Fight Like a Mother

Emily Hamblin shares her own struggles throughout her life.  She discovered she has ADHD when her own child was diagnosed which says explains a lot about her growing up years.  She shares with us some of the struggles her son has had in school and at home with behaviors, paying attention and emotional regulation.   Before she realized her son was neurodivergent, she took his behaviors personally....

PODCAST #76: Get comfortable with discomfort Experiences recently of feeling uncomfortable.   Max, not my story to share, but feeling their pain and struggles.  It is not the most comfortable to listen to someones raw pain.  But it expanded my mind, my perspective and most of all my heart.  I learned how to love better.   Suicide prevention month.  September is often filled with social media posts...

In this episode I have such a great chat with Monica Pack of the About Progress podcast about how to create flexible self supporting habits for overwhelmed moms. Monica shares the 4 types of "habiteers" which are: 1.  The martyr: they believe habits are balls and chains, they are ruled by "shoulds" and believe habits are all or nothing. 2.  The Dropper: believes habits are full routines and they d...

I love to share goodness.  This podcast is just that.  Tyler Bastian, the founder and principal of Roots charter school is a human being who is making a huge difference in this world.  His school serves at risk students who may have failed in other schools, who may have been expelled or are court ordered to be there.  This school is a working farm, they have 5 acres with animals, a garden, flowers...

 It is back to school time, it's on all the commercials advertising shopping, it's all over social media where you are being shown how to create cute lunches and the latest and greatest lunch boxes, moms are showing how to have a night time and morning routine.  How to best support your kids so they excel academically, what classes to take to get into the best colleges, padding your college resume...

Thank you so much for supporting and listening to the last two years of the podcast!  It debuted August 5th of 2020 and it has been a passion project of mine that has been so fulfilling and fun. I am so excited to share with you some clips of my favorite episodes from the last two years.  The 5-10 minute clips from these 5 episodes could truly be life changing!  If they teach you, inspire you and...

Women's empowerment, business and life coach Allie White shares beautiful perspective on life's challenges.  Here are a few of her thoughts: So much is piled on us that we attach our goodness too to measure internal worth.  That's not how it works.  When life gives us challenges it can be easy to take that worth and purpose that is finished the second we are born.  You'll never find you're more im...

This episode is very personal, June 9, 2009 my brother in law Brian Cardall was killed by police due to mental illness.  Today June 9, 2022 I share his story on the podcast. My father in law Duane Cardall is my guest and shares more about Brian and his life, about his illness and details about his death.  Duane also shares the contrast in care he observed between two sons.  Duane's oldest son Paul...

How can we support and love our LGBTQ+ family members, neighbors, church goers, students etc?   In this episode I chat with Allison Dayton the founder of the organization Lift&Love and the mother of a gay son and a sister of a gay brother about how to love others better. When we get to know people's hearts, it changes where we focus our energy.  When we see the actual people and don't get caught u...

Dr. Christina Hibbert clinical psychologist/therapist, shares her life experiences with us in this episode.  She has suffered multiple traumas in her own life including loss by suicide, adopting her sisters children, a breast cancer diagnosis which came with multiple surgeries, infections, hospital stays and life threatening complications.   In her social media she has been so open and real with h...

May is mental health awareness month.  I wanted to feature families who are in the trenches with it so I asked for input from hundreds of families and these are the responses they gave me From a meme I saw on Instagram: "Back in my day they didnt have all this autism and ADHD and anxiety and stuff.  I think what you mean is that people used to go undiagnosed and get absolutely no help and were for...

In this episode I interview Dakin Stovall who is a research psychology PhD student at BYU about her research on the impact of autism on families and on mothers specifically.  Here is some of her findings. If you aren't raising an autistic child, you probably have a friend who is. o 1/44 by age 8 new CDC estimates from Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network https://www.cdc....

My guest is Dr. Greg Miles a clinical psychologist who specializes in autism spectrum disorder.  He shares some of the basics in understanding autism and signs and symptoms to watch out for with our young kids.  Here are a few of the symptoms Making little or inconsistent eye contact Appearing not to look at or listen to people who are talking Infrequently sharing interest, emotion, or enjoyment o...

Today I welcome my guest David Cardall...who is also my kids dad and my husband.  He wanted to come share his long journey to embracing gentle/connection based parenting. For a long time how we parented was a huge piece of conflict in our marriage as our kids began to struggle with mental health and defiance.  He thought therapy was hokey, he believed connection based/relationship first parents we...

In the first installment of the series "What I wish parents knew" where therapists will share their thoughts about helping parents in the home.  I chat with therapist Nate Watkins about what parents can do in the home to help promote good mental health for their kids.  Let's face it, even if we have our kids in regular weekly therapy, that is only 4 hours a month.  That leaves the rest of the week...

Dr. Brad Reedy who has a Phd in marriage and family therapy has a unique perspective on teens who struggle.  He himself was a high school drop out, got involved with drugs and nearly died from an overdose as a teen.  He says his job isn't to give all the answers but he wants to teach people how to think about the problem, but how can they come up with their own solutions.  He teaches parents how t...

Therapist Carolyn Mohler discusses trauma and what it is, how to recognize it and how to manage it.  She defines trauma as not how an event affects you at the time, but how it affects you today and impacts your life.  What might be trauma for one person, the same event may not affect others in the same way.     There are two types of trauma Big T and little t.  Big T is what we typically think of...

Are you a safe place for you kids to land? Do they know you have their back?  Do they know you are on their team?  If they know they are loved and safe with you they will open up more.  Parenting is about a relationship, not a behavior monitor. You have the power NOW to choose how you will respond in different situations.  Decide now what your family values are and make these decisions based on yo...

Monica Packer and I chat about why self care and being a fulfilled, whole person is so important as a mom.  Monica talks about 3 levels of self care: 1. Basic: (fundamental habits,showering, movement, eating, sleeping).  Needs to be the most consistent to have a good foundation. 2. Indulgent: (pedicures, facials, lunch with friends).  Pampering, good to do every now and then. Takes more money. 3....

Why is it important to find your own voice?  How is it empowering? Why is it important to differentiate yourself from your children? My guest Kathleen Allen, active life coach shares her thoughts about finding ourselves. It is all about embracing your whole, complete self and being able to offer that in your relationships so you can allow your children to be their whole and complete selves.  When...

My guest Brigette Heller shares her family's journey with mental health and how she has risen from the darkness and is thriving. She shares valuable tools to improve our mindset and mindfulness surrounding our thoughts and to rise from our circumstances. Brigette helps other women find their light and purpose with her business and podcast The Strong and Capable.  She encourages women to dig deep a...

African Proverb: "The child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel it's warmth." When our kids behaviors feel like they are trying to "burn down our village."  How are we responding?  Are we throwing gasoline on the fire where it turns into a raging bonfire or are we working on extinguishing it by staying calm and being a soft place to land? Challenging behaviors are communic...

The diagnosis or label of Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) can feel like a heavy weight for parents and kids.  Parenting defiant children can be one of the most challenging experiences parents can face. Dr. Mona Delahooke, pediatric psychologist shares her knowledge and wisdom with us in this episode.  One of the most powerful tools Dr. Delahooke shares with us and with her clients she works wi...

Podcast episode 54: How to deal with others judgements   Umm happy new year…a month late!  It is February 1st 2022 and this is my first episode this year.  January was a super challenging month.  My father had a stroke on January 3rd, never regained consciousness and passed away on the 10th.  The 17th was his funeral and then my family got Covid.  In the midst of all of that I had a root canal, cr...

It's the most wonderful time of the year, Christmas magic, priceless memories.   Sometimes our expectations surrounding the holidays are sky high.  We work ourselves to the bone to create magic and memories.  What happens when our kids melt down or won't participate in the activity or cop their teenage attitude?   What if they RUIN the most wonderful time of the year??   My advice in this episode...