In Turn Down the Noise, Sarah Boyd covers an often overlooked and challenging issue in modern family life, namely overstimulation. With a background in psychology and child development, Boyd unpacks how the constant noise, distractions, and fast-paced culture of today’s world impact both parents and children and how it can contribute to stress, anxiety, and emotional dysregulation.

As a parent of three, I feel Boyd’s approach is both compassionate and practical. She doesn’t just highlight the problem of overstimulation and where this comes from but she provides real, actionable strategies to help parents create a calmer, more connected family environment. Her ability to blend neuroscience with accessible, everyday parenting advice makes this book informative and empowering.

What stands out most is how Boyd reframes emotional health in parenting. She encourages emotional maturity and self-awareness in a way that helps parents navigate their own reactions while supporting their children but without the guilt and shame of how they got there.

The book offers a refreshing perspective on topics like:
- Understanding how overstimulation affects children’s emotions and behaviours
- Recognising and supporting highly sensitive children and/or parents
- Setting healthy boundaries around technology and media
- Building deep, lasting connections with our children

Boyd writes with a warm, reassuring tone, making it feel like you’re learning from a trusted friend and not an overwhelming parenting expert. Her emphasis on small, meaningful shifts rather than drastic overhauls makes the advice achievable.

As a parent, this book resonated deeply with me. The discussion on overstimulation as a hidden stressor felt particularly eye opening, it explained a lot about the exhaustion and mental overload so many of us experience. Boyd’s insights on slowing down and prioritising emotional well-being is the much needed cure to the relentless pace of modern life. Embrace the things we can change and accept the things we can't.

Turn Down the Noise is more than just another parenting book, it’s an invitation to rethink the way we live, parent, and connect with our children in a world that constantly demands more of us. Whether you’re feeling overwhelmed by the chaos of daily life or simply looking for ways to foster emotional health in your family, this book is a valuable and insightful resource. I highly recommend this for any parent seeking a calmer, more intentional way of raising resilient children but not sure where to start.

Thanks to NetGalley and Tyndale House Publishers for the ARC!

I was disappointed in this book. I thought it was going to be more about the noise of voices, media, sounds, and the over stimulation of everything that tries to get our attention and is causing stress. It did cover a bit of that at the beginning. There also wasn’t much biblical application either. It was more based on science. I would have definitely liked to see more of a biblical influence in this book.

The skills taught in this book are self-regulation and empathy based parenting, which I think can backfire if not balanced out well. I am seeing a lot of either over empathy based parenting or checked out parents. There are parts of the book that were helpful, especially understanding of brain development and how that comes into parenting and learning. I agree with several things that were brought to attention, such as too much homework early in a child’s life is not helpful. Along with grades don’t always show the whole picture. That last part of the book provides ways to help slow down, play more, and bring peace into the home.


I felt this book was also geared towards those with younger children, so there wasn’t anything that was helpful for me as a parent of teens. If you are a new parent or parent of a young child (or children), then this book would be much more applicable to you.