1233: Big Kids, Bigger Feelings: Navigating Defiance, Meltdowns & Anxiety with Alyssa Blask Campbell
Emotionally Uncomfortable
Hosted by Heather Chauvin | Insights inspired by Mel Robbins, Bréne Brown, Danielle Laporte, Elizab
4.6 • 576 Ratings
🗓️ 8 October 2025
⏱️ 45 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
"It's not our job to remove every obstacle from our children's path. It's our job to walk with them through it."
In this conversation, Heather sits down with Alyssa Black Campbell, author of Big Kids, Bigger Feelings, for a powerful discussion on emotional safety, nervous system regulation, and what kids really need to thrive at home and in the classroom.
They explore the myth of middle childhood being the "easiest" phase, how trauma-informed education changes lives, and why parenting is deeply personal, emotional, and yes sometimes selfish.
🩶What happens when we stop trying to fix every feeling and instead teach our kids how to feel them
🩶Why understanding your child's unique nervous system is the key to emotional regulation
🩶How to support educators, avoid reactive parenting, and reframe "bad behavior" as unmet needs
This is a deeply validating conversation for anyone raising, teaching, or mentoring kids and especially those navigating the messiness of big feelings.
About Alyssa
Alyssa Blask Campbell, M.Ed., is a bestselling author, as well as founder and CEO of Seed & Sew. Her mission is to change the way adults experience children's emotions so we can respond with intention to raise emotionally intelligent humans.
Her new book, Big Kids, Bigger Feelings: Navigating Defiance, Meltdowns, Anxiety to Raise Confident, Connected Kids (HarperCollins Publishers, September 16, 2025) is an essential guide to supporting children's social and emotional growth through the elementary school years (ages 5–12), a critical but often-overlooked developmental stage.
Alyssa's first book, Tiny Humans, Big Emotions: How to Navigate Tantrums, Meltdowns, and Defiance to Raise Emotionally Intelligent Children (HarperCollins Publishers, October 2023) is an empathetic guide to empower parents, teachers, and caregivers to help their little ones navigate their big feelings while laying the groundwork for a lifetime of emotional intelligence.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | All right. Alyssa, we're back. Another book, another conversation. Welcome. |
| 0:06.6 | Thank you. Yeah. Just keep cranking out books to hang out with you, Heather. |
| 0:10.2 | Yeah. That's all. I mean, we could have a conversation with the blood, sweat, and tears and fetal |
| 0:16.3 | position cries. I was actually speaking to someone yesterday who helped me with my last book proposal. And I was |
| 0:22.6 | like, I think it's coming. And she's like, okay. And then she was just like so blunt and honest. |
| 0:28.5 | And I was like, bring it. It's like you sign up for an endurance event. It is a marathon. That is for sure. |
| 0:36.5 | And still just riding that wave. I mean, even humans you know it's the proposal it's the offer it's the writing the editing all that just and then publishing and booktour and i was a billion weeks pregnant when that published 32 weeks pregnant i think when that one that one published. And then 22 months later, |
| 0:55.3 | it hit the New York Times bestseller list. And that was because we just kept talking about it. |
| 1:01.4 | You know, so it's not even like, well, once it's out in the world, you're like, huh, it's like, |
| 1:05.8 | no, it's still sharing about it. It doesn't end these book babies. Yes. So I actually have a list of all the things I |
| 1:14.0 | wanted to ask you, but I'm like, feel, I want to go a little detour for a second. Great. And stay on |
| 1:20.4 | this book topic because obviously there's a deeper why. There's like an ache and an earning |
| 1:27.4 | and a poll to put this message out |
| 1:30.8 | in the world and before we even uh hit record and had this conversation you were talking about |
| 1:37.3 | um you know the time and energy you're away from your family during launching because you you know, you're on planes and you're |
| 1:45.8 | putting this message out into the world. So I'm just curious if you would talk a little bit about |
| 1:51.2 | that because I see so many people who it's this duality of I want to be present or be at home |
| 1:58.6 | with my family. And then yet I have this big message inside of me that |
| 2:03.2 | like won't leave me alone and I want to make an impact in the world. So can you just like talk |
| 2:07.2 | a little bit honestly about that process for you? Yeah, 100%. I mean, I have two tiny humans and |
| 2:14.4 | on a given day, vacillate between I want to quit my job and hide away and just |
| 2:19.8 | hang out with them and do nothing else and then pull into, gosh, this work is too important. And I'm not |
... |
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