Dr. Caroline Buzanko

11/12/2025

Ever posted a “funny” story about your child online, only to realize later it wasn’t yours to share?

This week on Parents of the Year, Andrew and Caroline get real about “sharenting,” how our social media habits might be stealing kids’ right to privacy and shaping their identities before they even get a say.

From baby bath photos to venting in parent groups, they unpack what’s gone too far, why it happens, and how to course-correct with purpose and empathy.

🎧 Listen to Parents of the Year wherever you get your podcasts.

💡 Episode 187. Are parents violating their kids’ privacy online?

11/11/2025

Are kids reacting before they’ve had a chance to think?

This week on Overpowering Emotions, Dr. Caroline talks about strategic emotion management, teaching kids how to pause, reflect, and understand what their feelings are trying to say.

Instead of “fixing” or minimizing emotions, we can help kids decode them.

❤️ What is this emotion trying to tell me?
🧠 Is it helping or hurting me right now?
💬 How can I respond in a way that actually helps?

This episode gives you the language, tools, and everyday strategies to help kids (and adults!) move from reaction to reflection.

🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts — and start building emotional awareness that lasts.

11/11/2025

11/11/2025

How do kids learn to think about their emotions instead of being swept away by them? In this episode, Dr. Caroline breaks down strategic emotion management, helping children and teens build emotional metacognition, the ability to reflect on and make sense of what they feel.

You’ll learn how to guide kids to pause, question, and evaluate their emotions: What is this feeling trying to tell me? Is it helping or hurting me right now?

Dr. Caroline shares practical strategies for teaching emotional literacy, building resilience, and creating space for reflection instead of reaction. She also offers real-life examples, from angry teens to overwhelmed kids, showing how adults can coach emotional awareness at any age. This episode includes simple tools, reflective questions, and step-by-step ways to strengthen emotional awareness and decision-making skills.

Key topics: emotional literacy, metacognition, cognitive reappraisal, resilience, co-regulation, reflective parenting, and emotional intelligence in youth.

11/05/2025

🍼 Ever been up at 2 a.m. Googling “how to get my baby to sleep”… only to end up with 300 million results and zero answers?

This week on Parents of the Year, Andrew and Caroline chat with Camille Jaramis, founder of Ask Yawn, a parenting AI built by parents, for parents, to help you stop scrolling and start sleeping.

They dig into:
✨ Why most online parenting advice is wrong (and how AI can fix that)
✨ How to protect your privacy and still get help when you need it
✨ The surprising way tech can give parents time back instead of taking it

🎙 Listen now on your favourite podcast channel — it’s honest, funny, and surprisingly comforting.

11/04/2025

🧠💬 Kids and teens don’t just learn from what we say, they watch how we are. In this new episode of Overpowering Emotions, Dr. Caroline talks with MJ Murray Vachon about why mental wellness begins with adults, and how our regulation shapes children’s ability to thrive.

Hear about:
✨ Dr. Siegel’s “river of calm” and why chaos and rigidity pull us off course
✨ The FACES skills every child (and adult) can use to get back on track
✨ Why less talk and more presence can change tough parenting moments
✨ How to build a simple “glimmer list” that restores joy

This one is packed with stories, practical tools, and a reminder that small changes in us make big changes in our kids.

👉 Listen now on your favourite podcast channel

11/03/2025

Every feeling makes sense — even the messy ones. ❤️😡😕💡😴

When we learn to decode emotions, we stop reacting and start connecting.

Check out the new issue of the Resilience Unleashed newsletter:

👉 “When Emotions Make Sense: Decoding the Messages Behind Every Feeling” (https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/resilience-unleashed-7088903090866712577)

And grab your free Emotional Literacy Workbook to help kids start understanding their emotions today.

10/29/2025

This week, Andrew and Caroline are replaying a legendary episode, the night they discovered their ensuite might be… haunted.

From there, they dive into something that actually is spooky — how our own fears as parents can sneak into the way we raise our kids.

🧠 Are we protecting them — or projecting?

💪 How do we balance safety and independence?

🎃 And how can we use Halloween as a perfect moment to practice courage and autonomy?

It’s funny, relatable, and a little eerie, the perfect listen for spooky season.

🎧 Tune in now wherever you get your podcasts.

10/28/2025

What does mental wellness really mean, and how do we teach it to kids and teens when the adults around them are stretched thin?

In this episode, Dr. Caroline sits down with licensed clinical social worker MJ Murray Vachon, who brings nearly 40 years of experience working with adolescents, families, and midlife adults.

MJ shares the two mental wellness definitions that guide her work, how Dr. Dan Siegel’s “river of calm” helps us understand chaos and rigidity, and why adults’ emotions are contagious for kids.

You’ll hear stories from classrooms, families, and even Notre Dame athletes that highlight the everyday ways mental health is shaped by modeling, connection, and self-regulation.

Listeners will walk away with practical tools like the FACES model, NESTS for self-care, and playful strategies that keep mental wellness accessible for kids and adults alike. This conversation is a reminder that children can’t be healthier than the adults raising or teaching them—and small steps in our own wellness ripple out to every child we support.

10/22/2025

👨‍👩‍👧‍👧 Dad loneliness is real—but nobody talks about it.

This week on Parents of the Year, Caroline and Andrew get real about:
• Why postpartum depression & anxiety aren’t just for moms
• How dads can feel invisible in the parenting journey
• The role of friendships, support, and finding pockets of peace
• And yes… which of their dogs is secretly the smartest 🐶

🎧 Honest, funny, and surprisingly comforting. Available now wherever you get your podcasts.

10/22/2025

Kids don’t just feel emotions—they also create stories about what those emotions mean. In this episode of Overpowering Emotions, Dr. Caroline focuses on cognitive appraisal and emotional metacognition.

You’ll learn how children interpret events, how automatic “henchmen thoughts” fuel anxiety and meltdowns, and why teaching kids to appraise situations differently can build resilience. From detective games to thought logs to chain breakers, this episode is packed with playful, practical tools to help kids spot unhelpful thinking traps, reframe them, and act in ways that reflect their values.

This conversation will help you guide them beyond “just breathe” into truly flexible, values-based thinking.

10/21/2025

Why do some kids crumble at a pop quiz while others rise to the challenge?
It all comes down to how they appraise the situation.

In this week’s Overpowering Emotions, Dr. Caroline breaks down how kids’ automatic thoughts shape emotional reactions—and how we can help them become “emotion detectives” instead of getting hijacked by their henchmen thoughts.

🎧 Listen in for:
🕵️‍♀️ Detective games to uncover tricky thoughts
💥 Chain breakers to stop meltdowns in their tracks
💡 Simple reappraisal tools for tweens + teens
🧭 Using values as a compass for tough situations

➡️ Available wherever you listen to podcasts.