The Peaceful Parenting Podcast · Sarah Rosensweet

What You Can Do When Parenting Is Hard: Coaching with Joanna: Episode 211

·1 hr 1 min·8 clips

Sarah opens warmly and frames the show around helping parents move away from yelling and power struggles. She introduces Joanna, a mother of a seven-year-old and a two-year-old, and the conversation turns to an intense child, bedtime friction, and a home rhythm shaped by shift work. The focus stays specific. Joanna is looking for ways to respond more calmly, build more connection with her older child, and handle evenings when her partner is not there for bedtime. Sarah starts with validation. She suggests that part of the resistance may simply be a child wanting to hold onto the one-on-one time she gets with her mother after the younger sibling is asleep, so the answer may begin with more connection outside that moment. The advice stays practical. She recommends pretend play and other shared activities, and she notes that extra time between the older child and the other parent could also make bedtime easier when that parent is home. Sarah also asks about routines. Joanna says chapter books have helped before, though they can become a bargaining chip, and that more recently playing cards in bed has made the transition easier because it gives the child something to look forward to. Sarah keeps looking for little levers. She suggests making bedtime more appealing through stories, a chapter a night, memories from childhood, or a brief talk time that gives the child focused attention before lights out. The conversation keeps circling back to fit. Sarah is careful that these ideas need to match the family’s actual schedule and energy, because the right tool on one night may not be the right tool on the next. That keeps the tone grounded. Rather than promising a perfect fix, the coaching treats bedtime as a system that can be softened with steadier connection and smaller, more inviting rituals. The end lands gently. Sarah encourages Joanna to stay the course and keep noticing how peaceful parenting is already changing things in her family. The closing feels steady. The whole exchange stays close to the lived reality of a parent trying to make bedtime less adversarial and more connected.

As heard by us

A steady, practical look at bedtime resistance when a child is really asking for more connection.

Sarah Rosenzweig keeps this coaching conversation grounded in the small, fraught details of bedtime with a child who has big feelings and resists separation when a partner is away. The focus stays on connection, not discipline for its own sake.

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Why you'd press play

You need bedtime to stop feeling like a nightly standoff.

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