Craig Knippenberg • Knippenberg, Patterson, Langley and Associates

09/30/2026

This month, we've been getting to know "The President." (i.e. your child's brain)

If you've caught my recent clips from "Will You Be My Friend?," you know that's my name for the prefrontal cortex. It's the part of your child's brain that pauses, weighs options, and makes the call. It works alongside the emotional system and the nonverbal "mirror" system to shape how kids show up socially.

Here's what I want most want parents to remember:
- The President is the last part of the brain to mature, still growing into young adulthood.
- Feelings arrive before the President does. That's why kids often react first and reason second.
- Three deep breaths calm the emotional system and give the President a chance to take charge.

None of this is a character flaw. It's a developmental timeline, and we can work with it instead of against it.

If this series has been helpful to you, my book WIRED AND CONNECTED puts it all together, with practical, brain-based toold for helping your child grow socially and emotionally.

You can find it through the link below.

Explore 'Wired and Connected' for child brain development and learn from Craig Knippenberg's about raising kids and their ever-changing brains.

09/27/2026

What does it take to raise a socially healthy kid? I like to think of it as making a Jell-O parfait.

First, you need a solid bowl. That's your structure: rules, routines and discipline at home. It can't have cracks. That bowl is what lets your child develop and mature safely.

Next comes the Jell-O itself, which is love and emotional connection. Nothing matters more for helping a child become a social human being and a contribution member of society.

Then, you add real fun. Get outside with your kids after the school day, on weekends, even in the evenings. An afternoon on an adventure together does more for your relationship than almost anything else.

And the cherry on top is service. Get your kids involved in your community and volunteering alongside you. They'll feel better, the community gets better and all of us become more resilient.

Which layer is easiest in your house right now? Which one takes the most work?

09/24/2026

Ever watch a kid stand in a classroom doorway, frozen, trying to figure out where to sit?

In the two seconds before they choose, their brain is working overtime. Can I hear from back here? Who's already at that table? What happens if I pick wrong and someone gives me that look — or calls me a loser?

That's their mirror neuron system. It's the nonverbal part of the brain that reads faces, gestures and social cues. For a lot of kids, especially the socially awkward ones, this is where the school day actually gets hard.

In the segment below, I break down what's really happening in that moment, and why it matters more than most adults realize.

If this sounds like your kid, Connect Groups kick off in October at KPLA's South Denver and Littleton locations with a free initial consultation.

Please be in touch! We'd love to support.

09/15/2026

Segment 3 of "Will You Be My Friend?": Understanding Your Child's Social Brain through Young Adulthood: the emotional system.

The limbic system is where feelings originate, and those signals move upward toward the prefrontal cortex, the brain's "President." Understanding that sequence explains a lot about why children (and adults) react first and reason second.

It also explains the temperament: some kids are wired optimistic and resilient, others feel the ups and downs more sharply.

The intervention I teach parents, educators and clinicians is deliberately simple. Three deep breaths at the first sign of escalation. It quiets the emotional system fast enough to give the executive brain room to do its job.

Simple tools scale. That's the whole point.

Full series and resources at craigknippenberg.com

09/11/2026

Ever wonder why your 7th grader can explain exactly why something was a bad idea... right after doing it?

It's the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that helps us stop and think before we act. It's one of three parts of what I call the social brain, and it's the last to fully develop, still growing well into young adulthood.

Knowing that changes how we parent. It's also the reason our Connect Groups are grouped by stage, from grades 1-3 through young adult.

09/09/2026

Connect Groups are back for the school year! 🍂

Starting in October, our weekly 90-minute groups return to our South Denver and Littleton offices and run through May, following the school calendar (yes, with breaks for Thanksgiving, winter, and spring).

We have a group for nearly every age:
🌱 Grades 1–3
🌿 Grades 4–6
🌳 Middle School
🌲 High School
🏔️ Young Adults

Not sure which group is right? Every enrollment starts with a free consultation with the group's therapist so we can figure that out together before your child ever walks in the door.

Spots fill quickly. Reach out to schedule your free consultation!

303-756-4924
[email protected]

09/04/2026

: I recently joined Chandra Thomas Whitfield on Colorado Public Radio at CPR News to talk about a hard topic: how early kids are running into explicit content online, and what parents can actually do about it.

Here's what I told her: I'm seeing third and fourth graders whose parents just discovered what they've been looking at, and most of the time, they child didn't go looking for it. It found them. Little kids have no frame of reference for what they're seeing, and honestly, for a lot of them, it's scary.

The part that worries me most: roughtly 43% of kids who see something like this never tell a parent.

So my advice is less about filters and more about preparation. Start the "birds and bees" conversation earlier than feels comfortable. Tell your kids ahead of time. If you see something like this, it's for adults only, and you can always come talk to me.

Keep devices in shared spaces. Build the bigger conversation around consent, respect, and what it means to actually care about another person.

One more thing: Please don't say "that's not my child." None of us really know what's happening behind the scenes.

Children are being exposed to po*******hy at increasingly young ages and the effects can be damaging to their long-term development, a Denver licensed clinical social worker warns.

09/01/2026

A playground is a perfect place for kids to come together, have fun, play and work together. They learn some of the most important social skills they'll ever need here!

In this clip, I break down the three brain areas that shape how your child shows up socially: The President (the thinking and decision-making part), the emotional system, and the mirror neuron or nonverbal system. When those three work together, you get a real picture of how your child functions socially, and where they need your help.

The best part? Any child, kindergarten through young adult, can learn to understand their own social brain, take responsibility for it, and watch it grow.

This is Segment 1 of a series I recorded some years ago, and it's been getting rediscovered lately, so I'm bringing more social brain tips your way this fall!

What's the trickiest social moment at your house right now? Recess, lunch table or group projects, or something else entirely? Let me know!

08/26/2026

Meet Angie Rothkamp, a licensed professional counselor with us at KPLA that provides parenting coaching, child counseling and family therapy.

Over the years, I've noticed that the questions parents ask in my office tend to land in a few buckets.

"How do I stop these tantrums?"
"How do we bring some peace into this chaotic house?"
"My partner and I both love our kids. Why are we parenting so differently?"
"How do I quit having the same argument with my teenager?" "How do I help my child launch?"

Those are exactly the questions Angie loves working on.

Her approach starts where ours always does: with your child's individual uniqueness and temperament. Misbehavior almost always has a purpose behind it, and once you can name that purpose, the boundaries you set start actually working. She helps couples find shared values and routines so the two of you are pulling in the same direction, and she helps parents of teens step out of fruitless power struggles and into the work of empowering a kid to go out into the world.

She also walks alongside Christian families who want to pray for their kids well and see themselves as co-parenting with God.

If you're curious about learning more, please reach out! I know she'd love to connect with you.

https://www.craigknippenberg.com/

08/24/2026

I joined Chandra Thomas Whitfield on Colorado Matters to talk about what I've called a po*******hy epidemic among young people, and her first question was a fair one: what do you actually mean by that?

My answer surprises people. That phrase isn't new at all. The Denver Post published an article about it in 2006.

Think about what 2006 looked like. Desktop computers. One screen, usually in the living room. That was the new thing everybody was worried about.

And since then it has just exploded.

That's why I keep telling parents: before anything else, understand the scope of the adult entertainment industry as it exists right now. Not the version you remember from when you were raising your first kid. The version your child is growing up inside.

For those of you who were parenting in 2006, does that comparison land differently for you? I'd like to hear it. 👇