Maggie Dent’s simple advice for helping kids with Big Feelings

There’s a reason Maggie Dent is known as the “queen of common sense”.

The author, parenting educator and host of LiSTNR’s new podcast The Good Enough Dad is adept at turning the most stressful of parenting problems into a simple, insightful solution.

Which is exactly what she did for Hamish Blake in episode one of The Good Enough Dad podcast.

Hear the full episode:

Blake is, of course, one half of Australia’s number one podcasting duo Hamish & Andy, as well as host of Lego Masters, his own parenting podcast How Other Dads Dad and Father of the Year 2023.

But even Fathers of the Year need advice from Maggie. After recounting his biggest parenting fail to Maggie, Hamish asked a question that is almost sure to have been asked by every other parent in the world at some stage or another: What’s the best way to deal with Big Feelings?

“We know while they’re still flooded that they’re allowed to be flooded,” Maggie said. “Because when they’re saying those things, especially those big things like ‘You don’t love me!’, that’s a way for her to discharge big cortisol out of her brain and her body.

“But what we want her to do is as it’s depleting, we want to be able to turn that around.”

Hear exactly what Maggie recommends below:

Aside from parenting fails and Big Feelings, Hamish and Maggie ran the full gamut on what it is to be parented, and to be a parent, covering everything from the trap Hamish warns other parents not to fall into, and how being named Father of the Year took a full two days before his kids were using it to one-up him.

The Good Enough Dad is available now on the LiSTNR app.

LiSTNR is the home of podcasts. Download the app and listen for free, and head to “Kids” section for more family friendly podcasts.