Most parents are doing everything they can to raise good kids, and still feeling exhausted, reactive, and unsure if they’re actually helping in the long run.

So much parenting advice is obsessed with today’s behavior: listening, sharing, cooperating, “being good.” But this episode zooms out and asks a much bigger question: Who are you raising your child to become?

Kristin sits down with parenting researcher, Whole Parent founder, and author Jon Fogel to challenge one of the most deeply ingrained ideas in parenting: that control and obedience create resilient kids. Together, they unpack why obedience can look like a win in the short term, while quietly undermining confidence, resilience, and emotional health over time: and what actually builds those skills instead.

They explore how everyday power struggles shape the adult your child will eventually become, why so many well-intentioned discipline strategies backfire, and how shifting from rules to values can completely change your home dynamic.

This episode will:

* Help you shift your focus from short-term obedience to long-term emotional health

* Reframe discipline as skill-building, not behavior control

* Clarify the difference between rules and values — and why values actually stick

* Explain why yelling is a nervous system issue, not a discipline strategy

* Give you a framework for parenting with respect, boundaries, and authority

This conversation will change how you think about discipline, power, and success in parenting. It’s for parents who want to stop micromanaging behavior and start raising confident, capable adults, without losing boundaries or authority along the way.

This episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct, or indirect financial interest in products, or services referred to in this episode.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We’re back with one of our favorite episodes of the year: the trends of the year episode where we scour the internet for the hottest trends forecasted for 2026. Your resident besties, Kristin and Deena officially give the tired mom stamp of approval of which trends we're into, which ones are crazy AF and which trends need to be stopped, stat.

We’re talking:

• Fashion hot takes (including the audacity of the internet declaring leggings are dead 😭)

• The return of BIG bows (bigger. floppier. sadder??)

• The end of sad beige everything and the rise of serious color

• The AI takeover (journaling prompts, bedtime stories, “emotional support” bots… and why it gives us the ick)

• And the parenting trends we’re actually cheering for: less overscheduling, more sanity, more presence, more “we’re not doing this just to keep up.”

Plus: rapid fire “in or out,” voice notes vs texting, being offline as a flex, micro-rests, quitting activities, and the most freeing trend of all: you don’t owe anyone an explanation.

This episode is your permission slip to laugh, roll your eyes, and walk into 2026 like: I can do whatever the hell I want. (And yes, Deena is absolutely being sent a sad bow + Adidas tracksuit.)

This episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct, or indirect financial interest in products, or services referred to in this episode.

Produced by Dear Media

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The world tells us the newborn stage is supposed to be magical. Soft lighting. Sweet snuggles. “Soak it all in.” But for so many parents? It’s a blur of no sleep, hormonal whiplash, identity loss, and quietly asking yourself, “Why am I not okay?” Deena is back from maternity leave, and in this raw, deeply honest conversation, we’re finally talking about what she actually lived through. Not the highlight reel. Not the “grateful, glowing, cherishing every moment” version. The real one.

We talk about the adrenaline of the first weeks… and the crash that hits after. The rage no one warns you about. The intrusive thoughts you don’t want to admit. The weird grief that can exist right next to overwhelming love. The exhaustion of juggling a newborn and other kids. And the pressure to be “back to normal” when your nervous system is still in survival mode.This episode is for the parent who loves their baby fiercely… and still feels like they’re barely holding it together.

In this conversation, you’ll learn:

• Why the postpartum hormone crash can hit weeks in, not right away

• Why irritability, rage, and numbness are just as real as anxiety or sadness

• How struggling is so much more common than you think

• And how to stop telling yourself you’re doing this wrong

Whether you’re in the thick of the newborn stage right now or still carrying the emotional imprint of it years later, this episode will make you feel seen, understood, and a help-you-breathe-again kind of relieved."

This episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct, or indirect financial interest in products, or services referred to in this episode.

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Produced by Dear Media

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.