Confessions of a Parent Coach

Do you know what you're really feeling in any given moment?

There's a core emotion inside each ot us. It is a big driver our personalities - our motivations, avoidances, habits and behaviors are all determined in large part by this current of sensation flowing within us all the time. And when we are unaware of that current, we show up in the world as a bundle of all those protective elements and not a wh...

What if you always knew how to parent your kid? Sound preposterous, and maybe so. No matter what evolution we go through, we will always be human beings and parenting will always have surprises. But on this week's episode of the Confessions Of A Parent Coach podcast, I will make the case that it's a Hell of a lot less preposterous than you might think.

There are lots of intuitive approaches gaining popul...

What is a growth edge? This week on the Confessions Of A Parent Coach podcast, my littlest kiddo, Skye, is helping me make my confession!

I asked him if he could think of a time I pushed him to do something that was just too much for him, and he came up with a great example that helps me talk about the idea of a growth edge with you. Listen to the podcast to hear:

· My awesome eleven-year-old ;)
· What ...

What is your default coping style? This week on the Confessions Of A Parent Coach podcast, we're doin' it for the 'gram (the Enneagram, that is)!

I'll go around the 'gram with you to talk about the three different coping styles of the nine Types: Externalizing, Repressing, and Internalizing. Understanding which is your default style is SO POWERFUL in parenting.

Are you an internalizer, making everything...

WAIT! This week on the Confessions Of A Parent Coach podcast, I'm talking about this acronym that has been bounced around in corporate, communication, and coaching circles for years. It stands for:

Why Am I Talking? And I recommend you run it through your mind almost every time you're about to open your mouth around your kiddo. Listen to the podcast to explore:

· The many answers to this question that p...

It's important to have agency, ok? Have you ever said things like, "5 more minutes of screentime, OK?" or "You can stay up 15 minutes later, but then no fighting about bedtime, OK?"

This is just one example of how we find ourselves putting our kids in charge and literally asking for their permission instead of the other way around! We often relinquish our agency in subtle ways, and that can really sabota...

A superhighway...to disaster? This week on the Confessions Of A Parent Coach podcast, I'm talking about the idea of rewiring our brains. I's a big part of what’s happening in coaching, but what does it really mean?

Your habits and defaults are well-trodden neurological pathways, which make them superhighways that we use to zip from impetus to reaction at lightning speed. Unfortunately, those reactions ar...

Do you have a fantasy of who you should be? Most of us do - we have an idea of how we should think, react, behave, or feel if we were the best version of ourselves. But unfortunately, that person doesn't exist. They are just as fake as a character in a novel. The person you're trying to be is as real as Anne of Green Gables or Princess Buttercup. She is nonsense.

But we often have a deeper, more intimate...

Parenthood is mostly unknowns.

In this week's episode of Confessions of a Parent Coach, I'm talking about how we deal with uncertainty, worry, and fear in parenthood.

Listen to hear:

• My own stumbling block when it came to this concept (I was paralyzed by uncertainty),
• One tool to combat our craving for certainty and future information, and
• The only thing you need to know to parent well, no matter...

Meet Stacey.

In this week's episode of Confessions of a Parent Coach, I'm sharing an excerpt from a session I did with one of my clients, Stacey. It's very common that a few months into my work with a parent, I have a moment like the one in this recording - where things are going SO much better than before- that we celebrate and reflect. We're so lucky that Stacey was open enough to share her celebration...

Are you interacting with a fantasy or with reality?

In this week's episode of Confessions of A Parent Coach, I'm sharing a concept I've been exploring with my clients and in my own personal work lately. It's the idea that most of the pain we experience in life comes from more aligned with our fantasy of life, than with real life itself.

I'll walk. you through this concept, and give you concrete examples...

"A part of me really wants to go, but another part says I'm crazy!" Have you ever said stuff like this?

Well, according to a kind of coaching called Internal Family Systems, you are exactly correct when you talk about having different parts of yourself!

In this week's episode of Confessions of a Parent Coach, I'll give you an introduction to IFS - what it is, how I use it in coaching sessions with my cl...

Are you doing your work?

What does that even mean?

Growth WORK, shadow WORK, self WORK, deep WORK, soul WORK, emotional WORK, healing WORK...what the hell is THE WORK?

On the podcast this week, I talk to two incredible moms, Ally and Johnna about their experience doing THE WORK on the Fall Retreat.

What do these terms mean to us? What happens when we do it? Does it have to feel like work? What if it's...

Ever feel like you're parenting through a fog? Like you've been hibernating so long you've forgotten sunshine?

Listen to this week's episode of Confessions of A Parent Coach, where I'll talk about Spring energy - it's not just about sprucing up your house, closet, or garden! Over the long Winter, it's natural for us to slip into autopilot, drift away from what makes life sparkle ✨ (friendships, movement,...

Is it an excuse, or is it legit?

Both! Families desperately need parents to give to themselves, but so many things get in the way. Why might you miss out on what would be transformative or even life-saving for you? Lack of child care? Finances? Busy-ness? Guilt? Mistrust that others can take care of things? They're all real concerns...and they're all surmountable if we refuse to be stopped.

On the podca...

It gets worse before it gets better.

Have you ever heard this expression? It might sound cynical, but it's really true and I help clients go through this hard truth with their kids all the time.

If you've ever implemented a new parenting skill with your kid and watched their behavior go straight into the toilet, this week's episode of Confessions Of A Parent Coach is for you!

The truth is that when we ...

Does your partner seem totally crazy sometimes?

This week, you get to hear my hubby Mike describe my behavior as totally insane, not once, but multiple times :)

Mike (Type 2) and I recorded an episode to describe what it's like to have the Enneagram in your marriage. How do a 1 and a 2 gel, and where do we clash? How do we use the Enneagram to navigate those rocky moments and reach a new level of unders...

What is it like to parent a child who really GETS themselves?

This week, I am sharing something incredibly special with you - my daughter!

Gigi sat down with me to talk about her Enneagram Type (4) and what it's like to know her Type, know my Type (1) and experience her childhood with the Enneagram woven into the parenting she receives.

People ask me all the time how the Enneagram can help with parenti...

How do your relationships become what they are? Back in the '30's Karen Horney was a psychologist who saw Freud's penis envy theory as the nonsense it was (barf) and went her own way (badass). She identified 3 main ways people try to get what they need. Later, her theories were overlain on the Enneagram and we can see that each Type's stance plays a HUGE role in how people show up in their relationships t...