The Evolution of Parenting Podcast

The season finale zooms back out to offer a hopeful, grounded vision of what healthy adult families actually do to stay healthy. We explore cultures of repair, respect, agency, and connection, and how these values reshape family identity. We look at what healthy families avoid (infantilizing, guilt, mind-reading, avoidance) and what they practice instead (collaboration, emotional expression, bound...

This episode turns inward. We explore how a parent’s own upbringing shapes their instincts, triggers, communication patterns, and emotional reactions — often without their awareness. We teach parents how to break cycles without shame, how to regulate their nervous system, how to set self-boundaries, and how to practice self-compassion. We explore how unhealed wounds show up as over-helping, over-c...

This episode helps parents understand why siblings raised in the same home often have completely different experiences. We explore the "Gabor Maté principle", birth order, timing, temperament, sensitivity, neurodivergence, adoption, and the constantly shifting emotional landscape of a parent’s life. We show why sameness was never possible, and why fairness doesn’t mean identical treatment. We also...

This episode reframes communication as a relational skill, not a personality trait. We explore why most conflict between parents and adult children isn’t about the issue itself, it’s about how the issue is discussed. Parents were taught to communicate with children, not adults; adult children were taught to avoid conflict, not navigate it. We teach nonjudgmental listening, validation, consent-base...

This episode reframes modern parenting through the lens of stress and overwhelm. We revisit the three major parenting styles — authoritarian, permissive, and authoritative — and translate them into the adult-child context. We explore how overhelping, overfixing, and overmanaging often come from fear, not control, and how these patterns unintentionally steal agency from adult children. We decode wh...

This episode unpacks the central paradox of modern adulthood: adult children need autonomy to grow into themselves, and they need community to stay anchored. Yet our culture forces them to choose. We explore why autonomy must come before independence, why interdependence is the natural human state, and how the Western ideal of “total independence” has left families disconnected and ashamed of need...

This episode names the cultural forces shaping today’s parent–adult child relationships. We explore how surveillance culture, the collapse of nuance, the loss of community, and the loneliness epidemic have made everyone more reactive, more sensitive, and more afraid of being misunderstood. Parents feel blamed; adult children feel judged. Both feel alone. This episode reframes the struggle not as a...

Ray & Rose are parents of three adult kids and grandparents to nine adopted/biological grandkids. The stories the tell Robert of raising their kids and watching how their parenting choices played out in the lives of their kids are both inspirational and instructional. As we have all experienced, having multiple kids means having to make multiple decisions that best suit each kid individually a...

Mary Jo & Jon have raised three daughters who are successful, independent, and thriving in their adult communities. Robert talks with them about the challenges of expatriate life and how their upbringing in multiple communities has affected their adult paths and how interacting with them as adults has been influenced by their parenting choices. As a tight-knit family, the Hahns are reaping the...

Luther & Angie have not only raised their adult kids in the cultural context of the African American experience and community, they have done so as long-term leaders of a ministry serving local folks experiencing poverty, homelessness, food insecurity, and financial instability. With strong family, religious, and military roots, they share with Robert their unique story and how they have worke...

Lori & Mike have parented two wonderful adult kids, and their journey has not been easy or predictable. They share with Robert some of their struggles and triumphs with raising two kids with different needs and how they had to develop strategies for parenting their neurologically different adult kids. Both have been long time leaders in the neurodivergent parenting community – especially overs...

In this season, we are chatting with Parents with Adult Kids (PAKs). This kick-off episode features a conversation between Robert and Rich & Sue Allen.  Parents (and grandparents) Rich & Sue Allen share their experiences of raising a diverse family overseas and some of the challenges and opportunities they have encountered as they transitioned to parents of adult kids (PAKs). Of note is th...

Often we are confronted by our highly imaginative and energetic kids who bring us their ideas for "making something to sell" or maybe even an idea for how to help others! In this episode, Yarona talks with Sheri Jones about how to encourage and foster this entrepreneurial spirit.  Sheri Jones is a serial entrepreneur, investor, teacher, and philanthropist dedicated to empowering young minds throug...

"Multiculturalism" is sometimes a divisive or misunderstood term. As parents, how do we raise children to understand and appreciate people from other cultures? How does being raised in another culture affect their development? What are the pros and cons of raising "multicultural" kids? Join Yarona and Dr. Burrus as they explore the implications of being or raising "global nomads".  Dr. Katrina Bur...

In this episode, Yarona and Carla start with recognizing the example we set for our kids when it comes to reacting to "life". Because we can't ignore the profound effect our actions and behavioral choices have on our kids, we need to be able to understand and control them. Understanding and monitoring our stress levels is difficult, but technology can be leveraged to help!  Carla is an internation...

Talking about technology and parenting can be frustrating, confusing, and infuriating! Even though we are buried under an avalanche of technological advances, we need to pull back and give ourselves time to process what it means, what it can do, and what maybe some boundaries. Yarona and Seonad take into the tech & parenting world and provide some context and content for managing these decisio...

All of the experiences of parenting lead up to one of the most nerve-wracking, anxiety-inducing, and tense times in the life of a young adult (and their parents) - choosing what happens after high school graduation. The choices to be made, and the consequences that go with it, are vast and finding that "sweet spot" where the skills and talents of a young adult align with both their interests and m...

Raising kids in a culture that are not their "native" culture can be daunting and bewildering. Yarona talks with Ilona about being raised in a culture quite foreign to that in the U.S. and raising her kids a U.S. culture quite foreign to her native Armenian culture. TEDx Speaker, Author, and Coach, Ilona Parunakova is a motivational force in personal development. A Confident Leadership expert, she...

Not all relationships between parent partners are healthy and some can be downright toxic. How do we negotiate the struggles with our partners while parenting our kids to have healthier relationships? Yarona and Michelle take on this difficult topic in this week's episode. Michelle Hays is a heart-centered Marriage Coach with a Certification in Couples Counseling Michelle Hays is a Certified Marri...

Too often, "experts" and those who would offer parenting "wisdom" do so without thinking about those who possess a neurological system that is wired quite differently. Neurodivergent folks don't always respond as we would think, and sometimes not as we would want. In this episode, Yarona and Gina talk about how parenting must change and adapt for neurodivergent children. Gina is an educator, inter...

Tapping into wisdom from "down under", this episode features Aussie Simon talking with Yarona about emotional health - especially in men - and how we can foster healthy habits and expressions by being more intentional in monitoring our parenting styles! Simon is a husband and father, mental health advocate and social worker. As the Founder of Mindful Men, he’s dedicated to supporting men with ment...

There is a fine line in parenting between seeking to protect our kids from real harm and helping them find their own boundaries. In this episode, Yarona and Dawn talk about how this plays out and how we can help diminish anxiety formation in our kids. Dawn Friedman MSEd, has been working with kids and families for more than thirty years as a preschool teacher, parent educator, family case manager,...

Understanding Body-Mind-Emotion connections are critical in raising healthy, well-adjusted children who can then become well-adjusted adults. Yarona and Kathy take us into this conversation in a way that is not only accessible, but helpful in making good parenting choices! Kathy Baldwin, founder of RiseUP Coaching and author of 'Unlearn the Crap', is a pioneer in stress mastery and body-mind align...

We may not talk about it explicitly, but we all, as parents, understand that there are "stages" of development in our kids. How do we take this knowledge and use it to be better parents? In this episode, Yarona and Corinna pull back the curtain on the finer points of stages of development and how we might adjust our parenting as they move through them. Corinna is a life coach who shares her knowle...

Join Yarona and blogger Michelle as they tackle the struggles of alternate abilities, especially as it relates to our public education system. What does our system do well and where are the weaknesses in the system?  Michelle Steiner lives with an invisible disability. She has articles published on The Mighty, Non Verbal Learning Project, Dyscalculia Blog, The Reluctant Spoonie, Kalopina Collectiv...