In this episode of The Child Psych Podcast, we are joined by Dr. Kim Van Dusen, psychologist, parenting expert, and author of Parenting Through Play: Creative Strategies for Building Better Behavior, Deeper Connection, and Positive Communication. Together, we explore the powerful role of play in child development and why play is one of the most effective tools parents can use to strengthen connection, improve behavior, and support emotional regulation.

Dr. Kim explains how play-based parenting strategies can help reduce power struggles, increase cooperation, and build stronger parent-child relationships without relying on punishment, yelling, threats, or rewards. We discuss how children communicate through play, why playful parenting often works better than lectures, and how parents can use simple, everyday moments to foster emotional connection and positive behavior.

Whether you're parenting a toddler, preschooler, school-aged child, or tween, this conversation offers practical tools to support emotional development, attachment, communication, and resilience. Dr. Kim also shares actionable strategies for managing challenging behaviors, improving listening skills, and creating more peaceful interactions at home—even for parents who don't consider themselves naturally playful.

If you're looking for positive parenting techniques, play therapy-inspired strategies, behavior management tools, or ways to deepen your connection with your child, this episode is packed with evidence-informed insights and practical advice. It serves as a compassionate reminder that play is not simply a reward for good behavior—it is a child's primary language and one of the most powerful pathways to learning, regulation, communication, and connection.

Get a copy of her book "Parenting Through Play" here--> https://a.co/d/0d46o1cO

About the Author

Dr. Kim Van Dusen, LMFT, RPT, is a doctoral-level licensed marriage and family therapist, registered play therapist, parenting expert, educator, and mom of two. She specializes in working with young children, including both neurotypical and neurodiverse children, and has nearly twenty years of experience helping families use play-based, positive, and solution-focused strategies to address everyday behavioral challenges. Dr. Kim has also taught graduate-level play therapy students, supported positive behavioral systems in elementary schools, and works with a large online community of parents seeking practical support for connection, communication, and behavior.

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Screens aren't just hard for kids to put down because they enjoy them. As Michaeleen Doucleff explains in Dopamine Kids, screens can become powerful "dopamine magnets," pulling children back again and again, often without leaving them feeling calmer, happier, or more fulfilled afterward.

In Part 2 of this important conversation on The Child Psych Podcast, Tammy Schamuhn and Michaeleen Doucleff move from understanding the science of dopamine and screen time to exploring practical solutions parents can use at home.

Discover evidence-informed strategies to help children reduce screen dependence without constant power struggles. Learn how to create screen-free spaces that support healthy sleep, improved attention, meaningful family connection, and everyday adventure. Michaeleen shares why simply removing screens is rarely enough and how parents can help children reconnect with activities that naturally support emotional well-being.

This episode explores how outdoor play, creativity, movement, boredom, relationships, and family rituals can help children find genuine satisfaction beyond digital entertainment.

If you're concerned about screen addiction, excessive screen time, video games, social media, YouTube, or the growing impact of technology on children's mental health, this conversation offers practical and hopeful guidance.

Because children don't just need less screen time.

They need a life that feels richer, more meaningful, and more rewarding than the screen.

Michaeleen Doucleff is a science journalist and correspondent for NPR’s Science Desk. She holds a PhD in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Health. She is also the New York Times bestselling author of Hunt, Gather, Parent.

You can learn more about Michaeleen and her work through Michaeleen Doucleff’s official website.

Books mentioned in this episode:

• Dopamine Kids
• Hunt, Gather, Parent

Aura

Your kid’s digital life doesn’t come with a playbook.

But that doesn’t mean you have to stay in the dark.

That’s where Aura Parents comes in. It combines traditional parental controls—like content filtering, time limits, and Pause the Internet®—with newer digital wellbeing features that show patterns in sleep opportunity, screentime trends, social engagement, and even AI app usage insights.

So instead of just limiting screen time, you get more context and insight into changes in patterns and can use that information to decide when to check in with your kid.

It’s not about control—it’s about feeling informed and empowered as you navigate an always changing digital world.

Learn more about Aura Parents and start your free trial at auraparents.com/icp

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Part 1 of this powerful conversation, Tammy Schamuhn sits down with Michaeleen Doucleff, author of Dopamine Kids, to explore what is really happening in children’s brains when they beg for more screen time, melt down when devices are taken away, or seem unable to pull themselves away from video games, social media, YouTube, or ultra-processed foods.

Many parents have been taught that dopamine is simply the brain’s “pleasure chemical.” But Doucleff explains that dopamine is more accurately understood as part of the brain’s motivation and seeking system — the internal drive that says: keep going, get more, don’t stop yet.

This shift in understanding changes everything.

When children become explosive after screen time ends, their brains may not be responding to joy or satisfaction. Instead, they may be caught in a cycle of constant wanting. Screens and ultra-processed foods can act as powerful “dopamine magnets,” pulling children toward repeated stimulation while leaving them feeling more dysregulated, disconnected, and emotionally depleted.

In this episode, Tammy and Michaeleen unpack:

• why screen time battles can feel so intense for families
• how dopamine-driven behaviors affect motivation, focus, sleep, and emotional regulation
• why children are especially vulnerable to highly stimulating technology and foods
• how modern childhood has become shaped by endless craving and overstimulation
• why this is not about blaming parents or shaming children
• how understanding the brain can help parents respond with more compassion, clarity, and confidence

This conversation is essential listening for parents, educators, and caregivers trying to understand why screen limits feel so difficult, why transitions off devices can trigger meltdowns, and why many children today seem trapped in cycles of “more, more, more.”

In Part 2, releasing June 3, Michaeleen shares practical, science-backed strategies to help families reduce screen dependence, shift unhealthy habits, and reconnect children with play, sleep, focus, creativity, and real-life joy.

Michaeleen Doucleff is a science journalist and correspondent for NPR’s Science Desk. She holds a PhD in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Health. She is also the New York Times bestselling author of Hunt, Gather, Parent.

You can learn more about Michaeleen and her work through Michaeleen Doucleff’s official website.

Books mentioned in this episode:

• Dopamine Kids
• Hunt, Gather, Parent

Aura

Your kid’s digital life doesn’t come with a playbook.

But that doesn’t mean you have to stay in the dark.

That’s where Aura Parents comes in. It combines traditional parental controls—like content filtering, time limits, and Pause the Internet®—with newer digital wellbeing features that show patterns in sleep opportunity, screentime trends, social engagement, and even AI app usage insights.

So instead of just limiting screen time, you get more context and insight into changes in patterns and can use that information to decide when to check in with your kid.

It’s not about control—it’s about feeling informed and empowered as you navigate an always changing digital world.

Learn more about Aura Parents and start your free trial at auraparents.com/icp

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.