Welcome to the first Connected Parenting episode of 2025!

After spending the holidays with my family, I’m excited to reconnect with all of you.

The holidays are often a mix of joy, warmth, and togetherness, but they can also bring tension, big feelings, and unresolved conflicts.

As Ram Dass so wisely put it, "If you think you're enlightened, go spend a week with your family."

In this episode, we explore how to navigate those lingering emotions and patterns that surface during family gatherings, especially as we enter a new year.

Jennifer's Takeaways:

• Reflecting on Family Dynamics and Emotional Programs (00:00)
• Understanding Implicit Beliefs and Their Impact (01:29)
• The Role of Parents as Substitute Frontal Lobes (05:44)
• Practical Steps to Manage Implicit Beliefs (07:35)
• Inner Child Work and Self-Care (12:45)

Meet Jennifer Kolari



Jennifer Kolari is the host of the “Connected Parenting” weekly podcast and the co-host of “The Mental Health Comedy” podcast. Kolari is a frequent guest on Nationwide morning shows and podcasts in th US and Canada. Her advice can also be found in many Canadian and US magazines such as; Today’s Parent, Parents Magazine and Canadian Family.

Kolari’s powerful parenting model is based on the neurobiology of love, teaching parents how to use compassion and empathy as powerful medicine to transform challenging behavior and build children’s emotional resilience and emotional shock absorbers.

Jennifer’s wisdom, quick wit and down to earth style help parents navigate modern-day parenting problems, offering real-life examples as well as practical and effective tools and strategies.

Her highly entertaining, inspiring workshops are shared with warmth and humour, making her a crowd-pleasing speaker with schools, medical professionals, corporations and agencies throughout North America, Europe and Asia.

One of the nation’s leading parenting experts, Jennifer Kolari, is a highly sought- after international speaker and the founder of Connected Parenting. A child and family therapist with a busy practice based in San Diego and Toronto, Kolari is also the author of Connected Parenting: How to Raise A Great Kid (Penguin Group USA and Penguin Canada, 2009) and You’re Ruining My Life! (But Not Really): Surviving the Teenage Years with Connected Parenting (Penguin Canada, 2011).