Can’t, Not Won’t: Rethinking Children’s Behaviour + Anxiety

About this episode

Caroline Foran discusses children's anxiety and behaviour with Dr. Naomi Fisher, focusing on rethinking traditional parenting approaches.

This one's for the parents. In this episode, I’m joined by Dr Naomi Fisher , a clinical psychologist and author known for her work on anxiety, trauma, demand avoidance and nervous-system-led parenting. I adored her books 'When the naughty step makes things worse' and 'A different way to learn'. We talk about why so many traditional parenting approaches — rewards, consequences, charts and pressure — can backfire for anxious and demand-avoidant children, and what it actually means when a child can’t do something, rather than won’t. Naomi explains how anxiety shows up as resistance, shutdown or control, why reducing demands can be regulating rather than permissive, and how parents can shift from power struggles to partnership. This is a deeply validating conversation for anyone parenting a child who experiences everyday life as overwhelming — and for parents who are tired of being told to try harder when things already feel hard enough. Order yourself (or for a friend) a copy of my new book, Everything I Wish I'd Known About Anxiety: A Roadmap out of the Overwhelm and Back to Yourself here Follow me on Instagram @CarolineForan and @OwningItPodcas t, on Tik Tok here Subscribe to my…

People in this episode

Guest: Dr Naomi Fisher

Topics covered

• children's behaviour
• anxiety
• parenting
• mental health

Keywords

• demand avoidance
• nervous-system-led parenting
• power struggles
• partnership

Mentioned in this episode

Products: When the naughty step makes things worse, A different way to learn, Everything I Wish I'd Known About Anxiety: A Roadmap out of the Overwhelm and Back to Yourself

Books & works: When the naughty step makes, A different way to learn, Everything I Wish I'd Known, Substack

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