally to you either. I feel ya, my friends. Alright, folks, let's dive in. 

Connect with Georgie:

Instagram: @georgiewisenvincent

Website: https://playstronginstitute.com/the-way-of-play

Order the book: The Way of Play by Tina Payne Bryson and Georgie Wisen-Vincent

Connect with us:

Instagram: @seed.and.sew 

Podcast page: Voices of Your Village

Seed and Sew's Regulation Quiz: Take the Quiz

Order Tiny Humans, Big Emotions now! 

Website: seedandsew.org

Music by: Ruby Adams and Bensound

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to Voices of Your Village, and today I am hanging out with our very own Rachel Lounder. We got to chat about what it was like for her receiving stage four cancer diagnosis when Nora was just about to turn two, and parenting through it, and even now today, seven and a half years later, eight years later, what it looks like and how it shows up for her. If you know anyone who has received a cancer diagnosis, if you have received a cancer diagnosis, I hope this is helpful. We talk about things that were helpful for her, things that weren't helpful for her, and how her journey on the emotional side of this has ebbed and flowed and evolved. I'm so grateful that Rach is now cancer -free and count every day as a blessing that we get to have her. She is also the co -author of my upcoming book, Big Kids, Bigger Feelings, publishing in September. I'm so excited to get to do life with her and to share this conversation with y 'all. All right, folks, let's dive in. 

Connect with us:

Instagram: @seed.and.sew 

Podcast page: Voices of Your Village

Seed and Sew's Regulation Quiz: Take the Quiz

Order Tiny Humans, Big Emotions now! 

Website: seedandsew.org

Music by: Ruby Adams and  Bensound

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You're listening to Voices of Your Village. And today I get to hang out with Stefanie Hohl, who has a master's in education and has been teaching children to read for years. She holds advanced degrees in both children's literature and early education, and she has experience running preschool, homeschool, and local storytime programs. Stefanie developed the ABC: See, Hear, Do, Learn to Read method to make early reading fun and easy for kids and their parents. Stefanie lives in Pittsburgh with her husband, five children, and two very silly dogs. I really enjoyed this conversation because I don't know a lot about teaching kids to read. And I do know that what doesn't feel good for me is being like, sit down, do this worksheet. I know that my son who loves movement doesn't retain information this way. So I was really excited to learn from Stefanie and have personally purchased some of her materials because I'm really enjoying them. I love how she incorporates movement with reading. And I feel like I just get the best bang for my buck in terms of the time spent with my tiny human working on these skills. All right, folks, let's dive in. 

Connect with Stefanie:

Instagram: @abcseeheardo, @stefaniehohl

Website: www.abcseeheardo.com

Order the books: ABC See Hear Do

Connect with us:

Instagram: @seed.and.sew 

Podcast page: Voices of Your Village

Seed and Sew's Regulation Quiz: Take the Quiz

Order Tiny Humans, Big Emotions now! 

Website: seedandsew.org

Music by: Ruby Adams and Bensound

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to Voices of Your Village, and today I get to hang out with Kate Hamilton. She is married to Charlie since 2000 and is a mother of two young adult men who are independent, confident, and productive college students. Some might say she's an unlikely writer because of her dyslexia, yet her life experiences compelled her to write The Imperfect Parent: A Nonjudgmental Guide to Raising Children in the Modern World. She earned an MBA in international business and is a former corporate executive turned mother and entrepreneur. When Kate is not coaching parents and their children, you'll find her volunteering with Lemonade Day, a youth entrepreneur program, planning the next family adventure, or working with Charlie in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It was fun to chat with Kate because we know that perfection is not the goal. I also really enjoyed this breakdown with Rach, and you get to hear some of my real -time takeaways where Rach was helping me understand some guilt that I've been experiencing as a parent and really diving into like what's coming up for me there. I also just always feel so seen in how Rach responds to me in the moment. So I hope you enjoy the breakdown of this bad boy as well. All right, folks, let's dive in. 

Connect with Kate:

Instagram: @katehamiltonpr, @theimperfectparentbook

Website: www.kate-hamilton.com

Order the book: The Imperfect Parent: A Nonjudgmental Guide to Raising Children in the Modern World

Facebook: 

www.facebook.com/katehamiltonpr

https://www.facebook.com/share/19mXTLz35f/?mibextid=wwXIfr

LinkedIn: 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/katehamiltonpr?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app

Connect with us:

Instagram: @seed.and.sew 

Podcast page: Voices of Your Village

Seed and Sew's Regulation Quiz: Take the Quiz

Order Tiny Humans, Big Emotions now! 

Website: seedandsew.org

Music by: Ruby Adams and Bensound

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to Voices of Your Village, and in this episode, Rach and I chatted all about when kids are saying like rude things to you, those hurtful phrases that really dig deep, things like, you're stupid and all that jazz, you're the worst mom in the world. We also have way more about this in our book, Big Kids, Bigger Feelings, publishing in the fall of 2025. Snag that bad boy wherever books are sold. It is going to be packed full of stuff for navigating the elementary years that like kindergarten to fifth grade range, where we know a lot of these phrases. You're like, where did my sweet little human go? And why are they saying these rude things now? We've got your back. All right, folks, let's dive in. 

Connect with us:

Instagram: @seed.and.sew 

Podcast page: Voices of Your Village

Seed and Sew's Regulation Quiz: Take the Quiz

Order Tiny Humans, Big Emotions now! 

Website: seedandsew.org

Music by: Ruby Adams and Bensound

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to Voices of Your Village, and today I get to share a friend of mine with you. Dr. Patrick Makokoro is a social entrepreneur, an early childhood development practitioner, an educational researcher with extensive experience working in community and international development. I got to meet Patrick when we were both presenting at the World Forum for Early Childhood Education. I met him in Panama, and then we both bound up seeing each other again. We were selected as experts for UNESCO, for United Nations Education Congress, and there were nine experts selected globally, and he and I were each there and just ran into each other. He is a human who I love learning from and just being in conversation with. He's done such incredible work. I'm so jazzed to get to share about it with y 'all today and chat about what it looks like to navigate community and identity and how to engage children in conversation around this. The work that he's carried out includes early child education development program implementation in Africa and the US. He is the principal consultant at the HuUbuntu Consulting. It's a specialized consulting firm bringing strength -based philosophies to business and not -for -profits to manage strategic planning, influence grant making and philanthropy, team wellness, culture development, and building accountability. He's published various books, including a memoir called Nhaka Yenyu: Your Inheritance, a children's book series called Hu- Ubuntu: I Am Because We Are, and some academic books. Y'all, soak this human up. enjoy this conversation as much as I did. All right, let's dive in. 

Connect with Dr. Patrick Makokoro:

X:@patrickmakokoro

Website: huubuntuconsulting.com

Order the books: Nhaka Yenyu, Hu-Ubuntu: I Am Because We Are

Podcast: Voices Less Heard

Nhaka Foundation is a registered charity organization whose mission is to educate, feed, and improve the health of orphans and vulnerable children of Southern Africa. Please visit our website Nhaka Foundation 

Connect with us:

Instagram: @seed.and.sew 

Podcast page: Voices of Your Village

Seed and Sew's Regulation Quiz: Take the Quiz

Order Tiny Humans, Big Emotions now! 

Website: seedandsew.org

Music by: Ruby Adams and Bensound

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices