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This was a hard episode for me to record but I needed to honour my grandmother who passed away yesterday.

Today's reflections are:

1. Does my child feel loved and respected by me?
2. Does my child feel like they belong?
3. Do I help my child build their confidence by letting them fail or giving them opportunities to prove to themselves that they can do it

I hope you enjoy this episode and that it helps you reflect on how you are showing up for your child in every day actions. This was a reminder for me as well! (no one is perfect!)

Support the show

Start your journey to becoming emotionally aware:

Step 1: Get your FREE emotional awareness training for parents and kids below (comes with a poster, workbook and video):

https://tremendous-hustler-7333.kit.com/84371dc0b2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4iEbFRZ5QQ&t=12s

Step 2: Join our Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/reflectiveparentingpodcast

Step 3:Purchase our course for $99, The Emotionally Aware Parent or join the next 8 week group cohort (starting in September 2026)

https://curiousneuron.com/reflective-parent-club/

Or email me info@curiousneuron.com to book emotional training sessions for your organization.

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This week, we are reflecting on our self-love.

This week's reflections are:

1. How do I nourish my happiness?
2. Do I see my body and mind as my home?
3. How do you feed your mind and body?

As parents I think we need to remember to pause, reflect, and reconnect with what truly nourishes us. This reminds us that we matter and that we do love ourselves. These reflections are inspired by the book How to Love. I hope this week's episode can help you be more intentional with what you consume so you can show up with more calm and connection in your daily lives.

Book: How to love by Thich Nhat Hanh (Amazon.com)

My conversation with Dr.Kristen Neff:

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/reflective-parenting-by-curious-neuron/id1440533170?i=1000652462526

Support the show

Start your journey to becoming emotionally aware:

Step 1: Get your FREE emotional awareness training for parents and kids below (comes with a poster, workbook and video):

https://tremendous-hustler-7333.kit.com/84371dc0b2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4iEbFRZ5QQ&t=12s

Step 2: Join our Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/reflectiveparentingpodcast

Step 3:Purchase our course for $99, The Emotionally Aware Parent or join the next 8 week group cohort (starting in September 2026)

https://curiousneuron.com/reflective-parent-club/

Or email me info@curiousneuron.com to book emotional training sessions for your organization.

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After five months away from the microphone, I'm finally back.

If you've been wondering where I've been, thank you for checking in. Your emails, messages, and support meant more to me than you know.

I explain what happened in this episode and share how this time away also gave me space to reflect.

In also share what I've been learning about capacity the idea that our ability to cope, connect, parent, and respond changes throughout the day based on what's happening around us and within us.

We often tell ourselves that we don't have time for self-care.

But what if the real question isn't about self-care at all?

What if it's about learning to notice and respond to our needs?

In this episode, we explore:

• Why "I don't have time for self-care" may be the wrong question
• What Capacity Mountain taught me about stress and emotional well-being
• The three categories of needs that most parents overlook: Body, Mind, and Connection
• How small intentional pauses can help you show up differently for your child
• Why many of us have forgotten what our needs even are
• A simple way to start noticing what is draining—and replenishing—your capacity

This episode marks a new chapter for the podcast and for Curious Neuron.

Whether you've been here since the beginning or you're joining for the first time, I'm grateful you're here.

Let's reconnect, reflect, and continue this journey together.

Support the show

Start your journey to becoming emotionally aware:

Step 1: Get your FREE emotional awareness training for parents and kids below (comes with a poster, workbook and video):

https://tremendous-hustler-7333.kit.com/84371dc0b2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4iEbFRZ5QQ&t=12s

Step 2: Join our Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/reflectiveparentingpodcast

Step 3:Purchase our course for $99, The Emotionally Aware Parent or join the next 8 week group cohort (starting in September 2026)

https://curiousneuron.com/reflective-parent-club/

Or email me info@curiousneuron.com to book emotional training sessions for your organization.

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Family dynamics can feel especially intense around the holidays and one of the most challenging patterns many parents face is the triangle between you, your partner, and your mother-in-law. In today’s episode, Dr. Tracy Dalgleish returns to the podcast to help us make sense of this dynamic with compassion, clarity, and evidence-based tools.

In this conversation, I sit down with Dr. Tracy Dalgleish, psychologist and author of You, Your Husband & His Mother, to unpack why the mother-in-law / daughter-in-law dynamic is so emotionally charged and how it quietly strains couples.

We talk about boundaries, guilt, generational differences, cultural expectations, and what couples can do to stop feeling divided and start acting as a solid team.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why this family dynamic is uniquely triggering
• How boundaries get misunderstood and what actually works
• What to do when your partner shuts down or minimizes the issue
• How to recover after a difficult family gathering
• Why connection comes before problem-solving

Join me for a free Webinar on December 17th at 8pm (and get the replay!):

https://tremendous-hustler-7333.kit.com/ce962dd904

You can purchase Tracy's book, You, Your Husband and Your Mother in Law, in the US or in Canada. You can also get her first book (which I also highly recommend called "I didn't Sign up for This" in the US or Canada.

Listen to my previous conversation with Tracy below:

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/reflective-parenting-by-curious-neuron/id1440533170?i=1000627417247

Support the show

Start your journey to becoming emotionally aware:

Step 1: Get your FREE emotional awareness training for parents and kids below (comes with a poster, workbook and video):

https://tremendous-hustler-7333.kit.com/84371dc0b2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4iEbFRZ5QQ&t=12s

Step 2: Join our Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/reflectiveparentingpodcast

Step 3:Purchase our course for $99, The Emotionally Aware Parent or join the next 8 week group cohort (starting in September 2026)

https://curiousneuron.com/reflective-parent-club/

Or email me info@curiousneuron.com to book emotional training sessions for your organization.

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If you’ve ever ended a night thinking, “Why did I snap again?” — this episode is for you.

Today, we’re diving into what’s really happening in your brain and body when your child pushes your buttons. Because those intense reactions? They aren’t proof that you’re a bad parent. They’re signals from a nervous system in overdrive — and once you can recognize those signals, you can change the way you respond.

We’ll talk about:

• Why your child’s emotions can feel like a threat to your brain
• The science behind emotional flooding (in both you and your child)
• How stress, exhaustion, and self-expectations reduce your window of tolerance
• What “repair” looks like — and why it matters more than getting it perfect

You’ll walk away with practical reflection questions and simple shifts that help you move from snapping to connecting — even on the hard days.

Join next week's FREE webinar (or get the replay):

https://tremendous-hustler-7333.kit.com/ce962dd904

Read the full article:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24392687/

Share your thoughts and questions with me:

https://form.typeform.com/to/Dadaa8ns

Read a blog post about this:

https://curiousneuron.com/2025/12/03/why-you-still-snap-even-when-youve-done-the-work/

Support the show

Start your journey to becoming emotionally aware:

Step 1: Get your FREE emotional awareness training for parents and kids below (comes with a poster, workbook and video):

https://tremendous-hustler-7333.kit.com/84371dc0b2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4iEbFRZ5QQ&t=12s

Step 2: Join our Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/reflectiveparentingpodcast

Step 3:Purchase our course for $99, The Emotionally Aware Parent or join the next 8 week group cohort (starting in September 2026)

https://curiousneuron.com/reflective-parent-club/

Or email me info@curiousneuron.com to book emotional training sessions for your organization.

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Hi Reflective Parents! This week, we are talking about something I keep hearing from parents which is snapping at our kids even when we are working on ourselves by learning about parenting or even going to therapy.

You are not failing your child. You are still learning many skills that lead to you becoming more aware of your own state before you snap.

In this episode, I walk you through 3 steps that might help you catch yourself the next time you snap (notice I didn't say BEFORE you snap....that isn't always realistic).

I would love to find a way to communicate better with all of you. Share your story that is related to this episode in the link below OR ask a question to help me create a future podcast episode.

https://form.typeform.com/to/Dadaa8ns

Support the show

Start your journey to becoming emotionally aware:

Step 1: Get your FREE emotional awareness training for parents and kids below (comes with a poster, workbook and video):

https://tremendous-hustler-7333.kit.com/84371dc0b2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4iEbFRZ5QQ&t=12s

Step 2: Join our Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/reflectiveparentingpodcast

Step 3:Purchase our course for $99, The Emotionally Aware Parent or join the next 8 week group cohort (starting in September 2026)

https://curiousneuron.com/reflective-parent-club/

Or email me info@curiousneuron.com to book emotional training sessions for your organization.

Send us Fan Mail

If you keep snapping, shutting down, or feeling guilty, even though you “know” what to do... this episode will finally make it make sense.

After speaking with more than 200 parents, I’ve noticed the same pattern:
We are drowning in parenting advice, but no one is teaching parents the one skill that actually changes everything, how your nervous system works.

In this episode, I talk about:

• Why you still lose patience even after therapy, courses, and all the scripts
• What’s really happening in your body during those moments you “flip”
• Why you’re not a bad parent — you’re simply depleted
• How viewing your child through a leadership lens instantly changes your reactions
• The real first step to building a calmer, more connected home

You don’t need more advice.
You need emotional bandwidth — and today, we talk about how to build it.

New! Becoming a Reflective Parent course is now available!!!
Learn the 10 skills that help you rewire patterns, regulate emotions, and understand your nervous system. Get it today!

https://curiousneuron.com/reflective-parent-club/

Support the show

Start your journey to becoming emotionally aware:

Step 1: Get your FREE emotional awareness training for parents and kids below (comes with a poster, workbook and video):

https://tremendous-hustler-7333.kit.com/84371dc0b2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4iEbFRZ5QQ&t=12s

Step 2: Join our Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/reflectiveparentingpodcast

Step 3:Purchase our course for $99, The Emotionally Aware Parent or join the next 8 week group cohort (starting in September 2026)

https://curiousneuron.com/reflective-parent-club/

Or email me info@curiousneuron.com to book emotional training sessions for your organization.

Send us Fan Mail

Today on the Reflective Parenting Podcast, I’m sitting down with Dr. Brendan Kwiatkowski-Hartman to talk about something many parents quietly wonder about:

Why do boys sometimes pull away emotionally and how can we support them without pushing too hard?

Brendan is a researcher who has spent years studying boys, masculinity, and emotional expression. What he learned in his PhD work is both reassuring and eye-opening: boys do feel deeply, even when it looks like they’ve shut down. And the reasons they hold back are often more complex and tender than we realize.

This is a grounded, thoughtful conversation, especially meaningful for dads who want to connect more with their sons but aren’t always sure where to start.

In this episode, we cover:

• The two stages when boys start hiding emotions
• Why boys say “I’m fine” even when they’re struggling
• How to become an emotional safe space for your son
• What makes it hard for dads to be vulnerable
• Gentle ways to start emotional conversations with boys
• The RULER model for building emotional intelligence
• How to support boys who feel anxious or withdrawn
• Why parents’ own emotional work matters
• Practical scripts and small daily moments that build trust

Read our blog post about this topic:

https://curiousneuron.com/2025/11/15/boys-emotional-needs-study/

Learn more from Brendan below:

@re.masculine

https://remasculine.com

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36176325/

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9513388/

Support the show

Start your journey to becoming emotionally aware:

Step 1: Get your FREE emotional awareness training for parents and kids below (comes with a poster, workbook and video):

https://tremendous-hustler-7333.kit.com/84371dc0b2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4iEbFRZ5QQ&t=12s

Step 2: Join our Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/reflectiveparentingpodcast

Step 3:Purchase our course for $99, The Emotionally Aware Parent or join the next 8 week group cohort (starting in September 2026)

https://curiousneuron.com/reflective-parent-club/

Or email me info@curiousneuron.com to book emotional training sessions for your organization.