I Brake for Meltdowns

Dr. Lara Honos-Webb, host of The Sweet Spot Podcast, interviews Ms. Michelle Nicholasen, co-author of I Brake for Meltdowns: How to Handle the Most Exasperating Behavior of Your 2- to 5-year-old Michelle Nicholasen and Barbara O'Neal published by Da Capo Press.

For nearly a decade Michelle Nicholasen produced documentaries for PBS, including award-winning films for NOVA and FRONTLINE.  Her journalism has covered controversial science and public policy issues such as AIDS, autism, power lines, tobacco, breast implants and human evolution. Her mini-series on 20th century science for middle schoolers called A Science Odyssey: Short Trips, has won multiple awards including a Cine Golden Eagle. 

 In 2004 she gave up her film career to raise five children under the age of five. How did this happen? After a 2-year battle with infertility, Michelle and her husband hit the IVF jackpot.  She gave birth to her first daughter in 2001.  Then, trying for a second child, she became pregnant with triplet girls.  When the triplets were 10 months old, she became spontaneously (and impossibly) pregnant with her fifth child, a boy.  Michelle survived an intense learning curve and decided to put all her little-kid behavior strategies, along with Barbara O'Neal's decades of wisdom, into a book to give a leg-up to other moms and dads. Visit her website.