The Parenting Lab (Help for the Healing Parent)

Our words shape more than our children's behavior—they shape the story our children begin to believe about themselves. In this episode, we're exploring how parents can unintentionally communicate shame, even when our goal is to teach responsibility, honesty, and respect. We'll talk about the difference between correcting behavior and defining identity, why shame gets in the way of acco...

Welcome to Lab Notes ! In addition to our weekly deep-dive episodes, I'll be dropping in from time to time with these shorter conversations - quick reflections, observations, and fresh perspectives inspired by MY everyday parenting. Think of them as little pauses in your week. A chance to slow down, notice something you may not have considered before, and carry one small shift with you into th...

What if your attachment style isn't your identity? Attachment theory has given millions of people language to understand their relationship patterns, but what if the way we talk about attachment is limiting the way we think about it? In this episode of The Parenting Lab , we're exploring a simple but powerful shift in perspective: moving from thinking about attachment as a fixed style to v...

☑️ Download the FREE Self Assessment Workbook What if you stopped measuring your parenting by your child's behavior - and started measuring the health of your relationship instead? In this episode of The Parenting Lab , we're slowing down to take an honest, compassionate look at where things really stand. Together, we'll walk through a simple parenting self-assessment designed to help...

Leave a comment with your favorite "Dad Phrase!" "Because I said so." "Turn off the lights." "When I was your age..." In honor of Father's Day, we're taking a lighthearted look at some of the classic phrases dads seem to share across generations. From lectures about electricity to stories that somehow get more dramatic every year, these familiar one-liners have become part of the soundtrack of fam...

Join the FREE 5-Day Abundant Parenting Challenge How do we create a peaceful family culture when life is noisy, messy, emotional, and unpredictable? This week, we're building on last week's conversation about abundance vs. scarcity and exploring why peace isn't found in the absence of conflict, chaos, or big emotions - it's found in the presence of connection, safety, meaning, and...

Sign up for the FREE 5-Day Abundant Parenting Challenge What if abundance isn’t about having more? In this episode, we explore a different way of thinking about abundance and scarcity - not as personality traits or mindsets you either have or don’t have, but as states you move in and out of. When life feels overwhelming, our nervous systems narrow our perspective, making everything feel urgent, hi...

We often talk about work life and home life as though they exist in separate worlds. But stress, fulfillment, connection, burnout, and emotional wellbeing don't stay neatly contained in one environment. We carry them with us wherever we go. In this episode, we explore the connection between our relationships, nervous systems, workplace performance, and overall wellbeing. Together, we'll ch...

Family vacations are supposed to be magical… so why do they so often leave us feeling disappointed, overwhelmed, or even a little resentful? In this episode, we’re talking about the gap between expectations vs. reality in family vacations and summer with kids - and why even the most thoughtfully planned trips don’t always feel the way we hoped they would. If you’ve ever found yourself thinking: “I...

Why do you react so strongly in certain moments - snapping, shutting down, avoiding, or people-pleasing - even when you don’t want to ? In this episode of The Parenting Lab, we’re breaking down the 4 default stress responses - fight , flight , freeze , and fawn - and how your nervous system shapes the way you show up in parenting, relationships, and everyday life. If you’ve ever wondered: Why do I...

🌱 The companion ebook, Re-Mothering Yourself: A Journey Back to Safety, Wholeness & Inner Guidance , is available now at theparentinglab.org. Mother’s Day can bring up more than flowers, cards, and appreciation. For many women, it also brings exhaustion, grief, resentment, unmet needs, parenting triggers, and the quiet weight of carrying wounds that never fully healed. In this episode, I'm in...

🧘🏼‍♀️ Download Lab 5: Regulated - The Science of Safety & The Nervous System What do you do when you have nothing left to give… but people still need you? If you’ve ever felt emotionally depleted, overwhelmed, or like you’re running on empty in parenting, your relationship, or your life - this episode is for you. This week on The Parenting Lab , I’m sharing a more personal, unfiltered conver...

🍃 Click HERE to download your FREE Cycle Responsive Parenting Guide + Mood Tracker This week, I’m joined by women’s health and hormone expert Shara Jackson Harper to explore a topic so many moms experience - but rarely understand: why parenting can feel easier some weeks and so much harder during others. If you’ve ever wondered why you feel patient, playful, and connected one week… then overstimu...

What if punishment isn’t actually teaching your kids… or anyone… anything? What if it’s quietly creating the very patterns you’re trying to change? In this episode of The Parenting Lab , we’re taking a deep, honest look at punishment - not just in parenting, but in our relationships and the way we treat ourselves. Because punishment isn’t just timeouts, taking away phones, or consequences. It show...

Are you constantly searching for better parenting strategies… but still finding yourself stuck in the same patterns? In this episode of The Parenting Lab , we explore the powerful difference between fixing, treating, and healing in parenting - and why true transformation doesn’t come from scripts or step-by-step solutions alone. We unpack how many parenting tools act like a quick “pill” - helpful...

Explore Coaching Packages This week is Part 2 of my conversation with my first coaching clients! We're talking with Tessie’s husband, Dylan - and I’m especially excited to share this perspective with you. In this episode, Dylan shares what it was like to step into coaching as a dad - including the skepticism he brought with him, the challenges their family was navigating, and the shifts he experie...

Explore Coaching Packages This episode is a special one. Today, I’m joined by Tessie - one of my very first coaching clients - as she shares her powerful journey through this work. In this conversation, Tessie opens up about where her family was before coaching, the challenges she faced as she began doing the deeper work, and the meaningful shifts that followed. We talk honestly about what it look...

👉🏼 Purchase Lab 5: Regulated 👈🏼 In this episode, we’re rethinking one of the most overused - and misunderstood - words in the healing space: triggered . Because what if your child’s behavior, your partner’s tone, or the chaos of your day isn’t what’s causing your reaction… but simply revealing what’s happening inside of you? Using a powerful (and surprisingly clarifying) analogy, we break down...

🧘🏼‍♀️To learn more about your nervous system, download Lab Five: Regulated now! ✨ Is your instinct to step in every time your child struggles? What if that very struggle is exactly what helps them grow stronger, more confident, and resilient? In this episode, we explore how resilience isn’t built by removing every challenge - but by learning to stay close while your child navigates frustration,...

✍🏼 Download the Writing to Heal Mini-Lab! Journaling has a reputation. For some people, it feels natural and deeply healing. For others, it brings up images of teenage diaries, angsty poetry, or pages filled with emotions they’d rather not put into words. But what if writing isn’t about documenting your life… What if it’s a powerful way to understand it? In this episode, we explore the art and sc...

🙋🏼‍♂️❓🤔 ⁠Download the FREE 100 Questions Guide⁠ Most parents are searching for the right answers. But what if the real power in parenting isn’t in having better answers - but in asking better questions? In this episode of The Parenting Lab, we explore how asking thoughtful, curiosity-driven questions helps children develop emotional intelligence, confidence, critical thinking, and internal pro...

Download Lab 6: Wired Have you ever felt unheard in your relationship - even when you’re trying so hard to communicate clearly? Do arguments escalate quickly, leaving you wondering why your partner (or your child) just doesn’t seem to get it? You’re both in the same conversation. You’re both in the same room. But you didn’t come through the same door. In this episode of The Parenting Lab , I’m sha...

You’re speaking their love language. So why isn't it working? If you’ve read the books, taken the quizzes, and tried to love your partner or child “the right way” - but something still feels off - this episode is for you. In this thought-provoking conversation, we take a deeper look at one of the most popular relationship frameworks in pop psychology - The 5 Love Languages - and explore why speaki...

Download Lab 5: Regulated Have you ever felt closest to someone during conflict, crisis, or emotional intensity - and strangely disconnected when things finally calm down? This episode explores trauma bonding through a nervous-system lens, looking at why stress, urgency, and emotional activation can feel like intimacy - and why peace can sometimes feel empty or unsettling instead of safe. Trauma b...

FREE How To Stop Yelling Guide Download Lab Five: Regulated If you’ve ever promised yourself you’d stop yelling - only to find yourself doing it again hours (or minutes) later - this episode is for you. Yelling isn’t happening because you’re a bad parent, undisciplined, or doing something wrong. And the solution isn’t more self-control, better scripts, or “just staying calm.” In this episode, we’r...