The Whole Parent Podcast

This episode is for the parent quietly watching from the sidelines, wondering if their child is falling behind socially—or if they’re the only one who seems worried about it. We step into those moments where your kid hangs back, plays alone, gravitates toward adults, or misses social cues, and we slow the whole story down. Instead of rushing to labels or fixes, this conversation reframes social “lag” as temperament, context, and skill development unfolding on its own timeline. We explore how easily our own childhood wounds sneak into our fears, how extroversion gets mistaken for health, and why opting out isn’t the same thing as being excluded. Most of all, this episode offers relief: a way to see your child more clearly, respond with curiosity instead of panic, and trust that many of the traits that worry us at six can become strengths later—if we don’t shame them out of existence first. Send us a textCLICK HERE to Register or learn more about the 5 Brain Hacks that will CHANGE your LIFE  Support the showLinks to help you and me: To support the Podcast, Subscribe on Substack Get Jon’s Top Five Emotional Regulation Games Get Jon’s Book Punishment-Free Parenting Preorder Jon’s Children’s Book Set My Feelings Free Follow Whole Parent on Instagram, Tiktok, Facebook, Youtube

In this episode, Jon sits with one of the most charged moments in parenting—the car door open, practice about to start, and a child saying, “I don’t want to do this anymore.” Through personal story and real parent questions, he explores why quitting is rarely about laziness or lack of grit, but about how kids experience overwhelm, unfairness, and frustration in their bodies.Parents will walk away with a steadier way to tell the difference between healthy discomfort and too much, language for guiding kids through hard beginnings, and permission to think in smaller units—finishing the chapter, not the whole book—as they help their children learn perseverance without sacrificing trust or connection. Send us a textCLICK HERE to Register or learn more about the 5 Brain Hacks that will CHANGE your LIFE  Support the showLinks to help you and me: To support the Podcast, Subscribe on Substack Get Jon’s Top Five Emotional Regulation Games Get Jon’s Book Punishment-Free Parenting Preorder Jon’s Children’s Book Set My Feelings Free Follow Whole Parent on Instagram, Tiktok, Facebook, Youtube

In this episode, Jon addresses one of the most loaded questions parents ask quietly: what does it mean when my child wants to play guns, war, or “bad guys”? Grounded in the idea that most parents aren’t reacting to the play itself, but to the meaning they’re afraid it carries, he looks beneath the behavior to what high-arousal play is actually doing in a child’s brain. All of this plus "What to actually do...." Send us a textCLICK HERE to Register or learn more about the 5 Brain Hacks that will CHANGE your LIFE  Support the showLinks to help you and me: To support the Podcast, Subscribe on Substack Get Jon’s Top Five Emotional Regulation Games Get Jon’s Book Punishment-Free Parenting Preorder Jon’s Children’s Book Set My Feelings Free Follow Whole Parent on Instagram, Tiktok, Facebook, Youtube

This episode is a quiet, reflective departure from Jon’s usual teaching format—part science, part story, part meditation on what parenting does to the human brain. Beginning with the migration of the Arctic tern, Jon explores how love quite literally rewires us, asking what happens when the self itself begins to migrate in service of another.Parents will walk away with a deeper understanding of neuroplasticity, caregiving, and identity—and a tender reassurance that feeling disoriented, changed, or unlike your former self isn’t a failure of parenting, but evidence that love is doing its work. Send us a textCLICK HERE to Register or learn more about the 5 Brain Hacks that will CHANGE your LIFE Support the showLinks to help you and me: To support the Podcast, Subscribe on Substack Get Jon’s Top Five Emotional Regulation Games Get Jon’s Book Punishment-Free Parenting Preorder Jon’s Children’s Book Set My Feelings Free Follow Whole Parent on Instagram, Tiktok, Facebook, Youtube

Friday yap with the Mrs.Send us a textCLICK HERE to Register or learn more about the 5 Brain Hacks that will CHANGE your LIFE  Support the showLinks to help you and me: To support the Podcast, Subscribe on Substack Get Jon’s Top Five Emotional Regulation Games Get Jon’s Book Punishment-Free Parenting Preorder Jon’s Children’s Book Set My Feelings Free Follow Whole Parent on Instagram, Tiktok, Facebook, Youtube