Dear Parents with Phil Boucher, M.D.

You Can’t Collaborate With an Anxious Brain

Acid blockers and food allergy, SPACE with Robyn Isman, and a wild three-year-old

New format this week: one study, one conversation, one listener question. Tell me in the comments if it works.

Sponsor: Novaferrum. Use code NFIG10 for 10% off

Comment On This Episode

Is my baby’s reflux medicine a problem? (01:20)

* What acid suppression changes about the gut, and why the gut is where...

dear parents,

Today I get to talk about the history of homeschooling and how it has exploded in the past decade…super interesting conversation around the history of homeschooling and what it looks like nowadays.

Dixie Dillon Lane holds a PhD in history from Notre Dame, homeschools her own kids, and just wrote Skipping School: A History of American Homeschooling and How It Went Mainstream (I had to steal back this book from my ...

I love teaching authoritative parenting.

Above is a very real response from a dad to my lesson on the handling window between getting home from school/work and dinnertime.

Watch the lesson on after school meltdowns this question came from: https://apsg.drphilboucher.com/apsg-demo-22

Authoritative parenting is both high in warmth and high in boundaries. It has by far the best research on short-term outcomes, such as getting through dif...

Your Toddler’s Sleep Didn’t Break. She’s Just Missing You.

Read/watch/listen to the full post https://dearparents.substack.com

Ask your question: https://drphilboucher.com/ask

This week’s episode is an Ask Me Anything from a mom named Emily, and it’s one so many of you are living right now:

Hi, Phil. My name is Em...

Most kids with type 1 diabetes are diagnosed in crisis: thirsty, exhausted, losing weight…they end up in the hospital and often the ICU. In this deep dive, I make the case that it no longer has to start that way. Type 1 is an autoimmune condition that shows up in the blood years before the first symptom, and we finally have the science to catch it early.

What you’ll take away:

* Why type 1 is an immune system problem, no...

Have a question? Ask yours here https://drphilboucher.com/ask

Curious about my ADHD Compass?

Find out where your child falls across all 4 domains of ADHD (hyperactivity, inattention, emotional regulation, executive function) and get a custom-tailored report based on their age, stage, and current strengths & challenges ($19)

https://drphilboucher.com/adhdcompass

This week I’m talking with Lauren Picasso, founder and CEO of Cure Hydration, about something that comes up constantly in my practice: how do I actually keep my kid hydrated?

We get into when water alone isn’t always enough, how oral rehydration solution works (the WHO formula that’s been around over 50 years), and why kids dehydrate faster than adults... smaller bodies, developing kidneys, and the toddler who can&...

Feeding kids has never felt harder, and today we chew on how much of that difficulty is manufactured. Jennifer Anderson, MSPH, RDN, founder of Kids Eat in Color, joins me to cut through the conflicting six-second advice and hand parents something better: a way to make their own calls. You are the expert on your own child. If a strategy is making things worse in your house, that’s reason enough to drop it.

What you’ll tak...

Ultra-Processed Foods and Kids’ Behavior: What the New JAMA Study Means for Your Family

A new JAMA study followed over 2,000 preschoolers and found that higher ultra-processed food intake at age three predicted worse behavior at age five: more anxiety, withdrawal, aggression, and hyperactivity. At age three, UPFs already made up 45.5% of these kids’ daily calories.

The good news: researchers modeled what happens when you ...

Quick video on how to save yourself a lot of headaches and time when your child wants to watch a show but you don’t have 47 minutes to flip through 3 different streaming services to find what they want to watch.

Also, if you are interested in learning and actually implementing authoritative parenting, I have an upcoming authoritative parenting study group starting on May 19th. It will be a really cool experience (I think) for...

A mom left this question in the chat:

“My six-year-old wants to be in charge, and we have let her. We break down and allow bad habits because it’s easier for us and her three-year-old brother — but now her brother is starting to pick up on her habits. She tantrums about going to school, coming home from school, treats, new toys, iPad time, leaving or going to anything, and all food. We started introducing timeouts,...

Dr. Phil Boucher sits down with bestselling author and child development expert Dr. Tina Payne Bryson (The Whole-Brain Child, No Drama Discipline, The Way of Play) to untangle the most common parenting style confusion out there: gentle parenting vs. authoritative parenting, and why so many parents accidentally land in permissive territory.They dig into the 60-year-old research behind structure and nurture as two separate dimensions...

Get your questions asked and answered at Dear Parents Substack

In this episode, Dr. Phil Boucher answers a listener question about newborn visitors—when to allow them, what rules to set, and how to balance safety with letting loved ones meet your baby. He covers practical, real-world guidance to reduce risk without isolating yourself.

Newborn Visitors: Start with One Rule

If you’re sick, don’t visit the baby. Even mi...

Get your questions asked and answered at Dear Parents Substack

In this episode, Dr. Phil Boucher is joined by pediatric occupational therapist Dr. Kristen Pfeil, OTD, ​​OTR/L to unpack what’s really going on beneath common childhood “behaviors.” They discuss how sensory processing shapes regulation, why some kids seem constantly overwhelmed or “too much,” and what parents can do to better support their ...

Get your questions asked and answered at Dear Parents Substack

In this episode, Dr. Phil Boucher discusses three key topics for parents:

Protein for Kids: Why protein (especially at breakfast and after school) supports steady blood sugar and brain neurotransmitters (dopamine/serotonin). Focus on whole foods like eggs, peanut butter, and Greek yogurt instead of protein powders.

Protecting Your Attention: Practical boundaries for a high...

Get your questions asked and answered at Dear Parents Substack

In this episode, Dr. Phil Boucher discusses three key topics for parents:

Protein for Kids: Why protein (especially at breakfast and after school) supports steady blood sugar and brain neurotransmitters (dopamine/serotonin). Focus on whole foods like eggs, peanut butter, and Greek yogurt instead of protein powders.

Protecting Your Attention: Practical boundaries for a high...

Welcome to the very first episode of the Dear Parents podcast! In this episode, Dr. Boucher goes beyond the "nuggets" of social media to provide deep context on the topics that matter most to parents.

We explore the transition to solid foods without the stress of rigid rules, how to handle big emotions in toddlers and elementary-aged kids using a helpful framework, and the current landscape of pediatric vaccines.

In This Episode:

1. S...