45 Left or Right Podcast

In this episode, I talk to Dr. Kathleen Nadeau, a dynamic clinical psychologist and leading expert on ADHD in women and girls. She is the Founder and Co-Owner of The Chesapeake Center, and has her Bachelor's, Master's and PhD in Psychology from the University of Florida (Go Gators!). Women in our society have been given an impossible role to play in that they generally work full-time out...

In Episode 23: "A Closet Full of Participation Trophies,"  I delve into the topic of participation trophies and the generational debate surrounding them, with a focus on our hardcore Gen X experiences. We are the forgotten generation, the latchkey kids. We drank out of water hoses. We ate dirt. We were largely unsupervised. We lived through recessions, the AIDS epidemic, The Cold War. Th...

Episode 22: "What is Executive Function? Parenting ADHD with Michael McCleod" is Part III in the ADHD Series for 45 Left or Right Podcast. In this episode, I spoke with Michael McLeod, an expert in ADHD and Executive Function. Michael has 17 years of experience with youth, and travels all over the world educating parents, kids, teachers and school districts on well-researched methods for...

Part II of my ADHD Series, "Oh, She's Just Flighty" talks about the traits of girls who have ADHD. They can be aloof, daydreamers, be overly emotional, be fidgety, have trouble focusing, be disorganized, or messy...and these traits are attributed as a personality rather than a collection of symptoms for a girl with undiagnosed ADHD. I talk to my friend, Amy, whose 8 year old daughter, Al...

This is Part 1 of my ADHD Series! I hear the term, "ADHD" all of the time, but I only knew it to be what hyperactive, disruptive and impulsive boys were like when I was growing up. I've heard grumpy adults cry that it isn't a thing, and that kids who were unruly just need stronger parents. Well, it is in fact a thing, a thing that can disrupt the social, academic and emotional functionin...

Jeff and I celebrated our 22nd Wedding Anniversary on September 1st, so I thought it was a perfect time to record an episode not only about the history of marriages and how wedding anniversaries have been celebrated since the Middle Ages, but it is the ideal time for us to tell the tale of our first little airplane flight together before our 1st Wedding Anniversary. A story that ends wit...

I have been asked many times what it was like to be a woman in the military, and this episode is a small sample of what it was like. I tell stories of discrimination, judgement, glory, and, also being treated equally. It was a challenging, sometimes enraging, empowering, and sometimes, lonely time. I tell stories that include all of these things!

Did you know that woman have been serving...

After a few weeks off for "vacation," I'm back with a new episode! I put vacation in quotes because it was a lot of traveling, and hectic, but we also did a lot of fun things. This episode is about back to school, and how some kids struggle more than others with this kind of transition. I interview my friend, Nicole, who has taught everything from 1st Grade to Middle School, and has seen...

Recently, we traveled to Colorado and went whitewater rafting, and though we had a great time, I found myself more hesitant to get in the raft. In my 20s, I would not even thought about it--"Let's go rafting! Woo hoo!" I looked back into the risky things I did earlier in my life, and wondered whether or not I would do them now. On this episode, I tell some stories about the risks I have ...

This is a RERUN! Enjoy!

In my first flight as a Pilot-in-Command as an Army helicopter pilot, I got lost. I eventually ended up in my favorite little airport in Troy, Alabama, and consoled myself with some very delicious nachos. I was well over my head in college loan debt, and those nachos were my dinner. This experience made me think about how we make decisions when we are in our late ...

Puppies. Aren't they adorable? They are innocent, loving, and generally come with no baggage, except they are not housebroken! Then they grow up to be dogs, and if you haven't messed up too much with training them, are also adorable, loving and selfless. Jeff and I have had several dogs together, including 3 that were our original babies, our current dog, Tex, who came with some funny fe...

In Episode 14: "Summer Summer Summer Time" of the "45 Left to Right Podcast," freelance journalist and host Darisse Smith celebrates summer! She tells stories from her own childhood, especially her favorite vacation her family took to North Carolina. They took a spontaneous detour into whitewater rafting, and this became her favorite summer memory. Darisse talks about returning to North ...