Welcome to the follow-up. I'm Dr. Mona, your pediatrician and mom friend. This is your Monday

parenting pick-me-up, a quick gem from a past episode to remind you, you've got this, even if you

forgot where you put your keys. Hint, they're in the refrigerator. Today we're revisiting a conversation

with Dina Margolin and Kristen Galant, the co-founders of

Big Little Feelings.

Dina is a licensed marriage and family therapist specializing in early childhood development

and a mom, and Kristen is a parent coach and mom as well.

Together, they've created a viral platform offering relatable guidance to help parents navigate

the toddler years with confidence.

In this episode of the follow-up, we discuss effective strategies to use instead of yelling,

overreacting, or telling your toddler to calm down. Spoiler alert, those approaches often backfire.

Let's dive in.

Okay, so perhaps a very common one is food throwing.

So whether your child is 12 months or five years, that's for all of these scripts, by the

way, it's all the same and it's all those same three steps.

So with food throwing, instead of having a really big reaction,

I told you a million times, don't throw food. No, no, no, no, no. Dean is going to tell you what to do.

Okay, here's what you can try. So you can let them know when you throw food, it tells me you're all

done. Are you all done? Right? We're giving them this

warning. We're helping bring awareness to the food throwing. And then after that warning, the moment

you see them throw food, you're going to swoop in with that boundary and say, I see throwing,

okay, all done now. Next time we eat, we'll be snack time after we play outside

...