Conversations with Elizabeth
.png/:/cr=t:0%25,l:0%25,w:100%25,h:100%25/rs=w:1209,h:1209,cg:true)
Where Science, Montessori, and Intention Come Together
When was the last time you truly saw your child? Not their behavior or your plans for them, but the actual child in the room? Join us to discuss raw moments in parenting, the challenging and the beautiful ones, as we translate child development into the heartbeat of your family through a Montessori lens.
You have found the parenting intersection of neuroscience and conversations at your kitchen table, hosted by speaker and Montessori school leader, Elizabeth Tate. As always, take what serves you and leave the rest.
Meet Your Host
Elizabeth is the Executive Director of Montessori Academy of Owasso, which she founded in 2014 as part of her more than 25 years working in Montessori education. She holds a Master of Education in Montessori Leadership, is a certified elementary teacher, and has presented at Montessori conferences on child development, classroom practice, and parent education.
Elizabeth is a certified yoga teacher specializing in social-emotional learning and yoga in schools, and a certified Music Together teacher who uses songs and rhythms to support children’s brain development, regulation, and connection. Her work is grounded in the belief that movement, music, and rhythm are powerful tools for learning and emotional growth.
A Montessori student herself and now the mother of two teenagers raised in Montessori environments, Elizabeth brings both professional depth and lived parenting experience to her work. Through Montessori in the Middle of It All, she helps parents understand the developmental why behind children’s behavior and offers realistic, thoughtful guidance that fits into the rhythms of busy family life, always with the reminder to take what serves you and leave the rest.
Episodes On Spotify
Episode 5: When Your Child's Won't is Actually Can't
What if the tantrum on the floor isn't defiance? What if the silence at Grandma's house isn't your child being rude? In this episode, we explore the quiet but powerful shift that happens when we stop interpreting our child’s behavior as defiance… and start asking what might be happening underneath it. What if “won’t” is actually “can’t”?
Through real stories, everyday parenting moments, and one very messy kitchen floor covered in raw eggs, we walk through how overwhelm disguises itself as resistance and how lowering the cognitive load without lowering the expectation can transform the emotional temperature of your home.
Episode 4: The Myth of the Well-Rounded Child
Can your child build an entire civilization out of Legos or narrate a complex novel, yet struggles to remember their multiplication tables or keep their handwriting legible?
In this episode, Elizabeth is dismantling the heavy pressure to raise a well-rounded child, the kind of perfectly smooth circle society tells us to aim for and replacing it with a much more beautiful reality: their developmental landscape.
Join us as we explore the peaks of your child's brilliance and the valleys of their struggle that define the neurodivergent and gifted experience. We discuss why a child's brain might be soaring over a mountain of big ideas while their hands are still trekking through the valley of fine motor skills, and how our role as parents and educators is to be explorers
Episode 3: Big Feelings in Thoughtful Children
In this episode, Elizabeth explores emotional intensity in thoughtful, gifted, and neurodivergent children through a Montessori and child development lens, helping parents better understand why some children experience feelings so deeply.
You’ll learn:
- Why emotional regulation develops more slowly than cognitive skills
- How heightened sensitivity and “busy” inner worlds affect children’s daily experiences
- Practical ways to support big emotions through co-regulation, language, and modeling
Episode 2: When the World Looks Black & White
In this episode, Elizabeth explores black-and-white thinking and concrete time through a Montessori and child development lens, helping parents better understand why young children struggle with flexibility and change.
You’ll learn:
- Why vague language like “soon” and “in a minute” can feel confusing to children
- How routines, preferences, and “sameness” connect to brain development
- Practical ways to support your child’s need for certainty while gently building flexibility
Episode 1: When Justice Looks Like Tattling
In this episode, Elizabeth explores why behaviors often labeled as “tattling” in neurodivergent and gifted children are rooted in a strong sense of justice, fairness, and predictability, through a Montessori and child development lens.
You’ll learn:
- Why “tattling” is often a form of social and emotional processing
- How children’s need for fairness and consistency connects to brain development
- Practical ways to respond with clarity, empathy, and intention