Learn to Speak Kid
Welcome to Learn to Speak Kid, the podcast that dives deep into real situations with real talk for struggling moms who know there must be a better way to raise kids! Transform how you understand and communicate with your children so you can live the life of your parenting dreams. Hosted by Bonnie and Thomas Liotta, a dynamic duo with over 60 years of combined leadership experience—Thomas as a Martial Arts Expert and Bonnie as a business leader and mom who has lived through ODD, ADHD, anxiety, and depression until finding Thomas—this show offers a powerful, leadership-driven approach to parenting. Each episode explores proven methods for raising confident, emotionally secure, and empowered children, particularly when facing the challenges of behavioral and emotional disorders like oppositional defiant disorder, intermittent explosive disorder and DMDD. Whether you’re struggling with defiance, anxiety, or simply the everyday chaos of family life, we’ll equip you with the parenting tools to build peace, harmony, and cooperation in your home. Bonnie and Thomas offer practical strategies, heartfelt stories, and expert insights that move away from gentle or authoritative parenting methods and focus instead on leadership, respect, and connection. You’ll discover how to lead your children purposefully, guiding them through emotional challenges with love, clarity, and confidence. Ready to break through the chaos and reclaim peace in your home? Tune in each week for life-changing inspiration and a new way to speak the language of love, respect, and leadership with your kids.
Episodes
Are you accidentally creating the very behavior you’re praying would stop?
In this powerful episode, Bonnie and Thomas Liotta unpack what it really means to “exasperate” your children—and how so many expert-approved methods quietly provoke anger, discouragement, and defiance.
Together, they walk you through:
- A typical parenting loop: act out → redirect → escalate → punish → more defiance
- Why redirection, timeouts, and ...
What if every interaction with your child planted a seed that would grow into tomorrow’s behavior, beliefs, and relationship with you?
In this episode, Bonnie and Thomas Liotta use one unforgettable image—a child covered in red lipstick with the mirror and white carpet to match—to unpack the idea of “black seeds vs white seeds” in parenting. Black seeds are born from negative thoughts and feelings: anger, frustration, and the urg...
Does it feel like your child’s meltdowns come out of nowhere — and nothing you’ve tried is really working?
In this episode of the Learn to Speak Kid podcast, Bonnie and Thomas Liotta from Creating Champions For Life explain why your child’s behavior isn’t random, disrespectful, or “just ODD.” It’s a language.
You’ll discover how to:
- Hear what your child is really saying during a meltdown
- Replace labels like “terrible twos” ...
What if every interaction with your child planted a seed that would grow into tomorrow’s behavior, beliefs, and relationship with you?
In this episode, Bonnie and Thomas Liotta use one unforgettable image—a child covered in red lipstick with the mirror and white carpet to match—to unpack the idea of “black seeds vs white seeds” in parenting. Black seeds are born from negative thoughts and feelings: anger, frustration, and the urg...
“A person’s a person, no matter how small.” In this episode of the Learn to Speak Kid podcast, Bonnie and Thomas Liotta explore what your child’s meltdowns, hitting, and “lying” are really trying to say.
They explain why kids can’t think abstractly until around age 13, how constantly hearing “no” leads to power struggles and “terrible twos,” and why today’s culture is quick to label behavior instead of learning to “name that cry.” ...
Discover why forbidding becomes forbidden fruit and how to transform your parenting approach from restriction to empowerment. In this episode, Bonnie and Thomas share practical examples of applying the "let them" principle—from a 2-year-old's lip gloss fascination to a 14-year-old's first bush party request. Learn how teaching life skills proactively (instead of baby-proofing and redirecting) builds neural pathways for focus, self-...
What if everything you're doing to fix your child's behavior is actually making it worse? In this eye-opening episode, Bonnie and Thomas Liotta introduce the Karma Principle - the revolutionary idea that you reap what you sow in parenting.
Discover why timeouts, takeaways, and traditional punishment ...
Are you working overtime to give your kids everything you never had? This episode will make you rethink everything.
Bonnie and Thomas Liotta dive into a shocking truth from Napoleon Hill's 1928 Law of Success: "An easy life can often become a greater handicap than the human being can even s...
Are you struggling with a child diagnosed with ODD, DMDD, or other behavioral or mood disorder? In this episode, Bonnie and Thomas Liotta reveal why doing too much for your kids might be stealing their zest for life. Drawing from Napoleon Hill's "Law of Success" (1928), they explain how struggle develops essential qualities in children and why an "easy life" can become a greater handicap than most kids can survive. Learn the scienc...
Is your child labelled with ODD, DMDD, or simply "impossible to manage"? What if every meltdown, every hit, every lie is actually a desperate attempt to communicate something you're not hearing yet?
In this powerful episode of Learn to Speak Kid, Bonnie and Thomas Liotta reveal the life-changing truth that most parenting experts won't tell you: childr...
Are you exhausted from the endless cycle of timeouts, takeaways, and tantrums? Feel like a broken record constantly repeating yourself? In this eye-opening episode, Bonnie and Thomas Liotta challenge everything you've been taught about parenting.
Discover why traditional discipline methods—punishment, lectures, and behavior correction—actually work pe...
Stop controlling, start teaching! Discover why children misbehave due to missing life skills—not defiance—and learn the four-step approach that achieves 90%+ behavioral transformation. Hear how a 17-year-old with severe ODD turned his life around in five months without restraints, timeouts, or medication. This finale of our three-part series reveals the revolutionary parenting method that's helping families worldwide raise cooperat...
Bonnie and Thomas Liotta challenge every popular parenting method and reveal the hidden control mechanisms behind gentle, conscious, and attachment parenting approaches. Discover why even the kindest parenting techniques are creating the aggressive behavior you're trying to prevent. Click Here for more.
Hosts Bonnie and Thomas Liotta tackle the tragic reality of restraint-related deaths in schools and therapeutic facilities. Following the October 16, 2025, death of Amy Morrell while restraining a 14-year-old girl, this episode explores why restraint exists, how it escalates from everyday parenting practices, and why over 20 children die from restraint every year in the United States alone.
...Join Bonnie and Thomas Liotta as they reveal why traditional behavior management fails families and how to transform your parenting by teaching life skills instead. Learn the practical "Play-Clean-Sleep" framework that empowers children to develop responsibility naturally, without power struggles, rewards, or punishments. Perfect for parents tired of feeling like broken records who want cooperation from the inside out. If this epis...
Parents searching for help with ODD (oppositional defiant disorder) and ADHD often feel stuck in years of therapy with little change. In this Learn to Speak Kid episode, Bonnie and Thomas Liotta share why a proactive, life-skills approach—self-control, responsibility, self-discipline, and focus—can create authentic transformation in 90 days without harsh punishment, endless appointments, or mind-altering medication. You’ll learn ho...
Tired of band-aid solutions for your child's aggressive behavior? The Learn to Speak Kid podcast with Bonnie and Thomas Liotta helps parents get to the root cause of oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), DMDD, ADHD, and defiant child behavior. Discover why labels fall short and how missing life skills—not broken brains—drive aggressive outbursts, meltdowns, and defiance. Learn proven strategi...
Parents of oppositional defiant disorder kids are often told to punish, take things away, or rely on time-outs. But what if that approach is actually making things worse? In this episode, Bonnie shares her story of discovering why traditional discipline failed — and how shifting to a proactive, life-skills-based plan turned defiance into cooperation. You’ll learn why “goal power” changes everything and how to stop living in daily b...
Join Bonnie and Thomas Leota on Learn to Speak Kid as they tackle one of parenting's toughest questions: Is Oppositional Defiant Disorder the parent's fault? Through personal stories and unique perspectives, they explore how ODD develops, why traditional labels may miss the mark, and how parents can feel empowered rather than blamed. Discover why every child is born a "genius" and how understanding the natural learning process can ...
Discover the surprising secret to raising confident, independent, and truly successful children. Bonnie and Thomas Liotta reveal why struggle is essential for your child's development and how well-intentioned parents might be accidentally crippling their kids' future success. Learn the universal formula that transforms children from dependent to champion status, why video games aren't the en...
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