What if we told you that forcing kids to “be friends” is doing more harm than good? In this episode, Instructor Mike breaks down why preschool friendships should be treated more like speed dating than marriage — flexible, short-term, and emotionally honest.

You’ll learn why telling children to “be nice” and “like everybody” teaches them to perform emotions rather than regulate them. Instead, Mike offers a developmentally sound approach that respects emotional boundaries, nurtures resilience, and builds real emotional intelligence from the start.

If you’re a parent, teacher, or caregiver who’s tired of feel-good but developmentally false advice, this episode is for you. Let’s stop scripting feelings — and start raising emotionally healthy kids.

Preschoolers aren’t just cute—they’re complex. In this powerful episode of Family Matters with Instructor Mike, we break down the most common behavioral and emotional challenges in children ages 3 to 5—like lying, sibling jealousy, impulse control, and social regression—and pair each with the specific parenting skill required to solve it.

Inside this episode:

• The brain science behind preschool behavior

• Real-world skill gaps and the consequences of parenting unprepared

• Where to go to learn each of these developmentally essential skills

Preschool isn’t just playtime—it’s the blueprint stage for emotional literacy, moral identity, and lifelong learning habits. Don’t just supervise this season. Train for it.

Because love is not enough. Skill is what makes it safe.

Why do some families make you feel guilty for keeping your peace?

Why does it feel like you have to share your wounds just to be seen as real?

In this episode of Family Matters with Instructor Mike, we dive deep into the hidden cultural dynamic of toxic collectivism — when families confuse emotional exposure with relational loyalty. We explore how children are often trained to overshare, overexplain, and overperform just to earn trust or maintain belonging.

Backed by developmental science from Erik Erikson, Lev Vygotsky, and Bessel van der Kolk, this episode unpacks:

• How “performing your pain” begins in early childhood

• The difference between transparency and emotional control

• Why private speech and emotional boundaries matter

• How trauma can be passed down as a requirement, not just a memory

You’ll walk away with language, clarity, and the permission to protect your story, especially in families that pressure you to bleed for validation.

Because in healthy families, you don’t have to explain your peace to be believed.

Toddlerhood isn’t terrible—it’s just untrained parenting meeting unregulated development. In this episode of Family Matters with Instructor Mike, we break down the most common toddler challenges—tantrums, hitting, picky eating, defiance, sleep resistance—and reveal the skills every parent needs to navigate this critical stage.

You’ll learn:

• The developmental science behind toddler behavior

• What can happen if parents don’t have the right tools

• Practical places to learn these skills—without shame or guesswork

This episode doesn’t just name the problems. It gives you the blueprint to become the trained, emotionally intelligent, and developmentally informed parent your toddler deserves.

Because being there is good. But being qualified? That’s better.

This ain’t about drama. This is about systems.

In this episode, we break down exactly how child support works in the state of Illinois — not based on gossip or grift, but based on the law.

🎯 Whether you’re a father paying support, a young man trying to avoid future pitfalls, or a mother raising a son who needs to know how the system really operates — this episode is the clarity most families never get.

What you’ll learn:

• How Illinois calculates child support (Income Shares Model)

• What happens when the mother is on TANF or government assistance

• Why informal payments (cash, gifts, side deals) don’t count legally

• What “pass-through” means in Illinois and when the mother gets the money

• How to avoid arrears, garnishment, jail, and lifelong debt

• What federal law (Title IV-D of the Social Security Act) requires

• How to request a payment audit and protect your record

📍 If you’re in Illinois, this episode is your blueprint.

And if you’re raising sons — make this a life sciences lesson they’ll never forget.

🎧 Teach your sons before experience does. Because the system won’t.

Raising an infant isn’t just about love—it’s about readiness. In this episode of Family Matters with Instructor Mike, we break down the most common challenges infants face—from inconsolable crying and feeding troubles to sleep disruptions, developmental delays, and stranger anxiety. But more importantly, we ask the essential question:

👉🏽 Are you qualified to respond?

Mike dives into the exact parenting skills needed to solve each problem, the science behind them, what can go wrong if you’re unprepared, and where to go to get trained. Whether you’re expecting your first child or helping others prepare for the parenting journey, this episode lays the groundwork for responsible, skill-based parenthood.

Because loving a child isn’t the same as knowing how to raise one.

Ever found yourself yelling at a child… only to realize you sounded like the child, too?

In this powerful episode, Instructor Mike breaks down what really happens when a parent and child are locked in conflict—and neither one feels seen, heard, or understood. Spoiler alert: it’s often not a disrespect issue. It’s a toddler fight—one outside the body, one still inside it.

We’ll explore:

• Why emotional immaturity often hides in adult clothing

• How unhealed childhood wounds show up in parent-child interactions

• What your child’s “attitude” might actually be trying to protect

• How walking away can be an emotionally intelligent choice

• And the moment-to-moment choices that stop generational replays in their tracks

You’ll walk away with real-life tools to:

• De-escalate without shame

• Model emotional regulation

• And most importantly—parent from your adult self, not your inner child.

Because what you think is disrespect…

Might just be an unmet need colliding with an unhealed memory.

What if the reason you’re offended… isn’t because something was truly harmful —

but because you were trained to be offended?

In this episode of The Things We Teach Without Thinking, Instructor Mike breaks down how emotional offense isn’t always instinct — sometimes, it’s inheritance.

From homes to classrooms to culture at large, too many children are taught to:

• Feel disrespected before understanding

• React before reflecting

• And wear their hurt like a badge of honor

When offense becomes identity, emotional reactivity becomes survival. And that creates a dangerous cycle — one where children grow up to become emotional enforcers, punishing others for pain they were never taught to process.

Backed by insights from Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett and Dr. Batja Mesquita, this episode uncovers:

• How emotions like offense are constructed, not automatic

• How culture scripts our emotional responses

• And how we can teach the next generation to process pain without personifying it

Offense doesn’t make you powerful.

Processing does.

Family Matters with Instructor Mike — because we don’t just feel things. We teach them.