Best Parenting Tips from Shark Tank’s Parenting Expert

Katherine Saltzberg has worn many professional hats in her life. She was born in Los Angeles, to a secular Jewish family. She was a teen actor, who had a stint on a short-lived sitcom, did episodic television, sang backup for Jimmy Buffett, and went to drama school in San Francisco.

When she was a child, Katherine’s father developed and patented an incredible product called Hugo’s Amazing Tape. He found a way to roll PVC into tape without adhesive. It leaves no residue, only sticks to itself, and won’t come apart unless you take it apart. It is also reusable and can be put into the microwave and freezer.

After many failed attempts to get the product to market, Katherine’s father passed away. Knowing patents expire after 20 years, Katherine decided to sell the tape herself as a new career. One day, she wrote six actionable items on her list, and the last was to send an email to Shark Tank. She doubted they would respond.

Katherine was shocked when they emailed back with an offer to appear on the show and scheduled her for filming.

At first, Katherine and her sister were reluctant to go on camera. “We didn’t want to be made fools of. We knew there was one ‘shark’ in particular that takes people down, and we were scared.”

Despite their fear, they dove in.

“The whole presentation is about my father. This was a way to honor him and see what’s possible.”

Shockingly, Shark Tank offered to purchase the whole company, and Mark Cuban promised to carry on her father’s legacy.

Parent Coaching

Katherine has been coaching parents since 2011. When she met her late husband, he had two kids, so the day they married, Katherine became a wife and a stepmom – a difficult transition to navigate.

“The kids were excited to meet me at first, but when reality sunk in, everything nosedived. I had gone to a therapist because I had no idea how to handle the situation. ‘Blended family’ sounds like such a nice phrase – but in reality, it’s really hard.”

Katherine had to figure out everything – from what they should call her to how or if she should even discipline them. She knew she wasn’t their mom.

“I was so frightened. I had zero experience with children. I had never even changed a diaper.”

Katherine strongly desired to have her own kids but also needed to build a good relationship with her stepchildren. To make matters worse, shortly after they married, her husband’s ex-wife moved to Israel, taking only their daughter. Their son remained with them.

“The aftermath was horrific. It was devastating to watch what he went through – no child wants to be left behind.”

Katherine often listened to her stepson crying in his room but didn’t know how to help.

The turning point came during the most mundane chore – delivering clean laundry. “I would knock on his door because I wanted to be respectful.”

His response shocked Katherine.

He called out, “I need a mom, just come in my room.”

Katherine explained the significance of this moment: “Most kids tell you what they need, even if they don’t have the words. If we hover over their homework and they can’t say ‘stop pressuring me’ or ‘trust me to do it,’ they might say something disrespectful. But they always try to tell us what they need.” This realization was a game-changer.

Family Expansion

The preteen qualified for several diagnoses. Katherine and her late husband saw that even the well-meaning – and expensive – professionals didn’t have real solutions. To Katherine, those diagnoses felt more like opinions, and sadly, instead of help, he got labels. Looking back, she believes he wasn’t more difficult than many strong-willed kids – it was their parenting approach that needed to change.

Simultaneously, their four-year-old was out of control, constantly hitting Katherine.

Katherine was at her wit’s end.

Her home was so chaotic that Katherine began to wonder who threw more tantrums. Typical parenting advice wasn’t working, and she needed change – fast.

“This four-year-old was running the whole show. We couldn’t go to dinner. He interrupted conversations, and we had more problems raising my stepson.” Their patience was near breaking point.

One day, Katherine listened to the Dennis Prager Show. Dennis was interviewing John Rosemond, a parenting expert. “He said something that made me think…he’s on to something. I got his book, The Well-Behaved Child.”

Katherine couldn’t imagine being “that old school mom” that was described in the book. But other methods hadn’t worked; her young son’s behavior was worse. For example, if she was late picking him up, he would hit her.

Desperate, Katherine emailed John Rosemond, explaining her son hit her because she was late, but wasn’t she partly responsible? His response was the wake-up call she needed.

Mrs. Saltzberg,

Your four-year-old son hit you and you don’t know how to discipline. You’re making excuses for him. That’s enabling.

Under “positive parenting,” Katherine was avoiding discipline out of fear of “damaging” him or not being liked.

Katherine believes listening to children is important, but letting them shout, disrupt, and express feelings anytime is not.

“Feelings have to be disciplined, too,” she explained. She believes self-control is one of the most important things to teach children. When a tantrum strikes, stopping the behavior is more important than understanding feelings in the moment. Children must be allowed to express feelings, just not anytime or anywhere.

John Rosemond told Katherine she needed a meaningful consequence for the boy’s actions. “It wouldn’t be physically harmful but would make my son pause and think twice about hitting.”

By then, she had already tried charts, rewards, and reading Hands Are Not for Hitting – nothing worked long-term.

When Katherine and her husband created a consequence and stuck to it, their son’s behavior changed. “I knew it was working when I saw my son raise his hand to hit me – and stop.”

Katherine says parents today, as she once thought, want magical consequences that fix everything. That works with pets, not people.

After consulting Rosemond, they made privileges conditional on self-control. They clearly communicated this without raising voices, nagging, lecturing, threatening, or bribing. They stayed relaxed and positive, showing belief in their son’s ability to meet the goal.

“This was one of the hardest things for me because I feared damaging his self-esteem or making him hate me. That couldn’t be farther from the truth.”

Her son’s behavior completely turned around; he was happier, and other parents noticed.

Katherine was happy to share her knowledge, but when parents suggested she become a professional coach, she was unsure.

“I didn’t feel confident because I don’t have a bunch of letters after my name. But I saw how fast things turned around and couldn’t stop talking about it.

In 2010, Katherine trained professionally with Rosemond and has since helped countless clients. “John coached me personally and still helps me with clients. I’m forever grateful.” Even with their older son’s diagnoses, boundaries helped change behavior.

“The reason I coach today is because I don’t want parents to go through what I did. For years, our family lacked harmony. I earned these pearls of wisdom through experience, training, and coaching.”

Judaism’s Comeback

Growing up, she knew she was Jewish but wasn’t connected meaningfully – that comes from family growing up. Her feelings changed when she encountered Judaism’s beauty.

“I didn’t know the gift of Judaism – I only saw media and sitcom portrayals: neurotic, anxious people. Are Jews neurotic? Sure. ‘Chosen people’ doesn’t mean better; it means to be a light. That’s a tremendous gift.”

Katherine had never been to Israel or wanted to go. But her husband was a devout Zionist who fought BDS. “He wanted our son in a Jewish school.”

They attended a Conservative synagogue. When Katherine asked peers who kept kosher or lit candles, no one did. “They said, ‘Don’t worry about keeping kosher.’”

Well, Katherine was worried.

They did nothing at home, and school observance was minimal, so Jewish school costs didn’t seem worth it.

Then someone suggested she read Herman Wouk’s This is My God.

“There was a line: ‘If you give your children something, make sure it’s powerful and meaningful…Tikkun Olam is great, but give them the Torah, because when they leave home, they will have something to return to.’”

Torah values became foundational in Katherine’s home. “We kept Shabbat, kosher, and my husband wore tzitzit. It was a difficult road with little support, but we gave our son something powerful he can always return to.”

Katherine’s Top Five Parenting Tips

1. Stop caring what your kids think about your parenting decisions. They only know what they want; you know what they need.
2. Stop playing therapist. View negative behavior as a bad habit, not a psychological problem. Dysregulation is just a fancy word for a tantrum.
3. Speak authoritatively. Don’t end commands with “okay?” – it makes them sound optional. Say, “It’s time to clean up,” not, “It’s time to clean up, okay?”
4. Stop yelling. “Screaming is the new spanking,” John Rosemond says, and it’s extremely destructive. Sarcasm is like a knife wrapped in sugar. “I’d never tell a parent to spank, but I do say they must speak authoritatively to get their child’s attention.”
5. Don’t give your child a smartphone until they can pay the bill and are emotionally ready. Once given, there’s no going back. “Everyone else has one” isn’t a good reason. Talk and text only.