Home Podcasts Peace and Parenting: How to Parent without Punishments
Peace and Parenting: How to Parent without Punishments

Peace and Parenting: How to Parent without Punishments

Michelle Kenney, M. Ed 451 Episodes Aug 18, 2026

Peace and Parenting is a weekly podcast hosted by Michelle Kenney, a former teacher and certified parenting coach, that explores how to parent without punishments. Each episode offers insights and advice on connective parenting, featuring interviews with experts and Q&A sessions with parents. The show aims to help parents move away from yelling and shame toward a more peaceful approach that still maintains boundaries and limits. Michelle shares her personal experience as a recovering yeller and perfectionist, demonstrating that children can be successful and kind without being punished.

Episodes

Case Study: What If You're Already Enough?
Case Study: What If You're Already Enough? Aug 18, 2026 1784 Most of us carry a quiet belief that we have to be everything for our kids. If the other parent isn't showing up the way we wish they would, we tell ourselves it's on us to fill every gap. To be the nurturer and the rough-and-tumble one. To make up for what they didn't get, so they never feel the lack we felt. And we run ourselves into the ground trying.In this conversation, Mary, a mo
Your Kid Doesn't Need Two Houses That Agree, They Need One That's Safe
Your Kid Doesn't Need Two Houses That Agree, They Need One That's Safe Aug 11, 2026 1434 We've all been told the same thing. Kids need consistency above everything else. The same rules, the same bedtime, the same consequences in every home they live in. So when the other parent won't get on the same page, we panic. We send the articles. We lecture. We build the case. We pour ourselves into a fight we were never going to win, and we call it love.But here is the truth. Your chil
Rewards Are Punishments in Disguise
Rewards Are Punishments in Disguise Aug 4, 2026 616 For years, I thought I was doing everything right. I had left the yelling behind. I praised my girls constantly; I made star charts. I was a trained teacher and a school counselor, and I believed with my whole heart that catching kids being good was the kind, positive way to parent. I thought I was building my daughters up. What I could not see was that I was quietly teaching them that my warmth w
Play Instead of Punishment
Play Instead of Punishment Jul 28, 2026 1118 When your child is being hard, what is the first tool you reach for? A countdown. A consequence. A lecture. A raised voice. Almost every one of those is a version of the same instinct: when my child gets hard, I get harder. It makes complete sense, because that is exactly what we were taught to do. In this episode, I am making the case for the opposite. The single most powerful thing you can do in
Your Neurodivergent Child Doesn’t Need a Different Parent
Your Neurodivergent Child Doesn’t Need a Different Parent Jul 21, 2026 1234 When Cammie's son began struggling with school, anxiety, and sensory challenges, she heard the same message so many parents hear: maybe he needed a different approach. But instead of abandoning connection, she leaned into it, and watched something remarkable happen.In this episode, Coach Cammie shares her family's journey, from heartbreaking school drop-offs to the moment her son was final
Your Child is Not Disrespectful, They Are Dysregulated.
Your Child is Not Disrespectful, They Are Dysregulated. Jul 14, 2026 1477 For years, I believed that when my daughters pushed back, they were being defiant. Then one afternoon at the American Girl store, my youngest daughter had a public meltdown that completely changed the way I understood children's behavior and my role as a parent.In this episode, I'm sharing why behavior is communication, not defiance, and how learning to read the message beneath your child&
Breaking the Cycle: How to Parent Differently Than You Were Parented (with Coach Tim)
Breaking the Cycle: How to Parent Differently Than You Were Parented (with Coach Tim) Jul 7, 2026 1096 If you've ever caught yourself saying the very words you swore you'd never say to your child, you're not alone. I've been there too. In this episode, we’re sharing why breaking generational parenting patterns isn't a matter of trying harder or having more willpower. It's about recognizing the blueprint you inherited and learning how to write a new one. Through personal stor
The Quiet Child Nobody Worries About: What's Actually Going On
The Quiet Child Nobody Worries About: What's Actually Going On Jun 30, 2026 1110 Most of us were raised to believe that a "good" child is a calm child, who does not push back, does not melt down, does not make the adults around them uncomfortable. We have spent generations praising children for the absence of need. But the absence of need is not the same as the absence of pain. There is a kind of child (and you may have one in your house right now) who looks easy from
The Hidden Cost of Emotionally Immature Parents (And How to Stop Passing It On)
The Hidden Cost of Emotionally Immature Parents (And How to Stop Passing It On) Jun 23, 2026 1082 Many of us grew up in homes where emotions were dismissed, mistakes were punished, and children learned to manage the feelings of the adults around them. As parents, we often recognize those patterns intellectually, but recognizing them and changing them are two very different things. In this episode, Michelle explores the long-term effects of growing up with emotionally immature parents and why a
Why Calling Your Kid "Difficult" Changes Who They Become
Why Calling Your Kid "Difficult" Changes Who They Become Jun 16, 2026 1118 Somewhere along the way, maybe out loud, maybe just in your own head, you started calling one of your children the difficult one. The intense one. The spirited one. The one with the issues. And you love them, of course you do. But quietly, where no one can see, you have wondered if something is wrong with them. Or with you. Or with both of you. If that sounds familiar, you are not alone, and there
The Manipulation Myth: What's Really Happening When Your Kid Acts Out
The Manipulation Myth: What's Really Happening When Your Kid Acts Out Jun 9, 2026 888 I had been told the same story since I became a mom: “children are manipulative”, “They do that on purpose”. I believed it. I bargained and threatened, my daughter melted down harder, and the wall between us got higher. I had been told kids push their parents because they want the power, so I tried to take the power back. It didn't work. It actually never works, because that is not what is rea
Why Your Child Listens to Everyone But You (And What to Do About It)
Why Your Child Listens to Everyone But You (And What to Do About It) Jun 2, 2026 749 Why does my child listen to everyone but me? I remember being there myself. I was a teacher and counselor for thirteen years before I had kids, and I could not get my own oldest daughter to cooperate for five minutes. I thought, I am trained for this. What is wrong with me? Nothing was wrong with me. And nothing is wrong with you.The truth is, what most of us were taught about cooperation is wrong

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