Peace and Parenting: How to Parent without Punishments
Michelle Kenney, M. Ed

Latest episode
449 episodes
- 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 hardest parenting moments is not bring more pressure. It is to bring more play.
I know exactly what some of you are thinking: play rewards bad behavior. Actually, it does the opposite. A hard behavior is a child who is stuck, and play dissolves the stuckness. Hard moments call for seriousness. Actually, a serious face reads as more of a threat to your child's nervous system, and threat escalates behavior. Play is for little kids. Your teenager did not stop playing. You did.
This episode dismantles the three biggest myths that keep parents stuck, then hands you the tools to try tonight.
Download the Play Guide
Join us on our Weekly Training every Thursday at 9:30 am PT live on Zoom
Interested in coaching? Let's have a conversation
Check out my book UNPUNISHED
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Feeling called to bring this work to other parents? Our Coaching Certification Program trains you to do exactly that. DM me CERTIFICATION on Instagram for details.
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Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy - 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 finally ready to walk into school on his own. Together, we explore why neurodivergent children don't need a different kind of parent, they need the same foundation of connection, offered with even more understanding, patience, and trust.
Join us on our Weekly Training every Thursday at 9:30 am PT live on Zoom
Interested in coaching? Let's have a conversation
Check out my book UNPUNISHED
Follow Peace and Parenting:
Instagram: @peaceandparenting
Facebook: @peaceandparentingla
YouTube: @peaceandparentingla
💌 Enjoy today’s episode? Please share it with a fellow parent or leave a rating and a review.
Feeling called to bring this work to other parents? Our Coaching Certification Program trains you to do exactly that. DM me CERTIFICATION on Instagram for details.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy - 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's actions can transform your relationship. I'll walk you through the mindset shifts and practical tools that helped me stop fighting the behavior and start understanding the child underneath it.
Join us on our Weekly Training every Thursday at 9:30 am PT live on Zoom
Join our Skool Community
Check out my book UNPUNISHED
Follow Peace and Parenting:
Instagram: @peaceandparenting
Facebook: @peaceandparentingla
YouTube: @peaceandparentingla
💌 Enjoy today’s episode? Please share it with a fellow parent or leave a rating and a review.
Feeling called to bring this work to other parents? Our Coaching Certification Program trains you to do exactly that. DM me CERTIFICATION on Instagram for details.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Breaking the Cycle: How to Parent Differently Than You Were Parented (with Coach Tim)
2026/07/07 | 18 mins.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 stories, research, and years of coaching parents, We’ll help you understand why old reactions surface so quickly—and why that doesn't mean you've failed.
We'll walk you through the hidden ways inherited patterns show up in everyday parenting, explain why awareness alone isn't enough to create lasting change, and share practical tools you can begin using today. Breaking the cycle doesn't happen through perfection—it happens one small moment at a time, as you learn to pause, repair, and choose a different path for yourself and your children.
Join us on our Weekly Training every Thursday at 9:30 am PT live on Zoom
Interested in coaching? Let's have a conversation
Check out my book UNPUNISHED
Follow Peace and Parenting:
Instagram: @peaceandparenting
Facebook: @peaceandparentingla
YouTube: @peaceandparentingla
💌 Enjoy today’s episode? Please share it with a fellow parent or leave a rating and a review.
Feeling called to bring this work to other parents? Our Coaching Certification Program trains you to do exactly that. DM me CERTIFICATION on Instagram for details.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy- 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 outside. But underneath, she is doing a job. She is scanning the room. She is reading your face when you walk in from work. She is calibrating which version of herself is allowed today. That child is not calm. She is hypervigilant. And the cost of hypervigilance always gets paid somewhere, usually in adulthood, usually in a therapist's office twenty-five years later.
In this episode, I'm walking through how people-pleasing actually installs in a child's nervous system, why the loud kid who falls apart with you is often safer than the quiet one who has stopped asking, and the five patterns that quietly turn a child wired toward attunement into a child who is permanently scanning. I'll also share the story of a mom who came to coaching about her eleven-year-old daughter, the easy one, the mature one, and what she discovered about her own childhood along the way.
Resource shared in this episode: Download our Shame Free Home Guide
Join us on our Weekly Training every Thursday at 9:30 am PT live on Zoom
Interested in coaching? Let's have a conversation
Check out my book UNPUNISHED
Follow Peace and Parenting:
Instagram: @peaceandparenting
Facebook: @peaceandparentingla
YouTube: @peaceandparentingla
💌 Enjoy today’s episode? Please share it with a fellow parent or leave a rating and a review.
Feeling called to bring this work to other parents? Our Coaching Certification Program trains you to do exactly that. DM me CERTIFICATION on Instagram for details.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
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About Peace and Parenting: How to Parent without Punishments
Are you sick of parenting with the ideas of yelling and shame and looking for something that feels better, is different, but still has a sense of boundaries and limits?Welcome to Peace and Parenting! Michelle is a former teacher, counselor, certified parenting coach, mom of two teens, recovering yeller, and perfectionist who parents without using punishments altogether. And guess what? It works! On this show, you’ll learn the how behind having kids who are entirely UNPUNISHED but who are also successful, kind, loving, and know how to follow directions. Once a week, Michelle shares her insights and expertise on connective parenting through solo episodes and interviews with experts and other struggling parents. If you have exhausted all other options and don't know what to do next, this could be the parenting strategy you've been searching for.
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