Reframing Me - Self-Development & Parenting Teens for Midlife Moms

Send us Fan Mail Welcome back to the show! Thank you for being here! Today, we're having a conversation about emotional intelligence, teen brain development, and breaking generational cycles around managing emotions. Many of us who grew up in the ‘80s and ‘90s were never taught how to handle emotions—because our parents weren’t taught either. This lack of emotional literacy has impacted our r...

Send us Fan Mail Thank you so much for being here! I have big dreams - lots of exciting goals. But I am so happy with my life today... am I being ungrateful for her by wanting more? This is a question that I've been pondering over the last week. Or are we holding ourselves back without even realizing it? In this episode of Jen is Zen , we’re diving into the powerful balance between gratitude...

Send us Fan Mail Thank you so much for being here! Here in North Carolina, the U.S., the Northern Hemisphere it has felt like the winteriest of winters, but we have passed the halfway point between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox, so yay, us! What's been lighting up these dark days for me? Literally, a Happy Light! and magnesium! and intermittent fasting! So let's chat about t...

Send us Fan Mail Thank you so much for being here! What is your why? It's so important to ask yourself this question, whether it's to find your focus, make it through something challenging, or simply get yourself out of bed in the morning. Because you create your own magic. You create your own future. You don’t need to be chosen. You don’t need to wait to be chosen. We are the creators o...

Send us Fan Mail Thank you so much for being here! We had a rare snow week that has felt a bit bittersweet, so we're having a conversation about changes in family dynamics as children grow and leave home, and we're up in our feelings. I'll highlight some key theories—Family Systems Theory, Developmental Stage Theory, and the Stability-Change Relational Dialectic—to help parents unde...

Send us Fan Mail Thank you for being here today! It's a snow day in here in Wilmington (where it never snows!), which is super exciting! Snow day vibes are very different here than they are in places where it regularly snows. It's all in how you see it. Are you making life more complicated than it needs to be? The world we live in is inherently subjective. It’s not shaped by some objecti...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Reframing Me , we tackle the rising wave of anger in society—especially in teenagers—and explore how parents can effectively support their teens through these challenging emotions. We discuss the psychological, social, and biological reasons behind teen anger, from hormonal changes and brain development to academic pressures, social media overload, and family dy...

Send us Fan Mail Thank you so much for being here! What’s the life that you want? If you suspend your disbelief and you take away the doubts and the excuses and narratives in your head telling you otherwise, what is the life that you want? Now, if you were given that life right now, how would you feel? What would you do? How grateful would you be for that life? And the hardest question of all – ar...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to 2025! Happy New Year! Apparently, today is National Quitters' Day because it's the time (one week-ish into the new year) when people fall from their resolutions, which is why, we should abandon "new year, new me" and embrace "new year, same me, new mindset." In this first podcast episode of the year, we discuss a top 10, best of, practical...

Send us Fan Mail Thank you so much for being here! Happy Holidays! Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! As we wrap up another year together and enter 2025, I want you to reflect on all that you've done this year - thank yourself for showing up for you. As you move into a new year, now's the time to leave anything behind that you don't want to carry with you. What would your future look...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome back! Thank you for being here! In this part two, Dr. Jennifer Brubaker explores how AI tools like ChatGPT can empower personal growth, simplify daily tasks, and help moms envision and achieve their ideal life. Building on the previous episode, she shifts the focus from how teens can use AI to how moms can benefit from it, from goal-setting and visualization to practical u...

Send us Fan Mail Thank you for being here! In Part 1 of this two-part episode, we have a conversation about Understanding AI to help teens use It responsibly. We look into the world of artificial intelligence and its impact on our lives, focusing on how moms can guide their teens to use AI tools like ChatGPT responsibly and effectively. Drawing parallels to the early days of the internet, Dr. Brub...

Send us Fan Mail Thank you for being here today! Can you believe we're already in December? As we head towards our third new year's together, I've come to the realization in my life that I'm running on vibes alone. But we all know it's easier to stay the same than to embrace change. And it's uncomfortable for us to think about trying new things or heading down new pat...

Send us Fan Mail In this Thanksgiving episode, I am extra thankful for you being here! Many moms (including me!) are anxious to have their college students home for the holiday, but that doesn't mean it won't be without its possible challenges. We'll have a conversation exploring the joys and challenges of welcoming college freshmen back home for the holidays. As our families reconn...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome back! It has been a minute since we took time for a Just for Me episode, so in an effort to let my woowoo side out again after months of my more cerebral side taking the lead, we are going to have a conversation about a few of my favorite things (and no, I cannot say that without thinking of Julie Andrews twirling in the Alps). So manifestation, the Law of Resonance, magic...

Send us Fan Mail Thank you so much for being here! It can be very easy to sometimes feel like life and the world, like it’s all out of our control. Like we’re simply responding to things and left wishing they were different. Can you be the change that you are waiting for? Because change can and always should begin with us. So what if we stopped looking outside of ourselves for what we want and ins...

Send us Fan Mail Thank you so much for being here!! It's a week post-US presidential election and many are processing it all. Today, we are going to have a conversation about how we as moms can help our teens and young adults to process their feelings following the 2024 presidential election. Our nation feels deeply divided, and these emotions are quite strong among young people. Teenagers an...

Send us Fan Mail Re: That....It's that time of year again! In the episode "Game Over," we had a conversation for this NEW batch of senior parents (this is my year off - phew! Last year and the next TWO years, I am back ON!) about the loss we feel when our kids' sports or activities end, whether its because they've lost interest or didn't make the team or, as many of u...

Send us Fan Mail It is that time of year again! A whole new batch of seniors (and senior parents!) finishing up the sports/activities that have consumed their (our!) lives, time, energy, and money. Afterwords years of finding ourselves on the sideline or in the stands or seats watching day after day, week after week, year after year, this is the point when it all ends. For many, senior year is tha...

Send us Fan Mail Thank you for being with me today! Can we all open the door to a life that’s lighter, fuller, and brimming with self-acceptance?  Can we drop the load we’ve been carrying?  For so long, we've each been carrying something around with us – something that is heavy – something that is weighing us down.  What if today, right now, we each just let it go? If we dropped them, and ran...

Send us Fan Mail Election anxiety is the intense stress or nervousness that people feel surrounding elections, but it’s obviously particularly present in periods leading up to a major election, like this one. It’s characterized by a sense of worry about the future, frustration with the political climate, and often a constant preoccupation with political news and any possible developments. And acco...

Send us Fan Mail Thank you so much for being here! We know all too well how powerful and sometimes overwhelming our teens’ emotions can be. This period is a time of those huge changes —physically, mentally, and emotionally—and these changes bring a whirlwind of emotions that can often feel out of control for both them and us. In today's conversation, we’ll explore the types of emotions teens...

Send us Fan Mail Thank you so much for being here! When a candle lights another candle, it doesn’t lose any of its light, and two candles shine brighter than one. Be the candle that lights the others around you, and surround yourself with those who aren’t afraid to light you when you need it. And stay very clear of the "candleblowers" out there. When I think of it this way – when I think...

Send us Fan Mail Happy World Menopause Day - although most of us celebrate every damn day by feeling 20 degrees hotter than everyone else around them – and spending way too much time trying to remember what we were doing or thinking or saying – by having random aches and pains and itches that seem to come from nowhere – seem absolutely crazy – and then disappear – or by crying or yelling or snappi...

Send us Fan Mail Sometimes the discomfort of staying the same has to be greater than the discomfort of change. The discomfort of staying in place can eventually become undeniable. And when it does, it’s no longer the fear of change that holds us back, but the recognition that we are meant to evolve. We are not meant to stay stuck in the same routines, in the same roles, or in the same patterns for...