How to Raise Happy, Healthy Children in an Anxious World (with Todd Sarner, LMFT)

About this episode

Gentle parenting. Strict parenting. Free-range, attachment, screen-free, let-them-be-bored. Every philosophy has a following and a comment section, and for parents, it can be overwhelming. Meanwhile teachers are reporting a generation of kids who can't handle boredom, can't hear the word no, and fall apart the first time something doesn't go their way. Jesse sits down with Todd Sarner — a licensed marriage and family therapist, former Neufeld Institute faculty, and the author of The Calm & Connected Parent — for a 101 on what actually works. Why you don't have to be a perfect parent, and why perfectionists often struggle the most. What attachment science actually says, and the difference between a secure and an anxious kid. Todd's framework of connection, regulation, and guidance — and why your kids need you to be an alpha, calm, and aligned parent. Why the gentle-versus-strict pendulum on Instagram misses the point entirely. And Jesse gets honest about what happens inside him when three kids get loud at once. Then it gets practical: a fifteen-second breathing reset you can do in the car with the kids in the back seat, why giving a hug bigger ends a meltdown faster, and how to fi