Infant and Maternal Mental Health: How Play Rewires the Developing Brain with Laurel Crossley

Описание: Today’s episode goes straight to the root: maternal, infant, and early childhood mental health.

Laurel Crossley shares how stress chemistry, shame, and conformity shape the developing brain, and why play, breath, and story are the fastest tools to calm the nervous system in kids zero to six. We unpack infant mental health, attachment, device overuse, and how to teach resilience without pushing children past their limits. You will leave with simple, two to five minute strategies any parent or educator can use.

Explore Laurel’s classes and resources, including Meditating Munchkins and Playing With Purpose, at LaurelCrossley.com.

If this resonates, explore my world at kathybaldwin.me. My books Unlearn the Crap & Level UP: Your Soul is Calling and How I Unlearned MY Crap are available on Amazon and bookstores. Share this episode with a parent, teacher, or friend who needs hope and practical tools.
Listen, subscribe, rate, and drop a comment to help more people unlearn the crap and level up.

🎙️ Key Highlights

Guest’s “Crap to Unlearn: “I don’t need to be the planet’s caretaker.” Releasing over-functioning to serve mothers and little ones with clarity and boundaries.

Kathy’s tie-in: How stress chemistry, shame, and conformity imprint identity, and why returning to authentic self saves futures and families.

Notable facts: Maternal stress affects fetal brain development. Brains are still developing into the mid-twenties. Early chronic stress shrinks and reshapes developing brains.

Relatable signs: Exhausted moms, kids melting down, device dependence, homework battles, social comparison, teachers stretched thin.

Myths challenged: “Infants don’t have mental health.” “Resilience must be forced.” “Devices are harmless under 12.” “Parents must have all the answers.”

Action step / Freebie: Explore Laurel’s Meditating Munchkins and Playing With Purpose resources and masterclass at LaurelCrossley.com. Start with two to five minutes of play, breath, and story today.

💡 Memorable Quotes

Laurel: “I don’t need to be the planet’s caretaker.”

Laurel: “If I am not teaching, I am not living.”

Laurel: “Play is the fountain of youth, for adults and for children.”

Kathy: “Most breakdowns begin when a child is taught to conform instead of self-express.”

Kathy: “Stress is chemistry. Lower it for mom and you change a child’s brain.”