About the Guest

Dr. Nikki Martyn is a parenting expert, child development scholar, and founder of the Neurorelational Love Model, which brings together neuroscience, attachment theory, and trauma-informed practice. An award-winning educator and Chair of Early Childhood Studies, she has spent more than two decades working with children, families, and educators. She is also the author of Love Over Algorithms, a timely exploration of how parents can protect connection and nurture healthy development in an increasingly digital world.

Introduction to the Conversation

Technology is changing childhood faster than most parents can keep up. Between screens, social media, gaming, smartphones, and AI, it can feel as though families are constantly trying to figure out the next rule or restriction.

But what if raising digitally resilient children isn’t only about how much screen time they have?

In this episode of The Child Psych Podcast, Tania Johnson sits down with Dr. Nikki Martyn to explore a different approach: focusing on the relationship children have with their parents, themselves, and technology.

Rather than simply controlling technology, Dr. Martyn encourages parents to help children develop the emotional regulation, critical thinking, connection, and self-awareness they will need to navigate a digital world.

What We Discuss in This Episode

Tania and Dr. Martyn explore why connection and co-regulation may be some of our most important tools for raising children around technology.

They discuss Dr. Martyn’s LOVE Method—Listen, Observe, Validate, and Engage Empathically—and how parents can use it during difficult screen-time transitions. The conversation also explores boredom, parent modelling, rupture and repair, online safety, digital resilience, and helping children become thoughtful decision-makers rather than simply relying on external rules.

Dr. Martyn also introduces the Three C’s of Consent: comprehension, conversation, and choice, offering parents a framework for talking with children about privacy, online platforms, and the decisions they make in digital spaces.

What You’ll Learn

Why screen-time struggles may also be regulation and relationship struggles

How co-regulation can help children transition away from technology

Why modelling our own technology habits matters

How to build children’s digital resilience, agency, and critical thinking

Why connection and repair can help children feel safe coming to us when something goes wrong online

Who This Episode Is For

This conversation is for parents, caregivers, educators, therapists, and professionals wondering how to support children’s mental health and healthy development in a technology-filled world. If you’ve ever struggled with screen-time battles, worried about online safety, or wondered how to prepare children for a digital future we can’t fully predict, this episode offers a relationship-centred place to begin.