Leadership Parenting- Resilient Moms Raise Resilient Kids

Send us Fan Mail If you have ever taken time for yourself, the bath, the show, the quiet trip out alone, and still come back to your family feeling completely depleted, you are not doing self-care wrong. In this episode, we look at why so much of what we call self-care never actually refills an overwhelmed, tired mom, and the difference between numbing and soothing that changes everything. I walk...

Send us Fan Mail When your child's behavior feels confusing, the fix usually isn't a tougher consequence. It's a clearer read on what's happening underneath. In this episode we look into why a meltdown, an eye roll, or a kid who suddenly can't get out the door is almost always the tip of something bigger, and I walk you through a simple piece of brain science that makes it...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, I walk you through where negative thoughts actually come from, why your body reacts to a scary thought as if it's really happening, and why trying to force them out only makes them louder. We look at the difference between a fact and a thought that distorts that fact toward the negative, and I give you a set of questions you can run any thought through to dec...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we walk you through what's actually happening in your brain the moment stress takes over, and why your reactions make complete sense once you understand the system underneath them. I'll show you the five ways your nervous system steps in to protect you and why your thinking brain goes quiet right when you need it most. We'll look at one surprising tr...

Send us Fan Mail Screen time doesn't have to be a source of guilt, negotiation, or constant battle — and the research is finally catching up to what many moms already sense. In this episode, we walk through a values-based approach to family screen use this summer, including why screen-free days aren't automatically good days, what screens as a reward are actually teaching your kids, and...

Send us Fan Mail It's the end of May and I've been sitting with moms all month who are half excited about summer and half quietly dreading it — and I noticed the same handful of questions coming up again and again. So in this episode I take the most common summer struggles I hear from real moms and work through them together, because there is something genuinely helpful about knowing tha...

Send us Fan Mail So many of us moms are trying to build resilience while living completely disconnected from our own bodies. We push through stress, override exhaustion, ignore anxiety, and keep functioning until our nervous systems finally demand our attention. In this episode of Leadership Parenting, we explore the powerful connection between resilience, nervous system regulation, and body aware...

Send us Fan Mail Shame doesn’t usually show up as a clear thought. It shows up as a heavy feeling that tells you you’re the problem, and it can take one messy parenting moment and turn it into a whole identity. In  this episode, we slow that process down and name what’s actually happening when you get stuck replaying a conversation, judging yourself, and wondering why “I’m whole and valuable and w...

Send us Fan Mail Becoming a mother doesn't just change your life — it permanently enhances your brain, expands your identity, and reshapes the way you move through the world. In this tender Mother's Day episode, I walk through the concept of matrescence — the profound developmental passage every woman undergoes when she becomes a mother — including the fascinating neuroscience behind how...

Send us Fan Mail There is a story running quietly in the background of your parenting. You may not even know it's there. But it's shaping everything — how you respond in hard moments, how you recover from mistakes, and what you believe you're capable of as a mom. For the mom overwhelmed by self-criticism and parenting anxiety — this episode gets underneath both. As a resilient mom,...

Send us Fan Mail If you want to stop yelling at your kids and be a calmer mom— this episode is where it starts. Every mom has had that moment — the reaction that came out of nowhere, bigger than the situation called for, that left you wondering what just happened inside you. As a resilient mom, you're not broken — you're just working with a nervous system that nobody taught you how to re...

Send us Fan Mail If you'd like to get the show notes for this episode, head to:   https://leighgermann.com

Send us Fan Mail Do you ever find yourself doing all the things—laundry, carpool, volunteering, saying yes again—and feeling resentful, even though you care deeply about your family and your life? In this episode, I explore why the reason behind what you do shapes how you feel while doing it. Drawing from my social work training and real-life parenting examples, I explain why guilt-based decisions...

Send us Fan Mail   If you've been parenting in performance mode — measuring yourself against impossible standards, running the replay of every imperfect moment, trying harder and feeling worse — this episode is your exhale. In this follow-up to Episode 135 on perfectionism, Leigh unpacks what she calls the Performance Trap: the invisible pressure to parent like you're always on stage. Us...

Send us Fan Mail You've read the books. You've tried the strategies. And sometimes they work — and sometimes, for reasons you can't quite explain, they completely fall flat. In this episode, Leigh Germann reveals why: because the most important parenting skill isn't a method. It's understanding. When we truly study our child — their patterns, their triggers, their sensitiv...

Send us Fan Mail You can cry easily, snap quickly, or feel “flooded” all day and still not be truly feeling your feelings. That sounds backwards, but it explains why so many of us walk around exhausted, reactive, and secretly ashamed of how big our emotions get. In today's episode, we slow this down and unpack a simple truth that changes everything: having feelings isn’t the same as feeling t...

Send us Fan Mail If you’ve ever found yourself repeating the same instruction three, four, or five times while your child seems to completely ignore you, you’re not alone. In this episode, I walk you through a brain-first parenting framework that helps children actually hear, process, and act on what you ask the first time. Instead of escalating, repeating, or assuming defiance, we look at what’s...

Send us Fan Mail If you'd like to get the show notes for this episode, head to:   https://leighgermann.com

Send us Fan Mail What if you could keep your high standards as a mom and lose the constant pressure that says you’re never enough? That’s the promise of a research-backed shift from perfectionism’s heavy “concerns” to its healthy “strivings,” and it can change the way you parent—and how you feel—starting today. In this episode, I show you how to protect the part of you that wants to grow while ref...

Send us Fan Mail Some seasons of life are meant to be intense—but temporary. We tell ourselves, I can do this for a little while , and we push through on adrenaline, determination, and grit. But what happens when that season doesn’t end? In this episode, I talk about what happens when a sprint quietly becomes a marathon—and why the strategies that helped you survive short-term stress can actually...

Send us Fan Mail We have two jobs as parents — loving and teaching — and most of us blur them together without realizing it. When you understand which job you're doing in the moment, everything shifts. Parenting becomes clearer, calmer, and so much more connected so that we can love our kids in the two ways our children need the most! If you'd like to get the show notes for this episode,...

Send us Fan Mail If your home feels endlessly chaotic — toys everywhere, dishes piling up, laundry that never ends — and it leaves you feeling overstimulated, irritable, or ashamed, you’re not alone. In this episode, I break down why this experience has nothing to do with personal failure or not “handling it well enough,” and everything to do with how your nervous system responds to visual clutter...

Send us Fan Mail When your inner critic gets loud, it doesn’t feel like a thought—it feels like reality. It feels urgent, convincing, and personal. In this episode of the Leadership Parenting Podcast , I’m breaking down why the inner critic gets so intense under pressure—and why trying to “argue with it” often makes things worse. You’ll learn how nervous system activation gives the critic a microp...

Send us Fan Mail Do you ever have a day when everything suddenly feels wrong? Your mood dips, your thoughts darken, and even the smallest things feel overwhelming. I want you to know—there’s nothing wrong with you. You’re not losing it, and you’re not going backward. You’re simply experiencing a state shift , and there are gentle ways to move through it. In today’s episode, I’m helping you underst...

Send us Fan Mail Do you ever find yourself feeling offended, hurt, or misunderstood — even by the people you love? Welcome to the human experience. In this episode, we’re exploring why offended feelings arise so quickly, why they feel so personal, and how insecure thinking quietly amplifies the emotional spiral. You’ll learn how to understand offended feelings as indicator lights rather than emoti...