An image of a toddler making a silly face during lunch

Big Little Feelings course review: All of our feelings about “Winning the Toddler Stage”

By Tim Barczak, Dad of two, random fact repository, playtime enthusiast, and resident reacher of the top shelf—hands are probably full

Whether it’s the terrible twos or you’ve got a threenager on your hands, the toddler phase can be a big transition for parents—both the newbie and the seasoned professional. Luckily, there’s no shortage of toddler experts peddling their wares on the internet, including the parenting expert duo known as Big Little Feelings. In this review, we’ll give you both our big and our little feelings about Kristin Gallant and Deena Margolin’s (aka, the moms behind Big Little Feelings) two courses: “Winning the Toddler Stage” and “Potty Training Made Simple.”

In this article:

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Our Big Little Feelings Course Review

At the timing of writing this review, my wife and I have spent about eight months with these courses. We implemented the potty training course almost immediately (and I’ll go ahead and confirm: our child is fully potty-trained now). But we’ve been watching (and re-visiting) the “Winning the Toddler Stage” course across all this time. We’re going to let you in on course structure, what we liked and didn’t like, and, of course, the answer to the big question: Do the Big Little Feelings (BLF) courses work?

A post from the Big Little Feelings instagram that reads: "Reminder" My child is acting like a child because they are a child."
From the Big Little Feelings ever-growing ‘gram

But first, a little bit about our family to set some context. All toddlers are different, and what worked (or didn’t work) for us may be different for you. We hope you’ll use this review to make the best decision for your family.

A little about our family

My wife (whose name is Kristan—not to be confused with BLF’s Kristin Gallant) and I are parents of one energetic three-year-old with another on the way. So, we decided to get a little extra help before all hell br—I mean, before we welcome a new bundle of joy into our home. Our daughter, Fia, is the best (according to us), but she’s no stranger to the odd tantrum… especially as we try to move past the toy section of Target. She’s also what’s often deemed a “high-spirited child,” aka a child with a lot of energy and even more opinions, who enjoys bouncing wildly off the walls… and our couches… and anything else she can feasibly climb.

a close-up picture of our high-spirited toddler making a funny face
The high-spirited toddler in question

So, after bedtime, and over the span of several months, Kristan and I sat down together and dove into the BLF courses.

Note: It was important to Kristan and I both that we did these courses together, because we believe we both should be involved in researching and learning about how to best raise our children. So, that’s partially why this review about a course that (as we found) is largely geared towards women is written by me—a dad.

A little about Big Little Feelings

The Big Little Feelings duo joined Instagram in 2018. Since then, they’ve amassed 3.5 million followers on Instagram, 3 million podcast listeners, and 400,000 course-takers. A parent coach and child therapist, respectively, Kristin and Deena have been there, done that, and got the t-shirt (I’m honestly surprised they’re not selling t-shirts). They started Big Little Feelings “to give parents the resources they need to not just survive the toddler and preschooler years, but to thrive.”

About the courses

Big Little Feelings currently offers two courses:

our Big Little Feelings course library, showing "Winning the Toddler Stage" and "Potty Training Made Simple"
My course library

Winning the Toddler Stage ($99)

This is the big one, with five basic modules, two bonus modules, and downloadable resources and content, all focusing on kids aged 1-6. The modules break down into 65 different videos, ranging from a few minutes in length to 10-12 minutes. BLF’s website says you should expect to spend about six hours total on the course (my wife and I have some thoughts about this… more on that later). The course is priced at $99 and includes lifetime access to all the videos and PDFs.

The five basic modules:

  • Module 1: Five Founding Principles for Happy Homes
  • Module 2: Managing Tantrums
  • Module 3: Preventing Tantrums Gameplans
  • Module 4: Discipline
  • Module 5: Specific Situations

And the two bonus modules:

  • Module 6: The Ultimate Guide to Feeding Toddlers
  • Module 7: The Ultimate Guide to Toddler Sleep

Plus, there are 14 PDFs provided throughout the course that are also all conveniently available for download in their own “module.”

Potty Training Made Simple ($34)

This supplemental course is shorter, focusing solely on potty training—supposedly in three days. It’s structured similarly to “Winning the Toddler Stage” with six modules that should take about 3.5 hours to complete.

The six modules in Potty Training Made Simple are:

  • Module 1: P is for Potty
  • Module 2: How to Prepare for Potty Training
  • Module 3: The Three Phase Method
  • Module 4: Responding to Pushback and Tantrums
  • Module 5: Poop! There it is!
  • Module 6: More Toilet Topics

Similar to the other course, you can also find all the PDFs (23 in total) available for download at the end. Priced at $34, all the content is available via lifetime access to the learning platform.

What we liked

Both courses had a few things in common that we really liked. First and foremost, Kristin and Deena know their stuff! Both courses are packed full of knowledge that goes way past surface level and gives insight into the rationale behind the irrational toddler. A few other course perks:

Specific situations

The last modules in both courses tackle specific situations. For example, “Potty Training Made Simple” covers things like swimming, travel, and big life changes like divorce. “Winning the Toddler Stage” contains material on things like biting, pacifier weaning, and sharing.

To be honest, out of the entire “Winning the Toddler Stage” course, we found this module to be the most helpful and adaptable to our needs. Our kid was never a biter, for example, but we’ve had a hard time with the pacifier. So, when we were ready, we referenced that video. And, with lifetime access, we can address any specific needs our second kid may have.

A toddler sucks on a pacifier and holds a back-up pacifier in her hand. She appears grumpy.
Yes, she’s holding a second pacifier. And yes, her crocs are on the wrong feet.

PDFs

Kristan and I both appreciated the PDFs scattered throughout both courses, as well as the easy access to all of them at the end. If we owned a printer, we’d likely print some of these (like the bedtime chart below), but we’re Millennials so we mostly just used these as references. They were still helpful and easier to digest than the videos in some cases.

A snippet of a PDF chart from a Big Little Feelings Course that reads "bedtime chart"
Out of respect for their paid content, we’re only showing you a snippet of their bedtime chart here

Lifetime access

Honestly, lifetime access for the price ($123 for the bundle) felt like a great deal, especially since we have another child on the way. Fia is (knock on wood) a pretty solid sleeper, for example, but if baby #2 gives us a run for our money, we know we have the module on toddler sleep to use later.

What we didn’t like

With all the terrific information that Big Little Feelings offers, their presentation is lacking. Sometimes we felt like we were watching an audiobook version of a textbook. Some of the videos could have been shortened while still bringing the same value by trimming down some examples that seemed oddly specific but somehow irrelevant to our circumstances. The scripts they provide can be unrealistic as well. While they are intended to be merely examples, it gets lost in the sauce, and they don’t do a terrific job of noting that you need to bring your own specific brand of personality and parenting flair into the mix.

A screenshot of a Big Little Feelings course video in progress, showing Deena and Kristing sitting next to each other on a couch, speaking to the camera
The videos mostly look like this, with Kristin and Deena speaking directly to the camera

Note from Kristan (Tim’s wife): The scripts were one area where Tim and I completely disagreed! He didn’t like the scripts at all, but I appreciated them. They helped me get in the right mental space for the more frustrating moments with our toddler. We decided to include this note, because, hey, different strokes for different folks. Alright, carry on.

A note on potty training expectations

We are also here to tell you right now that it is ABSOLUTELY IMPOSSIBLE to potty train a child in three days. Sure, you can get a great start, but it is going to be something that you and your toddler will be working towards for the better part of 3-6 months. And even after that you’ll have the odd accident to address. Take it from me, you’ll be amazed at how calmly a toddler can walk up to you, stare you straight in the eyeballs and say, “Daddy, it’s okay, I just pooped in my underpants.”

Kristin and Deena do a decent job of disclaiming that potty training is a learning process that could take longer than three days, but we still felt like our expectations were set a bit too high. In our case, our daughter could *mostly* pee on the potty by the end of day three. But it took about six months for her to feel comfortable using the potty in public, to learn how to use the potty by herself consistently, and—the big one—to learn to poop on the potty.

As we’ll cover a bit later, though, we still recommend this course, mostly because it helped us build such a strong foundation. Just don’t beat yourself up if your kid takes a bit longer than three days.

Did the courses work?

Generally speaking, yes, the Big Little Feelings courses worked.

But I have to be honest here, there was nothing terribly revolutionary to us about the “Winning the Toddler Phase” course. We found we were already using a lot of their recommendations, but—to be fair to Kristin and Deena—my wife and I both have some experience in education. That said, their communication and boundary-setting strategies for those intense moments (like when you’re trying to stay calm during the tantrum in aisle 5 of the grocery store when all you need before checking out is that specialty ingredient you can never find) are helpful, but nothing we hadn’t heard before.

We felt the “Winning the Toddler Phase” course really shone in the “specific situations” module, where we could learn to apply some of what we already knew to situations that felt new to us. If we could do it over, we’d skip a lot of the earlier videos (which they suggest you don’t do).

Potty Training Made Simple: Did it work?

Eventually, yes. I can say we built a super solid foundation in three days, and—now, 8ish months later—our daughter is basically 100% potty-trained except for the odd accident. Also, this course was helpful in calming our own frustrations through this process. It was a helpful reminder that our daughter isn’t trying to give us a hard time—she’s just learning.

Pricing and where to buy

All things considered, we found this course pretty affordable.

Individually, here’s the investment you’re looking at:

If you know you want both, you can bundle the courses and save $10, paying a total of $123. Sometimes, they even run sales (at the time of writing, for example, their courses and bundle are all 20% off).

You can only purchase these courses directly from the Big Little Feelings website.

Recap: The awesome, the wish-it-were-different, and the verdict

The awesome

  • Depth of knowledge: If you’re starting from scratch, “Winning the Toddler Stage” contains a TON of information about the “why” behind toddler behavior
  • Lifetime course access: Refer back as needed to specific situations or watch again with child #2…. or #3… or heck, even #4.
  • PDFs and resources: Easy-to-digest resources make the course easier to refer back to and use
  • It works… within reason: Most importantly, the courses work within reason. No, you’re toddler won’t be a perfect, potty-trained angel… but yes, you will learn some solid boundary-setting techniques.
  • Price feels right: For what they offer, these courses are super affordable (in our opinion)
Another helpful PDF snippet

The wish-it-were-different

  • Video delivery: The delivery drags a bit and, truthfully, makes the course a bit hard to get through. I feel comfortable saying this because they are Kristan’s words and not mine, but the “hey girl” approach (again, Kristan’s words not mine) made it feel a bit like watching an afternoon D.A.R.E. special.
  • Potty training in 3 days is a bit of a stretch…: They advertise “potty train in 3 days” pretty hardcore… but it’s more like this: build a solid foundation in 3 days, spend the next six months slogging through the rest of potty training

The verdict: Was the Big Little Feelings course worth it?

If you are someone who is struggling with setting and holding boundaries with your toddler, then this is the course for you. It truly is a difficult task and having the knowledge of how to do so effectively can go a long way. If this isn’t you, and you have a healthy ability to set and hold boundaries with your toddler, then we’d suggest foregoing the “Winning the Toddler Phase” course.

No matter what type of parent you are, however, we would highly recommend the “Potty Training Made Simple” course. The tips and tricks that Big Little Feelings provides are incredibly helpful and proved to be invaluable as we embarked on the waters of toilet time. Just please do not expect your child to be potty trained in three days!

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