322. Parenting a Spicy One with Mary Van Geffen
Brave Writer
Julie Bogart and Melissa Wiley
4.8 • 927 Ratings
🗓️ 14 January 2026
⏱️ 62 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What if your child’s hardest behaviors aren’t a problem to fix, but an invitation to grow? In this episode, we sit down with Mary Van Geffen, author of Parenting a Spicy One, to explore what it really means to raise a strong-willed, sensitive, or explosive child. We talk about nervous systems, repair after blow-ups, and why slowing down is often the most effective parenting move. You’ll hear practical strategies, deeply humane insights, and a reframing of “difficult” kids that just might change everything. Join us, and let’s rethink what supportive parenting can look like.
Resources:
- Preorder Parenting a Spicy One for special bonuses! Details at Mary Van Geffen’s website: https://www.maryvangeffen.com
- Follow Mary on Instagram @maryvangeffen
- Find books mentioned in this episode in the Brave Writer Book Shop
- Brave Writer class registration is open!
- Visit Julie’s Substack to find her special podcast for kids (and a lot more!)
- Purchase Julie’s new book, Help! My Kid Hates Writing
- Find community in our membership forum, the Brave Learner Home
- Learn more about the Brave Writer Literature & Mechanics programs
- Start a free trial of CTCmath.com to try the math program that’s sure to grab and keep your child’s attention
- Give your child the gift of music! Sign up for a free month of private lessons with Maestro Music and let your child discover their own musical voice: www.maestromusic.online/brave
- Subscribe to Julie’s Substack newsletters, Brave Learning with Julie Bogart and Julie Off Topic, and Melissa’s Catalog of Enthusiasms
- Sign up for our Text Message Pod Ring to get podcast updates and more!
- Send us podcast topic ideas by texting us: +1 (833) 947-3684
- Interested in advertising with us? Reach out to media@bravewriter.com
Connect with Julie:
- Instagram: @juliebravewriter
- Threads: @juliebravewriter
- Bluesky: @bravewriter.com
- Facebook: facebook.com/bravewriter
Connect with Melissa:
- Website: melissawiley.com
- Substack: melissawiley.substack.com
- Instagram: @melissawileybooks
- Bluesky: @melissawiley.bsky.social
Produced by NOVA
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Looking for a great math program? |
| 0:03.0 | CTC Math provides online video tutorials that make learning math easy and effective |
| 0:10.0 | by using creative graphics and animation that are sure to grab and keep your child's attention. |
| 0:16.0 | Here's a great testimonial from Lori. |
| 0:19.0 | She said one day my 10-year-old was in tears over math. |
| 0:23.7 | I tried my best to help, but I ended up in tears as well. |
| 0:27.7 | That very night, I received an email offer for CTC Math. |
| 0:32.1 | The following Monday, we reviewed the curriculum together. |
| 0:35.8 | She was willing to give it a shot, and we have never looked back. |
| 0:39.3 | Start your free trial today by visiting ctcmath.com. |
| 0:48.3 | Well, look who's here. It's Mary Van Geffen. |
| 0:53.3 | I know so many of you follow her amazing collection of reels online. How the heck are you, Mary? I'm so good. I'm so glad to be with a couple old ladies like myself mentoring the youngsters. This is going to be fun. It's going to be great fun. And I just want to set the scene for everybody listening. Mary is maybe one of the more vibrant women on social media. She always has amazing earrings. Right now, I'm staring at these incredible glasses and a cheetah print top and blue paintings on the wall. Like, she brings liveliness and color everywhere she goes. So today |
| 1:29.8 | is going to be great fun. Mary, you have a brand new book out. Parenting a spicy one. How does that feel? |
| 1:36.4 | How does it feel to be an author? Oh, it's so cool. It's, it does it. You know what? I'll be honest, |
| 1:41.8 | it didn't feel real until I got an email that Mel Robinson had reviewed it and loved it and written a blurb. And then you wrote a blurb. And it was like, I'm official. And seeing other people react to it, makes it feel real. Because it's been something I've been living and breathing for almost 20 years. Wow. It's |
| 2:01.9 | really exciting to arrive at this point, although exhausting too, I think. How's it going like in this |
| 2:07.4 | launch moment for you? When does it officially come out? It comes out on February 10th and it still |
| 2:16.3 | it won't feel real until I have people I don't know sending me messages and saying, |
| 2:22.8 | oh my gosh, I tried the two by two method or I did the do-over or I tried your calming techniques. |
| 2:28.5 | Like as a true spicy one, I want to have impact on people. |
| 2:32.4 | That's a way of me feeling power is to know that I, |
| 2:35.8 | something I did changed the DNA of somebody else. And so that's when I'm still hyped up and |
... |
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