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

In this episode of After Hours With Amanda, I’m reflecting on empowerment, control, and the kind of relationship we actually want with the tiny people in our lives.

The reminder is simple: no one knows what they are doing, so maybe the goal is not to control our kids into becoming who we think they should be. Maybe the goal is to empower them in the ways we wish someone had empowered us.

This one is about parenting, personal growth, ego, pride, and choosing the empowerment moments over the power place.

In this episode of After Hours With Amanda, I’m talking about spanking, discipline, emotional regulation, and why I’m learning to humanize my tiny people instead of parenting from fear, ego, or other people’s opinions.

I share the moment that made me rethink spanking, what I’m learning about giving kids tools instead of shame, and why so much of parenting starts with the fact that we’ve never been parents before. We’ve only been parented.

This one is about gentle parenting, boundaries, mental health, repair, and doing our best in real time.

00:00 Welcome Back To After Hours

01:23 Riding The Waves Of Emotion

02:10 Therapy And Unresolved Trauma

03:07 Dating Episode Tease

03:28 Boundaries Before Dating

05:30 Today’s Topic Is Spanking

06:54 Growing Up With Spanking

08:18 The Moment That Changed My Mind

11:29 What Does Spanking Actually Teach?

14:17 Ego, Opinions, And Parenting

17:11 Discipline, Punishment, And Teaching

18:28 The iPad Car Meltdown

20:19 Naming The Emotion

23:31 Other People’s Opinions

25:13 Finding Better Alternatives

31:14 Humanizing Tiny People

38:58 You’ve Only Been Parented

46:13 It Is Never Too Late To Repair

In this episode of After Hours With Amanda, I’m talking about protecting versus projecting in parenting, with a little help from One Tree Hill and the emotional baggage of Dan Scott.

I get into motherhood, gentle parenting, body image, childhood trauma, the rules we inherit, and the question I cannot stop asking myself: is my parenting happening to my kids or for my kids?

This is not about having it all figured out. I’m practicing, learning, catching myself, and trying to raise tiny humans without handing them fear that was never theirs to carry.

Grab your bevie and come hang.

00:00 Welcome Back And One Tree Hill

02:35 Mom Labels And Dan Scott

04:44 Motherhood Is Part Of Me

05:36 Body Choices And Talking With My Girls

07:12 Parenting As An Adventure

07:37 Stop Putting Moms In Boxes

09:45 How Do You Know You Are Ready?

12:30 Protecting Or Projecting

13:39 The Moment That Changed My Parenting

16:28 Is Parenting Happening To Them Or For Them?

19:33 The Shower Story And Not Discounting Kids

22:01 Dan Scott And Projected Dreams

23:46 The Dog Bite Story

28:00 Giving Kids Freedom To Build Trust

33:21 Ask What Do You Mean By That?

39:08 Build The Barrier Of Self Love

In this episode of After Hours With Amanda, I’m talking about responding instead of reacting when our kids have big feelings. We get into bedtime, Target tears, iPads, communication, boundaries, and why I’m trying to see crying less as manipulation and more as a tiny human asking for help.

I’m not sharing this as someone who has it all figured out. I’m learning in real time, apologizing when I need to, and trying to give my kids tools for their toolkit instead of shame for their emotions.

00:00 We Made It To Friday

00:41 McDonald’s Coke And Catching Up

02:36 Daddy’s Bed And Bedtime Chaos

03:53 Letting My Kid Be The Parent

06:24 When Kids Cry From Disappointment

09:30 The Target Toy Story

13:10 Reacting Versus Responding

16:10 Why First Responders Don’t Just React

18:07 Big Feelings Need Tools

21:12 Parenting Is A Human Relationship

23:23 When I Needed A Walk

24:32 Why We Hold Kids To Adult Standards

29:10 What If A Boundary Gets Broken?

31:30 The iPad Trust Conversation

38:57 Marriage, Miscommunication, And The Folder

43:33 Healing Your Inner Child By Responding Better

48:01 Responding Instead Of Reacting

In this episode of After Hours With Amanda, I’m talking about parenting, projection, and the moments when our kids remind us that they are not tiny versions of us. They are tiny humans with their own thoughts, feelings, choices, and stories.

I share what I’m learning about pausing before I jump in with advice, asking better questions, and creating a safe place where my kids can come to me without feeling like I’m making everything about what I would have done.

It is parenting, but not just for parents. It is communication, trust, mom guilt, personal growth, and doing our best in real time.

00:00 Welcome Back, Rabbit Trails Included

01:31 Feeling Blue And Wanting My Kids Close

03:19 Kids Are Always Listening

04:35 Venting, Gratitude, And Mom Guilt

06:32 Finding Safe Spaces With Mom Friends

08:41 Why Are We Surprised Kids Do It Differently

09:55 When I Made Her Story About Me

11:34 Asking What They Actually Need

13:17 The Duck Duck Goose Story

15:34 Protecting Or Projecting Our Fear

18:43 Sugar, Dessert, And Clarifying Expectations

21:41 Faith, Devotionals, And Personal Standards

25:23 Letting Kids Choose Their Own Path

27:04 The Exhaustion Of Wearing A Mask

31:03 Building A Safe Place To Come Back To

In this episode of After Hours With Amanda, I’m talking about resilience, distance learning, emotional regulation, and the pressure to bounce back before we have actually processed what happened.

After a chaotic day with school pickups, Wi Fi issues, meetings, and one very frazzled mom moment, I started thinking about how often we praise kids and adults for being “resilient” when maybe what we really need is space to feel, name, and move through what is hard.

This one is about metacognition, grief, parenting tiny humans, and why healing does not need a timer.

00:00 Welcome Back After a Hot Minute

01:08 Holiday Chaos and Taking Time

02:13 The Word Resilience

03:53 Distance Learning and School Whiplash

05:09 The Wi Fi Spiral

07:27 Why Resilience Set Me Off

08:32 When Resilience Becomes Toxic

10:18 What Are We Really Praising?

11:33 I Want My Kids to Be Strategic

13:09 Let Yourself Feel It First

15:01 Grief and Bouncing Back

18:02 School Looks Different Right Now

19:06 Asking Why Behind the Behavior

23:11 Metacognition and Parenting

26:08 Why Resilience Can Become Stuffing

30:49 Mental Health Needs More Space

33:31 Praise the Process, Not the Snapback

36:32 Ask Questions and Check In