The Baffling Behavior Show {Parenting after Trauma}
Formerly the Parenting after Trauma podcast, internationally recognized children's mental health expert Robyn Gobbel decodes the most baffling behaviors for parents of kids with vulnerable nervous systems. If you're parenting a child who has experienced trauma or toxic stress or a child with a neuroimmune disorder, sensory processing, or other nervous system vulnerability, this show will let you know you are not alone. You can stop playing behavior whack-a-mole because Robyn offers you tools that actually work.
You can become your child's expert, feel more confident as a parent, and bring more connection and clarity into your family.
Educators, therapists, coaches and consultants- you too can learn all about what behavior really is and become more effective at helping the families you support. You can love your work again!
Episodes
373 episodes
EP 272: Where Do I Even Start? A Brand New Listener's Roadmap
When life is overwhelming and your kid's behavior makes no sense — and feels like it's getting worse — even the best resources get hard to use. You're too dysregulated to sort through 270 episodes or an almost 300-page book to figure out where ...
EP 271: 4 Functions of Behavior, FBAs, and a Nervous System Approach
For years, "the four functions of behavior" has been the go-to framework for understanding why kids do what they do: attention, escape, access to tangibles, sensory. It's not wrong, but it's not the whole story either. In this episode, we dig i...
EP 270: What is Your Kid's Nervous System Predicting? (Part 3 of 3)
We've been in a three-part series on sticky behaviors (behaviors that don’t seem to change, no matter WHAT you do!), and today we're doing the detective work: what is your specific child's nervous system actually predicting? In T...
EP 269: What Actually Changes Sticky Behaviors (Part 2 of 3)
Part 1 was about why sticky behaviors stay stuck. Part 2 is where the hope lives. We're diving into the two mechanisms that actually change sticky behaviors at the neurological level. This is the episode that makes the hardest ask of Part - shi...
EP 268: Why Sticky Behaviors Stay Stuck (Part 1 of 3)
If you've tried everything and a behavior just won't stop…that's a sticky behavior. Let's dive deeeeeep into the neuroscience behind the behaviors that feel impossible to change. We'll touch on how the brain stores predictions and how the most ...
Ep. 267: Boredom Triggers Dysregulation
When kids can't tolerate boredom, it's easy to forget to put on our X-ray vision goggles and chalk it up to too much screen time or even not enough gratitude. Our kids’ reaction to boredom triggers OUR watchdog brain! If we can invite our owl t...
EP 266: When Things Are Genuinely Impossible: One Dad’s Story
A dad - who is also a former foster youth and the director of non-profit supporting foster and adoptive families - shares an honest and tender conversation about what it's actually like to parent kids with big, baffling behaviors when life is a...
EP 265: Nothing Changed & Everything Changed - A mom interview
A single mom who adopted boy-girl twins through foster care shares about her slow, almost invisible journey from survival mode to genuinely delighting in her now-13-year-old kids. Nothing shifted in one big moment. Yet somehow, everything...
EP 264: Responding to the Judgement and Advice from Others
Parenting kids with big, baffling behaviors is hard enough. THEN someone has opinions about it. This episode breaks down why people say the things they say, what's actually happening in you when judgment lands, and how to respond- or n...
EP 263: The Framework That Works on Everyone in the Room
Whether you're supporting a dysregulated eight-year-old, a parent who's convinced nothing is working, or the version of yourself driving home after a really hard week, the science is exactly the same. Let’s look at how the theory under...
EP 262: Why Helpers Burn Out- and what to do about it
The helpers ~ therapists, coaches, teachers, advocates ~ are burning out at alarming rates. We talk endlessly about self-care, caseload management, and having better boundaries but almost nobody is addressing the root cause. This is...
EP 261: When It's Not Working: Troubleshooting
You've learned about the nervous system, you're trying to co-regulate, you're thinking about felt safety and connection — and the behavior is still happening! WHY?!?! This episode is a troubleshooting guide for exactly that moment. Instead of g...
{REPLAY} Is Co-Regulation Just Coddling??
This episode originally aired in September 2024. Almost every time I teach, especially if there are folks in the audience not already familiar with my work or the concept of co-regulation, someone asks the very valid...
EP 260: No Strategy Will Fix This: What Actually Helped Instead
Listen in on a conversation I have with a Club member whose family lived through years of intense, violent, and deeply isolating behavior…and eventually found their way to something different. It’s a story about holding onto the truth of who yo...
EP 259: Holding Hope when your Child's Behavior is Truly Dangerous
Parenting a child with big, baffling behaviors can feel terrifying sometimes. Especially when those behaviors aren’t just frustrating… they’re dangerous. In this episode, I’m talking with a parent who knows that reality deeply, and who is also ...
EP 258: Creating a Connected Classroom with Marti Smith & Amie Huggins
What if the biggest barrier to learning in the classroom isn’t behavior… but safety?Teachers are overwhelmed. Kids are dysregulated. And somewhere in the middle, everyone is trying their best…but it’s not working the way we hoped. In thi...
EP 257: One Reason why Kids Melt Down after School
When your kid melts down after school, it seems like they just have a bad attitude or don’t want to do homework. But sometimes those explosions have less to do with behavior and more to do with a nervous system that has been working hard to han...
EP 256: When Behavior Feels Personal, It Might Actually Be Sensory
Have you ever had one of those moments where your child completely loses it over the wrong cup, a sibling getting too close, or one tiny thing at the end of the day? It can feel like they are actually mad at you- or their sibling. But actually,...
EP 255: Grieving as a Parent with a History of Trauma: Part 6 of 6
The Grief No One Talks About in Trauma-Informed ParentingSometimes the hardest part of parenting isn’t your child’s behavior, it’s the grief that rises up inside you. The grief of not getting what you needed. The grief of still h...
{RERECORD} But....What about a Consequence?!
This episode is an update and re-record of episode 56Consequences. Punishments. Limits. Boundaries.These words don't mean the same thing but we often use them interchangeably.In this episode, we get clear on what...
EP 254: Identifying Your Triggers as a Parent with a History of Trauma: Part 5 of 6
If you’re parenting a child with a vulnerable nervous system when you have your own history of trauma, you know that sometimes your reaction isn’t really about what’s happening in front of you; it’s about what’s happened before. In thi...
{RERECORD} The Stress Response System
This is a re-record of a foundation episode, episode 94The Stress Response System plays a huge role in our children's behaviors and also how we perceive those behaviors.In this episode, you’ll learn:W...
EP 253: Caring for your Own Watchdog and Possum as a Parent with a History of Trauma: Part 4 of 6
Content note: This episode discusses trauma, nervous system activation, and protective responses such as shutdown, dissociation, anger, and urgency. There are no graphic details, but please take care while listening.If you have ...
{RERECORD} Connection or Protection
This is a re-record of a foundation episode, episode 7The brain has two modes- connection or protection.Protective behaviors include opposition, defiance, aggression- basically, any behavior that doesn't invite connectio...
EP 252: Nurturing Your Window of Tolerance as a Parent with a History of Trauma Part 3 of 6
Content note: This episode discusses trauma, parenting stress, nervous system activation, and self-compassion. There are no graphic details, but please take care while listening.Parenting a child with a vulnerable nervous system can stre...