Parenting UP! Caregiving adventures with comedian J Smiles

If leaving the house feels like rolling the dice when dementia is in the picture, you are not alone and you are not overreacting. We record from Detroit during Brain Health Awareness Month with one big question on the table: where can people living with dementia go in public and truly be safe, welcomed, and understood? Not just at home, not just with a neighbor, but in everyday life like coffee shops, church, and movie theaters.&nb...

Forget everything you think you know about “dementia daycare.” I went to Via Cognitive Health in Augusta, Georgia, and what I saw felt less like a holding space and more like a dignity-first cognitive health campus built for real life with dementia. Here, people aren’t called patients. They’re members. And that one word signals the bigger point: they belong, they’re respected, and the day is designed a...

Caregiving can feel like you’re carrying a whole life on your back, then smiling through it so nobody worries. Today's episode highlights behind the scenes moments at our 2nd day at the 2026 Alter Dementia Summit--fast, powerful conversations that tell the truth about dementia caregiving and Alzheimer’s awareness, especially the parts families don’t always say out loud.

We spoke down with Dr. Fayron Epps t...

Dementia doesn’t wait for the “right time,” and neither can we. I’m coming to you from Alter 2026, where Dr. Fayron Epps and her team turn a dementia summit into a real community experience: caregiving conversations, research access, faith-led support, and yes, enough joy to keep us standing when the topic gets heavy.

We get into what makes Alter different, starting with the big idea of training the f...

Season seven starts with the part of my story that still catches in my throat, even after 14 years: my dad died, and within months my mom began to fall apart in ways that grief alone couldn’t explain. People around her told me I was overreacting, that it was depression, that it was mourning. I had to trust what I knew about my mother, push for testing, and brace for the avalanche of becoming responsible for her care, her safe...

J Smiles was in Anaheim for the Alzheimer’s Association Community Leaders Summit, surrounded by people who volunteer hard, fundraise harder, and refuse to let dementia be the final word. The surprising part isn’t the scale of the event, it’s the energy. This isn’t a room full of resignation. It’s a room full of strategy, laughter, and a belief that progress is real, even when it comes in tiny steps.

Caregiving doesn’t just “get hard” over time. Sometimes it detonates your life overnight, and you’re left rebuilding your health, your career, and your family rules while dementia keeps moving the goalposts. That’s why this conversation with Jesse Jackson Jr. hits so deep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. had J Smiles as well as two other guests talk honestly about what it costs to care for a parent when the system ...

Forget the bubble-bath checklist. We dig into a practical, body-first approach to caregiver self-care that actually holds under pressure: better sleep, objective stress data, scaled movement, protected solitude, and preventive health that keeps you in the game. I share how a therapist’s tough wake-up call led me to a sleep study, what “daytime sleepiness” really means on the road, and how an oral appliance changed...

In today's Season Finale, we recap our experience at Battle for the Brain 2026! 

We pulled up at the Coca-Cola Roxy for Battle for the Brain—Daughters Against Alzheimer's lip sync showdown, where corporate teams, cheerleaders, and neighbors channel pure joy into serious funding for Alzheimer’s research at Emory. 

We walk you through the night: teams that rehearse like Broadway hopefuls, a set list that j...

In today's episode, you will hear all that went on for Alzheimer's Advocacy at the Georgia State Capital in Atlanta. We showed up with facts, handwritten notes, and a clear ask: allocate $2 million for caregiver support programs that keep families afloat and reduce avoidable health costs. 

That number might seem small until you compare it to what families already contribute—775 million hours of unpaid care in Georgia, val...

The honest part of caregiving isn’t just the long nights and endless appointments—it’s realizing you’ve become the project manager for a situation nobody trained you for. Family Caregivers take that and turn it into a plan, starting with the meds that don’t help or flat-out make things worse. In this episode, you’ll learn how to loop back to the exact prescriber with clear reports, and why your p...

Caregiving comes with a stack of questions that rarely fit into neat answers—and that’s exactly where we go in this episode. 

We open up about the moments no one posts: the dark days, the quick resets that actually help, and the honest boundary decisions when history with a parent or partner is painful. If you’ve ever wondered how to stay steady, how to stop resenting the wrong things, or how anyone “doe...

What does perseverance look like when words are gone and the day goes sideways? We set out to honor a promise—no gray roots, ever—and walked straight into a masterclass on safety, dignity, and the tiny choices that keep identity alive. A new caregiver, a wardrobe wobble, and then the moment every caregiver dreads: knees buckling on a ramp and a slow fall to the ground. No injuries, just a spike of adrenaline and the que...

What if the care system you need doesn’t exist yet? Chanda didn’t wait. 

In this episode, we speak with Chanda Hinton, founder of the Chanda Center for Health. After a childhood spinal cord injury and years of depending on medicines and medical care, Chanda found that daily movement, touch-based therapies, and a team that talks to each other worked to help her overcome challenges brought on by medicine. 

Then sh...

A single shock can reorder a life. When my father passed suddenly and my mother’s Alzheimer’s deepened, I became the point person for everything. My pivot—raw, messy, and unplanned—sparked a mission: use comedy to have a positive outlet during those trying times. In this special mini episode, you'll hear me as I celebrate five years of our caregiver-centered podcast, ten years of stand-up, and my mom’s...

Parenting Up Family! Tune in for a special episode during National Family Caregivers Month! We are usually bi-weekly, but thanks to the Alzheimer's Association of Georgia, we are releasing this bonus episode this month! 

In this episode, Actor Brandon Claybon joins us to unpack the shift that happens when family members forget your name and start losing their memory, with honesty and heart. He speaks with us about how Alzheimer...

What does it look like to choose love—and keep choosing it, day after day? We sit down with JET, a grandson who decided his grandmother with dementia wouldn’t go to a facility. He brought her into his home, rebuilt his life around her needs, and learned how dignity lives in small rituals: clean sheets, a sharp outfit, a slow stroll through every aisle at the market just to smell the spices. It’s funny, tender, and...

The Promenade at Piedmont Park turned into a surge of color, courage, and hope at the Walk to End Alzheimer’s hosted by the Atlanta chapter of the Alzheimer's Association—and we brought our cameras and team to capture it all. From the first cheers to the last hug, we connected with caregivers, researchers, and supporters who refuse to let this disease define our futures. As a media sponsor, Parenting Up! dug into practi...

Five years later, the room is louder, the laughs are bigger, and the village is real. We took our microphones into a buzzing anniversary reception at Buckhead Art & Company and let our community speak: caregivers who’ve lost, caregivers who are still in the thick of it, friends who learned how to show up, and pros who stepped in with services, strength, and heart. It wasn’t staged—it was hugs, dance breaks, an...