August 7, 2020
I talk a lot about motherhood on this podcast, because that’s the world I know. On this episode, we get a father’s perspective. Larry Hagner, founder of the Good Dad Project, joins me to discuss growing up with ADHD, raising a child with ADHD, and being an intentional man and dad to better connect with your kids and support their journey to success. Connection is the key — "without connection you have no influence."
July 31, 2020
Anxiety affects more and more kids and adults every day. It’s taking over lives and eroding the confidence of our kids (and ourselves). But, as therapist Jodi Aman outlines in her new book and explains in this episode, anxiety can be dramatically improved and brains can be hardwired for happiness. Join us in this episode to learn about the inner critic, how the “monkey mind” feeds and grows anxiety, and what parents can do to help teens and themselves reduce anxiety and be more confident. Happiness is attainable for everyone when the work is done to shift your mindset.
![PAP 097: Conscious Parenting and the Impact of Stress on Behavior, with Dr. Nima Rahmany, DC, CCWP]()
July 23, 2020
We all want four things in our lives that contribute to our happiness: less stress, connection to others, purpose, and meaningful relationships. Many things get in the way of achieving these things for our kids with ADHD and/or autism (and ourselves), including a frequently triggered nervous system and dysregulation, the way our own past traumas have shaped the way we parent, our expectations of our kids, and wanting to protect our kids from the negative events in our own childhood.
On this episode of the Parenting ADHD Podcast, I’m talking with Dr. Nima Rahmany, a chiropractor and educator specializing in helping individuals and professionals get to the ROOT CAUSE of their physical and emotional challenges, from stressed, depressed, and anxious to living Powerfully Aligned and on Purpose. We discuss connection, trauma, triggers, regulation, and the autonomic nervous system and the way these are all interconnected and are clues on how to integrate mind-body tools to go deep with our kids and truly help them build regulation and connection from the bottom up. This all culminates in recognizing behavior as adaptive instead of abnormal, which puts parents in the best position to truly improve behavior and help our kids achieve success and happiness.
July 9, 2020
If your child has ADHD (or is on the autism spectrum), behavior is likely top of mind for you. They act in ways we don’t understand, find inappropriate, or don’t approve of when we view behavior through the traditional behavior lens. Brain-based science now helps us understand behavior and how our autonomic nervous system — our physiology — drives how we feel and how we respond to how we feel.
In this episode of the Parenting ADHD Podcast, psychologist and behavior expert, Mona Delahooke, PhD, explains Dr. Stephen Porges’s Polyvagal Theory and how to harness an understanding of the autonomic nervous system to appropriately and positively address behavior challenges. While everything we discuss is backed by brain science, we’ve broken it down into simple terms. This conversation is one that all of us can understand and includes proven strategies to implement with your child right now.
July 2, 2020
The teen years have always been tough. There’s a ton of change coming at teens from all directions, as well as an ever-increasing expectation of independence, accountability, and responsibility. But it’s a much bigger challenge to be a teen today, with the added social complexity of instantaneous distribution and social media. It’s no wonder the tween and teen years often have an inherent lack of self-confidence.
I’m talking to psychologist, Dr. Melanie McNally about supporting self-confidence in our teens and young adults on this episode of the Parenting ADHD Podcast. Dr. McNally offers loads of insights about healthy self-confidence and outlines several strategies for parents to help their kids manage anxiety and improve self-confidence. And this conversation is perfect for parents of younger kids too — start young because they’ll all be teens one day.
June 25, 2020
If there's one tool we all need for life in this world — kids and parents — it's calming techniques. In this episode of the Parenting ADHD Podcast I explain the role of the vagus nerve and our autonomic nervous system in getting us activated and feeling unsafe, and then list more than 20 tools and techniques to use for calming yourself or your child, by stimulating the vagus nerve to calm the nervous system.
June 18, 2020
Is it will or skill? Behavior challenges often look on the surface like willful acting out, but rarely ever are. Behavior is simply a symptom of the “real problem” — the lagging skill, differences in neurology, dysregulation, or misunderstanding of others. Rather than judge and react to your child’s behavior and parent through a behavior lens, it’s paramount to take into account your child’s differences — physiological brain-based differences — and let that guide your parenting. This is what licensed clinical social worker, Eileen Devine, calls a brain-based lens. In this episode of the Parenting ADHD Podcast, Eileen and I discuss challenging parenting paradigms and shifting your mindset to parent through a brain-based lens. This is the ultimate in parenting the child you have, and raising happy successful kids. Listen in now!
June 11, 2020
If there’s one thing parenting kids with ADHD is, it’s unpredictable and inconsistent. We can be stressed by those characteristics and fight hard against them, or we can accept them and use them to our advantage. Seeing the ups and downs of this special brand of parenthood as an adventure and a perpetual learning and growth opportunity is how mom and blogger, Beth Grushkin, aka FuzzyMama, meets the challenge of raising two boys with ADHD with courage and passion.
In this episode of the Parenting ADHD Podcast, Beth and I discuss how a creative and adventurous perspective have helped her to keep going— to keep rising after challenges knock her off her feet. She also shares what she has found to be most important for her kids and family, including sleep, nutrition, screen time, out-of-the-box parenting, and modeling what we want to see in our kids. The struggle is real, and Beth acknowledges that while providing strategies and hope to help you keep going.
June 4, 2020
A larger percentage of the ADHD population — kids and adults alike — struggle with sleep. Your child might have a hard time falling asleep or staying asleep during the night, or both. When kids aren't sleeping, parents likely aren't getting adequate sleep either and that takes a toll on the entire family. In this episode of the Parenting ADHD Podcast, I'm talking with sleep consultant, Melissa Doman, about all things sleep. We discuss why sleep challenges arise, strategies to help your kids fall asleep and stay asleep, and even how to get kids sleeping in their own beds. If your child (or you) struggle with sleep, this is an episode not to be missed.
May 28, 2020
We are all guilty of it. Blowing up at our kid at one time or another is inevitable, because we parents are human and we make mistakes. Of course, we don't want to blow up at our kids, and it certainly doesn't have to be part of our everyday family lives, and it shouldn't be. In this episode of the Parenting ADHD Podcast, I'm talking to psychologist and ADHD specialist, Dr. Marcy Caldwell about the reasons we blow up at our kids with ADHD, and strategies to blow up less and how to handle it when we do blow up. They keys are mindful awareness, co-regulation, empathy and validation, and connection between parent and child. Listen in now to get Dr. Caldwell's expert insights and strategies to improve your interactions with your kids.
