TPP 404: Sara Olsher on Walking Children Through Hard Seasons of Life
episode
Full-Tilt Parenting: Strategies, Insights, and Connection for Parents Raising Neurodivergent Children
42 min
1 speaker
4 chapters
transcribed 1 day ago
Transcript
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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But the number one thing that I am seeing with parents not wanting to have these conversations is that they don't know how. And when you're Googling how to talk to your kids about cancer, there's a lot more resources out there now than there were before. But I still think it's true with like divorce or other illnesses. You Google it and they say, make sure the conversation's age appropriate, and then they don't tell you what age appropriate is. So how are you supposed to have this conversation? And especially if it's a big emotional thing that's happening to you. Your brain is not able to come up with creative ways to like say things. So it just defaults to not having the conversation at all.
I'm Debbie Rieber, and welcome to Tilt Parenting, a podcast featuring interviews and conversations aimed at inspiring, informing, and supporting parents raising differently wired kids. As my guest for today's episode says, nobody gets out of going through life unscathed, meaning we're all gonna have big, difficult things to navigate. It's just a part of life. And when going through those difficulties while also parenting, it's on us to make sure we support. Our kids in making sense of things in ways that are healthy and can actually foster resilience. But how exactly do we do that? My guest today, author illustrator Sarah Ulsher, is an advocate for speaking to kids of all ages about all the big things that are happening in our families with honesty and giving them the actual information about what's happening.
Sarah comes to this work from her own experience of having important conversations. Conversations with her daughter while going through a messy divorce and then shortly after getting a cancer diagnosis. She says, even though it felt scary to use the word cancer, Sarah knew she wanted her daughter to form an understanding of what she was going through with accurate information. As Sarah shared in our conversation, developmentally, from a child's perspective, the whole world revolves around them. So if you don't talk with children about these things, they're going to invent a story about what's happening that they are the center of and they may come to the conclusion that it's somehow their fault. I love talking with people who've taken their personal experiences and hard-won wisdom and turned it into learning and tools to support others going through similar things so they can feel more confident.
And that's exactly what Sarah did and what she shares with us today. You'll hear about navigating her divorce and how her daughter's anxiety became an opportunity to learn the power of visual schedules and open communication and helping children cope with difficult situations. She'll also tell us about the series of children's books she's written to help parents talk about heavy topics like chronic illness, hospice, cancer, and big messy emotions. One of the things that really struck me from this conversation was how going through these hard seasons can actually prepare our kids to live with uncertainty. In addition to her children's books, Sarah is also the founder of Mighty and Bright, a company that helps kids and adults understand.
And manage their lives more easily using magnetic visual schedules. You'll hear her talk about how visual schedules were something she encountered almost by accident and how they transformed her daughter's anxiety overnight. They sound like a game changer for all kinds of families, so I encourage you to check out those resources as well. As always, you'll find all the links in the show notes page. But for now, here is my conversation with Sarah Ulsher. Hey Sarah, welcome to the podcast.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–7:10
2
Why is honest communication essential when discussing divorce and illness with children?
7:10–22:47
3
How did Sara’s daughter’s anxiety lead to the discovery of visual schedules?
22:47–33:03
4
What are visual schedules and how do they reduce a child’s anxiety overnight?
33:03–42:02
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from Full-Tilt Parenting: Strategies, Insights, and Connection for Parents Raising Neurodivergent Children
TPP 266a: A Conversation with Poet and Advocate LeDerick Horne
TPP 522: A Whole Child Approach to ADHD with Phil Boucher, M.D.
TPP 091a: A Conversation With Steve Silberman About His Book “Neurotribes”
TPP 521: A Conversation with Dr. Peter Gray About Restoring Childhood
TPP 253a: Advocate and Author Jonathan Mooney on Why Normal Sucks
TPP 520: Dr. Özgür Bolat on Why Rewards Backfire and the Real Science of Motivating Kids