In this episode of After Hours With Amanda, I’m talking about gentle parenting, humanizing kids, autonomy, emotional regulation, and why seeing my tiny humans as people does not mean I am just trying to be their friend.

I get into why I call them tiny humans, building responsibility through little daily moments, the myth that gentle parenting is permissive, yelling, silent treatment, apologies, boundaries, and why I want home to be the safe place where my kids learn what to do when the real world is hard.

This one is about giving kids a voice, not handing them the whole house.

00:00 Welcome Back And Maui Prep

01:13 A Hodgepodge Parenting Episode

03:25 Why I Say Tiny Humans

04:35 Autonomy Before The Teenage Years

06:17 Teaching Responsibility In Daily Life

08:20 Three Year Olds And Clean Rooms

10:54 Making Chores Functional For Kids

12:38 Gentle Parenting Is Not Permissive

14:15 Big Emotions Need Tools

15:28 I Turned Out Fine, But Did I?

16:35 Preparing Kids For The Real World

17:23 Yelling And Losing The Message

20:12 Hearing The Whine, Not The Words

21:51 Silent Treatment Is Emotional Manipulation

22:46 The Homework Apology

24:05 The Gentle Parenting Thought Process

26:26 Asking If They Need A Hug

28:55 When My Kid Called Me Out

31:55 Humanizing Parenting

34:07 Protecting Their Emotional Space

38:43 Lucy The Doll And Building Trust

41:32 Seeing Them As Human Is Not Being Their Friend

43:20 The Middle Ground Nobody Talks About

45:36 You Get To Build The Relationship You Want

In this episode of After Hours With Amanda, I’m talking about the first day of school, mom guilt, motherhood, and why I do not think motherhood is just something happening to me. I think it is also something happening for me.

I share the note one of my girls left me, the poem that wrecked me, why I miss my tiny humans when they go back to school, and how motherhood has helped me become more myself instead of less.

This one is about coexisting, growing alongside our kids, letting go of mom-culture comparison, and remembering that they are having a hard time, not giving us one.

00:00 First Day Of School Feelings

00:50 Welcome To After Hours With Amanda

01:25 A Disclaimer For Moms

02:24 Encouragement Is Not Discouragement

03:47 The Mom Who Misses Her Kids

05:22 Lucy The Doll And The Paper Towel List

07:43 The Poem That Wrecked Me

09:03 Caterpillars, Butterflies, And Mom Life

11:45 Motherhood Is Not Happening To You

14:21 Bad Bitch Butterfly Energy

15:12 Feeding Yourself Better Thoughts

17:03 Are The Kids Really Stopping You?

19:12 They’re Having A Hard Time

21:09 Kids Are Not A Power Struggle

23:22 Letting My Kids Help Me Become

26:14 Missing Them Without Judging You

29:01 Stop Blaming The Tiny Humans

32:12 Functional Needs Versus Emotional Needs

36:29 Coexisting While We Both Grow

41:33 Encouragement And First Day Grief

42:29 My Mom’s Breakdown And Second Grade

45:31 Healing Through My Daughter’s First Day

47:27 What I Want You To Know

In this season two episode of After Hours With Amanda, I’m talking about empathy, self-love, self-sabotage, therapy, and what it actually means to be kind to myself when nobody else is listening.

This one starts with therapy and physical activity, but it turns into a bigger conversation about Doc Martens, old wounds, motherhood, online criticism, comparison, and why empathy helps me parent my tiny humans with more softness.

I’m learning that pain does not have to be a competition, self-love has to become an action, and sometimes empathy is the thing that protects my energy.

00:01 Welcome Back To Season Two

00:44 The Heinz 57 Podcast

01:13 Missing You And Taking A Hiatus

03:08 Should The Podcast Change?

04:01 Joy And Empathy In The Unknown

05:01 Empathy For Myself

06:09 Therapy And Self-Sabotage

07:23 The Call Was Coming From Inside The House

09:17 Empathy As Real Self-Love

10:14 The Doc Martens Story

14:02 When The Silence Feels Too Loud

16:13 How I Talk To Myself

17:18 Why We’re Hard On Our Kids

20:03 Movement As Self-Care

23:53 The Facebook Comments

28:33 Empathy Saves Your Energy

31:30 Empathy As Armor

34:17 People Are Really Wounded

36:11 Social Anxiety And Feeling Seen

38:45 Don’t Compare Your Pain

39:57 Lead With Empathy

43:00 Season Two Is Back

44:17 You Are Loved, Valued, And Worthy

In this episode of After Hours With Amanda, I’m sharing a therapy revelation about trauma, EMDR, fear, grief, and learning to lean into the happy instead of waiting for the other shoe to drop.

This one gets tender. I talk about my fear of death, the sudden loss of my mom, my brother’s death, dissociation, faith, and the Harry Potter metaphor that cracked something open for me in therapy. The scar protected me for a long time, but I am not in that trauma anymore.

I am not sharing this as a therapist. I am sharing it as someone in the middle of the work, learning that I deserve happiness outside of survival mode.

00:00 Welcome Back After Two Weeks

01:03 Heat, Garage Cabinets, And Life Updates

02:31 Therapy, EMDR, And Movie Revelations

04:29 Jelly Belly Factory And Belly Flops

05:14 Getting Into It To Get Through It

05:56 What EMDR Has Been Like For Me

08:33 Talking Through Fear Of Death

11:38 Sudden Loss And The Other Shoe

14:01 Life Feels Too Good Right Now

15:30 Leaning Into The Happy

17:22 The Harry Potter Therapy Moment

19:24 Harry’s Scar And Lord V

22:37 The Scar Protected Me Until It Hurt Me

24:05 Living In Trauma While Preaching Joy

26:14 Dissociation As Survival

29:39 Ron, Hermione, And Having People In Your Corner

32:04 Healing Yourself To Love Better

34:26 Picking Fights To Prove The Trauma Right

36:23 Behaviors Born From Pain And Survival

37:22 You Deserve Happiness Outside Of Trauma

In this episode of After Hours With Amanda, I’m kicking off a new movie parallels and parenting series with Hook.

I’m talking about adulthood, parenthood, summer, fun, expectations, and why so many of us were taught that growing up means letting the magic disappear. The feast scene got me, y’all. Peter cannot see what is right in front of him until he starts to believe again, and honestly, how often are we doing that as adults and parents?

This one is about getting your hair wet, making spaghetti night ridiculous, choosing and/or instead of either/or, and not starving the magic right in front of you.

00:00 Welcome Back And Kombucha Pop

01:01 Construction, V8, And Disneyland Prep

03:18 150,000 Downloads And Summer Plans

04:42 Kiwi Crates And Summer Theme Days

07:05 Mom Guilt And Getting Outside

08:48 Movie Parallels And Parenting Begins

10:14 Hook, Rufio, And The Banning Family

11:23 Seeing The Feast In Front Of Us

12:06 The Lie That Adults Lose The Magic

13:57 Who Decided Adults Cannot Be Fun?

15:37 Parenting, Rules, And Acting Like A Parent

16:38 Forts, Cleanup, And Thinking Too Far Ahead

17:19 Peter Cannot See The Feast

18:35 Micro Moments That Reignite The Magic

21:20 Getting Your Hair Wet In The Pool

24:10 Why The Lost Boys Still See It

25:17 Hook As Old Expectations And Trauma

26:08 Cannonballs, Car Singing, And Pajamas At The Movies

27:40 Are We Starving The Magic?

29:04 And/Or Instead Of Either/Or

31:11 Church Camp And Not Being Normal

32:10 Your Story Has Not Been Written Yet

34:20 Do Not Become Hook

35:11 What Is Coming Next In The Movie Series

In this episode of After Hours With Amanda, I’m talking about parenting without ego and learning to see tiny humans as people before we see them as titles.

I share a school decision that taught me how easily parenting can become about my comfort, my identity, or my fear instead of what my child actually needs. From there, I get into mom guilt, therapy, authority, peer pressure, collaboration, safety, and why “parent,” “child,” or “teen” are not full identities.

This one is about taking the title off long enough to see the person standing in front of you.

00:00 Welcome Back To The Inconsistent Podcast

01:01 Shake The Ice Intro

01:36 Summer, School, And Short Shopping

03:10 Church Camp And Acting A Fool

04:12 Today’s Topic: Ego

04:41 My School Decision For London

06:52 When My Comfort Affected Her

07:58 Giving Her The Tools I Missed

09:02 Parenting, Trauma, And Ego

10:23 The Parent Child Power Dynamic

13:09 Thinking Through Paige’s School Needs

15:01 What Does My Tiny Person Need?

17:25 What Does Parent Even Mean?

18:33 The Webster Moment

20:03 TikTok Comments And Collaboration

21:27 Stop Defining Kids By Age

22:19 Parent, Friend, Or Guide?

23:13 Authority, Questions, And Problem Solving

24:08 Empathy Plus Boundaries

26:11 The Three-Nager Label

28:08 Therapy, EMDR, And Apologizing To Blake

29:55 Tiny People Need Advocates

31:12 Teens, College, And Feeling Seen

34:27 Peer Pressure And Self Trust

36:04 Recognize Her As A Person

38:22 Safety, Fear, And Explaining Why

41:09 First And Only Edition

42:07 Mom Guilt And Humanizing Yourself

43:21 A Title Is Not Definitive Of A Person

In this episode of After Hours With Amanda, I’m talking about identity, growing up, and the pressure we put on kids to know who they are going to be before they have even had time to live.

This one started with Toy Story 3, Andy leaving Woody, and one of my girls realizing that maybe Andy was scared too. From there, I get into college pressure, career day, motherhood, therapy, emotional calluses, and why kids are not part of a parent’s resume.

They are already who they are. We just get to help them discover what brings them joy.

00:00 We’re Back And Singing Already

00:19 Current Playlist Rabbit Trail

02:14 Welcome To After Hours With Amanda

02:51 The Pressure To Know Your Whole Life

03:27 Toy Story 3 And Growing Up

04:46 What If Andy Was Scared Too?

06:09 What Do You Want To Be?

07:04 They Are Already Who They Are

07:56 Paige, Rainbows, And Creativity

09:08 Identity Is Not A Career

10:14 Finding Worth Beyond Achievement

12:13 College Pressure And Test Scores

13:12 You Are Allowed To Change

14:20 Molly, Woody, And Safe Places

16:46 Emotional Calluses

18:36 Teens, Trust, And Suppression

20:10 Driving Away Without Woody

23:04 Helping Kids Find What They Love

24:23 Motherhood Is A Limb Of Life

26:41 Mr. Rogers And Repair

31:39 Therapy And Internal Bleeding

35:21 Boundaries As Emotional Physical Therapy

36:33 Home As A Safe Place

39:32 Kids Are Not A Parent’s Resume

In this episode of After Hours With Amanda, I’m talking about the phrase “just wait till you have kids” and why it can feel so invalidating when someone is trying to share that they are tired, overwhelmed, or struggling.

This one is about parenting, empathy, one upping, unmet needs, and learning to meet people with questions instead of comparison. I get into marriage, tiny humans, therapy exhaustion, the word “always,” my first grade teacher, stolen bubble gum, and a cake pop kindness moment I will never forget.

Your hard does not cancel their hard. Their hard does not cancel yours.

00:01 Welcome To After Hours With Amanda

01:06 Buckle Up Buttercup

01:25 Upcoming Episode About Going Back To Work

02:03 Just Wait Till You Have Kids

03:08 Why That Phrase Grinds My Gears

04:19 The One Upper Energy

04:58 Invalidation And Ego

06:15 You Cannot Hold People To Your Experience

07:05 When Someone Says They Are Tired

08:39 Is It Coming From An Unmet Need?

10:38 Marriage, Stress, And Making It About Me

12:48 Parenting Is Not The Only Kind Of Tired

14:12 Therapy Is Exhausting Too

15:43 They Have Not Experienced Your Trauma

17:38 What If My Kids Stop Talking To Me?

19:27 Can I Talk To You? Always

23:33 My Dream Of Encouraging Students

24:20 The First Grade Bubble Gum Story

29:03 The Cake Pop Kindness Moment

31:16 Awareness, Empathy, And Asking Questions

In this episode of After Hours With Amanda, I’m talking about kids, weight, body image, diet culture, and the way our tiny people internalize what we verbalize about ourselves.

I share why I do not talk to my kids about weight, what I learned from watching my mom struggle with her body, my own history with body image and an eating disorder, and the mental battle that can still show up over something as simple as a cake pop.

This one is about motherhood, self talk, mental health, healing, and learning to speak life over ourselves so our kids can see what that looks like.

00:01 Recording Early And Saying Thank You

00:56 Welcome To After Hours With Amanda

01:18 Podcast On YouTube Maybe

02:11 How I Talk To My Kids About Weight

03:12 Diet Culture And Good Fuel Fun Fuel

04:15 What Nobody Talks About Enough

05:00 The Biggest Bully Is Ourselves

05:42 How We Talk About Ourselves

07:25 Watching My Mom See Herself

10:37 My Eating Disorder And The Cake Pop Battle

13:27 The Fear I Had Raising Daughters

14:17 Exercise, Pageants, And Body Image

17:26 Peloton, Meditation, And Five Minutes

19:06 What Kids Hear From Both Parents

20:49 Healing My Body And My Mind

22:43 Plastic Surgery Did Not Change Self Love

24:10 Love Is An Action

25:42 Soulmates And Self Worth

30:17 The 15 Minute Rule

32:37 Becoming Your Parents And Healing Yourself

34:05 Being Honest Without Being Cruel To Yourself

37:06 The Sleeping Beauty Cake Metaphor

41:12 Mental Health And The Lies We Feed Ourselves

In this episode of After Hours With Amanda, I’m sharing my relationship with Jesus and how I lost my religion but found relationship.

This is not me trying to convert or convince anyone. It is my story of growing up around Christianity, feeling hurt by hypocrisy, walking away from faith, carrying shame, and slowly finding my way back through people who loved me without trying to fix me.

I talk about church hurt, purity culture, college, grief, my brother’s addiction, and why I never want anyone to feel unlovable.

This one is tender, personal, faith-forward, and rooted in love.

00:01 Welcome Back To After Hours

00:26 My Relationship With Jesus

00:55 This Is Not To Convert You

01:49 Losing My Religion

02:49 Faith As My Anchor

03:49 Am I Indoctrinating My Kids?

05:14 When People Misrepresent Jesus

06:25 Walking Away From Christianity

09:15 College, Dating, And Leaving The Rules

12:15 The Playboy Mansion Story

14:02 Choosing Disneyland Instead

18:39 Meeting Christians Who Felt Real

20:16 If They Really Knew Me

24:00 Writing My Way Into APU

25:41 Rules, Questions, And Relationship

26:38 The Church Should Feel Like A Hospital

29:25 Love, Guardrails, And Parenting

31:01 Purity Culture And Shame

34:06 What I Teach My Girls About Jesus

34:40 My Brother, Addiction, And Feeling Unlovable

37:06 Stop Judging Jesus By People

40:28 Bible, Worship, And Staying Close

44:07 Shame Does Not Define Me

47:06 To Anyone Hurt By Faith