When a child believes the unkind story about themselves, reassurance can feel impossible. Kind words may sound boastful or untrue, while harshness feels more honest.

In this episode, Amy Smythe is joined by family therapist Denise Bevan to explore what is happening when children get stuck in painful self talk. Together, they reflect on development, emotional safety, and why some well meant responses create space for children while others create pressure.

This is not a conversation about fixing or convincing. It is about attunement, noticing, and holding both truths at once. What you can see in your child and what they are genuinely experiencing.

There are times when children begin to make themselves smaller. They apologise for taking up space, soften their needs, or quieten parts of themselves that once felt free. Often this is not a problem to fix, but a response to what feels safe around them.

In this episode, Amy Smythe and family therapist Denise Bevan gently expore what it can mean when being "too much" starts to feel unsafe. They reflect on the difference between adaptability and self erasure, and how children learn to shape themselves in response to their environments and relationships.

This conversation invites a compassionate lens on belonging, context, and nervous system safety. It offers reassurance that noticing these moments with care can help children feel held, seen, and safer to be themselves again.

When a child can only see what they've done wrong, reassurance often isn't enough.

In this episode, Amy Smythe and family therapist Denise Bevan, gently explore why children can become stuck in self-critical stories, and what it can mean for a grownup to hold the good stories a child can't yet see.

This compassionate conversation reflects on why reassurance so often fails in these moments, and how witnessing rather than convincing can help children feel safer when big feelings and self-doubt take over.

When things wobble in our relationships, whether with children, partners, or ourselves, it can feel unsettling and confusing. Moments of disconnection can arrive suddenly, leaving us unsure how to find our way back.

In this gentle conversation, Amy Smythe and family therapist Denise Bevan explore the process of rupture and repair. They reflect on why wobbles are a natural part of being human, how children experience these moments differently from adults, and what helps us return to connection when things feel too big.

This episode offers a compassionate understanding of how repair builds emotional safety and trust. It invites a calmer, kinder way of being with conflict and overwhelm, reminding us that small moments of repair can carry great healing.

If you have ever wondered how to reconnect after a difficult moment, or how to support a child when emotions run high, this conversation offers reassurance that you are not alone, and that connection can be found again.

When feelings grow too overwhelming for words, children do not need perfect explanations. They need us.

In this gentle and grounding conversation, Amy Smythe and Denise Bevan explore what happens when emotions become too big to explain, and why a calm, steady presence can be the safety children are searching for.

With compassion and insight, they reflect on how co-regulation, emotional safety, and nonverbal connection help children move through intense moments. They also consider why staying alongside, rather than rushing to fix or explain, allows both children and grownups to find their way through.

This episode offers reassurance that when words fall short, your presence is doing far more than you might realise, along with a kinder, wiser understanding of what it truly means to support a child through emotional overwhelm.

Big feelings often show up in our bodies before we have words for them, especially for children. Tight tummies, restless legs, or a sudden urge to move can all be signs that anxiety or overwhelm is present.

In this episode, Amy Smythe and family therapist Denise Bevan gently explore how learning to listen to the body can help us understand what is really going on beneath big feelings. Together, they share simple, compassionate ways to pause, notice, and respond, both for ourselves and for the children we care for.

This conversation offers a reassuring reminder that body awareness can help children feel more understood and less alone, and includes a playful invitation to try the body detective game at home.

Stepping into uncomfortable spaces can stir fear, worry, and a strong urge to fix things quickly, especially when children are involved.

In this opening episode, Amy Smythe and family therapist Denise Bevan explore what it can feel like when anxiety rises and nothing feels easy, and what might shift when we meet those feelings with curiosity instead of urgency.

With warmth and honesty, they wonder together about courage, fear, and the delicate balance between wanting to protect and needing to grow, for ourselves and the children we care for.

This conversation invites a kinder way of being with big feelings, offering reassurance that discomfort doesn't always need fixing. Someitmes, it needs witnessing. And you don't have to navigate these moments alone.