Welcome to this podcast which focuses on helping parents and adults survive and thrive with challenging children. My name is Dr. Pat McGuire. I am a developmental & behavioral pediatrician who, over the last 30+ years has worked with more than 3000 children and their families, in order to create positive, healthy families. Our society is realizing that raising children to be healthy, happy, and productive adults is more challenging than originally thought. We are seeing the effects of toxic stress on the integrity of families and in the physical and mental health outcomes of children. This podcast will look at a variety of topics that will help parents and professionals rethink how they see and respond or react to children and adolescents. I will challenge many adults to consider how they decided to interact with children and if it was based on sound developmental knowledge, or a history of "That's the way it has always been."