The Calm Empowered Parent

The dads are back! It’s Part 2 of our amazing dad panel, and our six dads have so many more fun anecdotes and inspiring insights for you! We don’t go into sports, jobs, or hobbies without training and learning, so our dads ask “Why would we do that with parenting?” They’re here to acknowledge how the power of positive parenting has impacted their lives, and how it takes commitment, continual learning, and new skills to be an empow...

Parenting spaces are not just for mothers, so it’s time for the fathers to shine! In this panel of six incredible dads, they provide a powerful example of parents who have experienced tremendous growth after embracing mentorship for their parenting. Each of these dads has been a part of Vanessa’s Family Foundations Immersion program and share the most important things they’ve learned from the program, the personal growth and develo...

How do we help children in navigating grief​, loss, and overwhelm, when we ourselves are struggling through it? Whether you’re facing the grief of a death, the loss of a relationship or job, a major move, or any other major life transition, Grief Guide Reverend Jenn Cormier and Transition Coach Barb Matias Haynes are here to help. Both leapt feet first into the world of guiding others through grief and healing after th...

We all have dreams about the kind of family we want to create, but can hit some major roadblocks. How do we show up and keep going as family leaders for ourselves, our children, and for our work when personal challenges tempt us to give up? This is a question many of us find ourselves asking, and one that Leadership Coach Rachelle Archer has faced head-on multiple times. In this episode, Vanessa Callaghan, MED. intervi...

How can I help my child overcome feelings of shame? How can we set routines that work for everyone in the family? These are questions asked by parents like you, and Vanessa is here to help, providing strategies for getting on the same page as a family and navigating difficult feelings and emotions, including how to deal with sibling jealousy. Vanessa tackles each question with anecdotes that will make you feel seen and...

Now more than ever, parents have so many questions about getting their children assessed for learning disabilities, ADHD/ADD, and autism. Should I get my child assessed? When should I get them assessed? What is the assessment process? How do I find the right provider? In this episode with Licensed Clinical Psychologist Dr.Jessica Patel and Licensed Educational Psychologist Erin Crawford, they answer all of these questions and more.

Divorce, moving, new relationships, new jobs... we all face major life transitions, and they can be incredibly overwhelming. Vanessa’s coaching client and Coach-in-Training Katerina Barron knows this well, and shares her journey from having a challenging and tense home life with her husband to finding the courage and support needed to divorce him, to explore her queer identity, and to eventually introduce her new partn...

Do you find yourself struggling to regain control of your emotions with your ‘spicy’ or highly-sensitive child? It can be beyond stressful to navigate big emotions and the sometimes explosive reactions that they bring on, but Vanessa is here to help. She brings her years of experience as a Montessori preschool teacher, a parenting coach, and a resilience researcher to teach you practical tips to help you face meltdowns...

Have you hit a wall when it comes to getting your child to sleep? Do you crave a solution to your own chronic sleep deprivation and parental fatigue? In this episode, Vanessa is joined by Pediatric Sleep Strategist Jessica Bryant and Sleep Consultant Katie Sullivan to share the tips they have used to help thousands of families on the path to better sleep. 

In less than an hour, you’ll learn how to recognize what sights...

We don’t have to inherit our parenting skills. We can intentionally become the parents we want to be, incorporating some aspects of our own upbringing along with new, better parenting techniques.

In this episode, Vanessa is joined by her clients Siobhan and Tony to talk through the parenting journey they have been on to gain confidence and skills in raising their 5-year-old son. Together with Vanessa, they...

Has having children affected your marriage and other relationships? Marriage Coach and published author Imani Aieshah is here in this episode to tell you that it’s completely normal for couples and co-parents to face challenges after having children! In this episode, you’ll learn how to get on the same page as a family, master your children’s emotions along with your own, bring playfulness into each and every day, and ...

What do I do when my child seems to get pleasure out of making others upset? How do we “get through to that teenage brain” and get on the same page as a family? These are questions asked by parents like you, and Vanessa is here to help, providing strategies for avoiding power struggles. She doesn’t just give answers, but also reminds us all that we’re not alone and shares research-proven, classroom and kid-tested pract...

Have you ever felt like waving that white flag of surrender? Like things with your child are so challenging that at times you feel defeated? During the pandemic, Vanessa’s coaching client Sarah Kowalski found herself overwhelmed and even afraid after her son began lashing out emotionally and physically. Eventually, she knew that the best thing that she could do was ask for help, and now she shares the strategies she le...

Parents today are charting new territory. Many of us are working to raise our children with an emphasis on emotions despite our own parents not teaching us to regulate our emotions or making us ignore or tamp our emotions down. 

In this episode, a member of Vanessa’s coaching team, Occupational Therapist Kathrynn Dunn, shares top insights about emotional regulation skills for kids and how sensory experien...

Let's have some fun exploring our feelings! It’s so important to teach our kids how to identify and express their emotions in empowering and constructive ways. Kids get upset, and often don’t have an answer when we ask, “How do you feel?” And, when they do answer, they can have a canned response as a catch-all, like “I’m fine.”

The good news is that learning how to articulate feelings, desires, and needs a...

One of the key principles of The Calm Empowered Parent podcast is that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to parenting, and this episode embodies that principle by exemplifying one big-hearted mama’s commitment to discovering the most effective parenting style.

Vanessa sits down with client Tiffany Eng to talk through her parenting journey and how she has discovered the most effective parenting style by embracing b...

What if we told you that the CLUTTER in your house is covering up bigger issues and contributing to overwhelm in both you and your children? Fortunately, Decluttering Expert and mother of 5, Krista Lockwood is here to teach you how to declutter your home quickly to reduce your workload, promote child independence, and help quell big emotions.

If the very idea of decluttering your home feels like too much, ...

Cracking the code on motivating kids can be a puzzle - what works one day might not the next. It can feel confusing to us (and our kids) when we alternate between being cheerleaders and stern drill sergeants, bouncing between providing encouragement and enforcing consequences.

Join Vanessa in this episode as she draws on 15+ years of classroom experience and motivation research to help you gain insights in...

Now introducing The Calm, Empowered Parent Podcast!

Join educational consultant and parenting coach Vanessa Callaghan as she shares what you can expect from this parenting podcast that challenges the notion that parenting needs to be perfect and look the same for every family. Join us on your personal and transformative journey to raising resilient kids!

In the first season of the podcast, Van...