Becky Kennedy

Kennedy argues entitled children are those who never learned to tolerate frustration.

“Entitled kids are kids who've never learned how to tolerate frustration. And worse, they're kids whose frustration was met with an exit ramp”

Call Her Daddy: Dr. Becky: Parenting 101 (Sep 16, 2026) · Listen from 1:21:31

Kennedy argues children cannot develop coping skills if parents always provide an escape from difficult feelings.

“if every time you feel a feeling, your parent gives you an exit ramp, you're going to expect the world to give you exit ramps”

Call Her Daddy: Dr. Becky: Parenting 101 (Sep 16, 2026) · Listen from 8:43

Kennedy explains that without repair, children cope by self-blaming or doubting their own perceptions.

“And so what does my kid need to do to get back to baseline if I don't repair? They generally do two things. They self-blame”

Call Her Daddy: Dr. Becky: Parenting 101 (Sep 16, 2026) · Listen from 56:44

Kennedy says repair, taking accountability after mistakes, matters more than anything in parenting.

“there's nothing that matters as much as repair with your kid. And repairing is taking accountability for something, saying you want to try something again”

Call Her Daddy: Dr. Becky: Parenting 101 (Sep 16, 2026) · Listen from 54:30

Kennedy says parents now focus too much on believing children and not enough on believing in them.

“I feel like we've started to focus a little too much on the I believe you part and not enough, which is also a part of confidence on the I believe in you part”

Call Her Daddy: Dr. Becky: Parenting 101 (Sep 16, 2026) · Listen from 33:22

Kennedy argues confidence is self-trust rather than feeling good about oneself.

“I think we've been fed this idea that confidence means feeling good about yourself. But I believe confidence is self-trust, which is a very different game”

Call Her Daddy: Dr. Becky: Parenting 101 (Sep 16, 2026) · Listen from 27:18

Kennedy warns that letting children's feelings change the world around them can lead to narcissism and unhealthy relationships.

“it's a really dangerous thing for people to think my feelings give me the right to change the world around me”

Call Her Daddy: Dr. Becky: Parenting 101 (Sep 16, 2026) · Listen from 7:35

Kennedy says the term gentle parenting never appealed to her and she prefers the idea of being a sturdy parent.

“the term gentle parenting, what I can say, has never appealed to me because when I think about my best parenting moments, gentle is just so far down the list”

Call Her Daddy: Dr. Becky: Parenting 101 (Sep 16, 2026) · Listen from 4:42

Kennedy characterizes screen time as a short-term fix that creates longer-term problems.

“screen time tends to be the solution to the problem today and the cause of the problem tomorrow”

Call Her Daddy: Dr. Becky: Parenting 101 (Sep 16, 2026) · Listen from 1:20:53

Kennedy recounts that after an emergency C-section she overexerted herself, crashed and had to return to the hospital.

“I completely crashed. I mean, I had to go back to the hospital. It was like so bad”

Call Her Daddy: Dr. Becky: Parenting 101 (Sep 16, 2026) · Listen from 1:19:03

Kennedy says obsessive-compulsive thoughts after having a baby are among the most common forms of postpartum anxiety.

“kind of obsessive compulsive thoughts after you have a baby are one of the most common forms of anxiety”

Call Her Daddy: Dr. Becky: Parenting 101 (Sep 16, 2026) · Listen from 1:12:45

Kennedy discloses she did IVF for all her children and describes infertility as feeling like a failure as a mother before becoming one.

“I did IVF for all my children too. So first of all, I'd say from life experience, like, yeah, I've been there and it stinks”

Call Her Daddy: Dr. Becky: Parenting 101 (Sep 16, 2026) · Listen from 58:41

Kennedy argues adult attraction reflects early attachment, so a perfect parent would set children up poorly.

“I happen to think attraction is just an activation of your earliest attachment system. It's what feels like home”

Call Her Daddy: Dr. Becky: Parenting 101 (Sep 16, 2026) · Listen from 47:55

Kennedy shares that she had anorexia before college and views it as a struggle with desire.

“I think one of my first times where that came into major conflict was probably my anorexia before I went to college”

Call Her Daddy: Dr. Becky: Parenting 101 (Sep 16, 2026) · Listen from 44:13

Kennedy describes the 'good girl' as someone who attends to others' needs while ignoring her own.

“this is someone who has learned to gaze out and notice everyone's needs and take care of them. at the exclusion of gazing in and wondering what their own needs are”

Call Her Daddy: Dr. Becky: Parenting 101 (Sep 16, 2026) · Listen from 41:49

Kennedy defines a boundary as something a parent says they will do that requires nothing from the child.

“boundaries are something you tell your kid you will do and they require your kid to do nothing”

Call Her Daddy: Dr. Becky: Parenting 101 (Sep 16, 2026) · Listen from 35:45

Kennedy says parental differences are hardest on children when they produce undermining and overt conflict in front of the child.

“the thing that's hardest for the kid is when those differences lead to a lot of undermining and overt conflict with the kid”

Call Her Daddy: Dr. Becky: Parenting 101 (Sep 16, 2026) · Listen from 16:45

Kennedy argues that children are born good but with all feelings and no skills, which explains why good kids do bad things.

“kids are born with all the feelings and none of the skills. And so that's why good kids do a lot of bad things”

Call Her Daddy: Dr. Becky: Parenting 101 (Sep 16, 2026) · Listen from 1:43