Calm & Connected Podcast, Families
Janine Halloran
Practicing SEL through Play: An Interview with ...

How do we teach our children social and emotional awareness in a fun and play filled way? Eventually our children will become adults so when they walk out into the world, we want them to step into their lives as aware and in control of their emotions as possible. 

In this episode we discuss:


Calm & Connected Podcast, Families
Janine Halloran
Helping Kids with Friendships and Social ...

Have you noticed social skills missing in your kids? Caroline Maguire, author of Why Will No One Play With Me?, joins me to discuss how to support your child and build them up through play.

Here’s some of the areas we cover:


Calm & Connected Podcast, Families
Janine Halloran
A Conversation about School Readiness with ...

The transition to preschool to elementary school can be such an anxious time for both parents and for the children. There’s a lot of unknowns to get them ready for and sometimes we think there’s lots we have to do to prepare them for starting. Today we discuss what you can do to help reduce anxiety for your little one with nursery practitioner, Caroline Allen. 

In this episode they discuss:


Calm & Connected Podcast, Families
Janine Halloran
Bullying in Middle School Through the Lens of a ...

Sexual assault and harassment, sadly happens in schools on a too regular basis, whether that’s happening peer to peer or even between teacher to student. We hope our children never have to experience this. Knowing how to parent our children to take ownership of their bodies, so they know how to say no is key. We discuss how to navigate through abuse, bullying, harassment so they can get help is just as vital.  

In this episode, I speak with Meghan Joyce Tozer, author of the critically acclaimed novel Night, Forgotten and her annotated middle school diary, UnSlut: A Diary and a Memoir, which she wrote under the pen name Emily Lindin. 

The topics we cover in this episode are:

Bullying in Middle School Through the Lens of a Middle School Diary and Memoir
Calm & Connected Podcast, Families
Janine Halloran
Introduction to Montessori Philosophy with ...

Have you ever considered a different educational style for your children besides the conventional method? If so, perhaps you have heard of the Montessori method. It is based on self-directed activity, hands-on learning and collaborative play. In Montessori classrooms children make creative choices in their learning, while the classroom and the highly trained teacher offer age-appropriate activities to guide the process. In this episode, I spoke to Montessori Home Consultant, Jeanne-Marie Paynel about the benefits of this education style. 

The topics we cover in this episode are:

Introduction to Montessori Philosophy with Jeanne-Marie Paynel

group challenges

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Three Fun Group Activities to Practice Working Together

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Three Fun Group Activities to Practice Working Together

Sometimes kids need a little practice on working together as a group. In this episode of the podcast, I discuss three different activities you can do to create some teachable moments around working together in groups. Take a listen and get playing!

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Creating and Using Teachable Moments to Practice Social Skills

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Creating and Using Teachable Moments to Practice Social Skills

I love using group settings with kids to work on social skills because it can be a microcosm of the playground, recess, or other social situations. In the podcast, you’ll hear how I like to structure groups to be effective, and that I love messy groups!

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You are a Social Detective Book Review and Group Activity Ideas

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You are a Social Detective Book Review and Group Activity Ideas

You Are a Social Detective is a great introduction to Michelle Garcia Winner’s Social Thinking, written especially for kids who struggle in social situations. The book is divided into 3 different sections. Whenever I use this book as a teaching tool, I read one section at a time.

The first section focuses on having different kinds of smarts, including school smarts and social smarts. It discusses how we use social smarts all the time, whenever we are around others. This is so important for kids to understand. You need to be using your social smarts anytime you’re around others. This section also focuses on expected behaviors and the consequences of those actions. If we do things that are expected, other people feel good and want to be around us more.

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