No Guilt Mom | Overcoming Mom Guilt, Mental Load & Parenting Tips for Moms

If gentle parenting has you wanting to back your daughter up without shaking things up at school, but you're stuck on why she keeps getting dress coded in the first place, this episode is for you.

New here? Start with our ⁠Start Here playlist⁠ — five episodes that will change how you think about motherhood.

JoAnn goes solo this week on a topic she's been sitting with since her own middle school uniform battles: dress codes, and why they land so much harder on girls than boys. She pulls the research on where dress codes actually came from, what "self-objectification" does to a girl's brain and test scores, and ties it directly into this week's Sydney Sweeney ad backlash. Then she gives you the exact conversation to have with your daughter the next time she comes home dress coded.

In this episode, you'll learn:

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If you've ever dealt with mom burnout and wondered why you can't stop giving until there's nothing left, this episode is for you.

New here? Start with our ⁠Start Here playlist⁠ — five episodes that will change how you think about motherhood.

Therapist Dr. Julie Merriman joins the podcast to talk about why so many moms quietly minimize themselves until they're running on empty, and why the idea that "you can't give from an empty cup" is actually a myth, because we do it all the time. We get into little T trauma, why your worth might be tied to productivity, and Julie's five-step framework for coming back to yourself after burnout.

In this episode, you'll learn:

Resources mentioned in this episode:

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If you've ever felt the mental load of work follow you home and wondered why you can't turn your brain off the second you walk in the door, this episode is for you.

New here? Start with our Start Here playlist — five episodes that will change how you think about motherhood.

You close the laptop, but your brain doesn't get the memo. In this episode, JoAnn breaks down the real research on why work stress follows you home (and why home stress follows you to work), and gives you three small, doable rituals you can try tonight to actually make the switch.

In this episode, you'll learn:

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If you've ever dealt with mom guilt and wondered why you can't stop replaying the same mistake in your head long after it happened, this episode is for you. Explore practical tools for managing mom guilt and the mental load using gentle parenting principles and a proven self-forgiveness method with Dr. Dravon James.

New here? Start with our ⁠Start Here playlist⁠ — five episodes that will change how you think about motherhood.

Dr. Dravon James, founder of Everyday Peace and author of Forgiveness: A Pathway to Happiness, joins JoAnn to talk about why self-forgiveness is so much harder for moms than forgiving anyone else. They walk through Dravon's three-step practice for actually letting go of the mistakes you keep carrying, plus the exact language to use with yourself when you mess up.

In this episode, you'll learn:

Ready to stop doing everything and start doing what actually matters? Grab JoAnn's free Stop Doing Checklist.

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Mom guilt has a source—and it's not your parenting. JoAnn busts the five biggest "good mom" myths that convince you you're failing, even when you're doing your best.

New here? Start with our ⁠Start Here playlist⁠ — five episodes that will change how you think about motherhood.

JoAnn shares the day she screamed at a wall (and cowered her own kids) to name the perfectionism baked into modern motherhood. Then she busts the five biggest "good mom" myths, the ones telling you that missing the game, serving chicken nuggets again, losing your temper, taking time for yourself, or your kid's report card all mean you're failing. Spoiler: none of them do.

In this episode, you'll learn:

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Thank you to our sponsors!

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If you have tried gentle parenting and still feel like nothing works with your strong-willed child, this episode is for you.

New to the show? Start with our ⁠Start Here playlist⁠.

Wendy Snyder was three years into motherhood, home with a colicky newborn and a three-year-old who got sent home from preschool on repeat, when she walked past a flyer for a free positive parenting class and took it as a sign. Fifteen years later, that same strong-willed daughter is a Division I beach volleyball player at a top ten school.

In this conversation, Wendy and JoAnn get into why the strong will you are fighting is the exact trait that will carry your kid, and what has to shift in you first before any strategy will work.

In this episode, you'll learn

Resources mentioned in this episode

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If you've ever struggled with letting go of control and wondered why sending your kid off to college (or even just watching them grow up) feels so scary, this episode is for you.

New here? Start with our ⁠Start Here playlist⁠ — five episodes that will change how you think about motherhood.

This episode released on the actual day JoAnn flew to New York to drop her firstborn off at college. Instead of a highlight reel of the trip, she's sharing the real research and the real mindset shifts that got her here, including one she wishes every parent heard well before senior year.

In this episode, you'll learn:

Resources mentioned in this episode:

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If you've ever dealt with mom guilt and found yourself checking your phone to see if you're doing enough, wondering why you care so much what other people think, this episode is for you.

New to No Guilt Mom? Start here: https://www.noguiltmom.com/podcast-2

JoAnn sits down with speaker, entrepreneur, and author Jess Ekstrom (founder of Mic Drop Workshop and author of Making It Without Losing It) for an honest conversation about external validation — including JoAnn's own confession about compulsively checking podcast analytics, and Jess's story of interviewing her great uncle Bernie Madoff about the roots of chasing approval. Together they unpack why other people's opinions matter less than we think, how to tell the difference between feedback worth keeping and feedback worth ignoring, and how moms can stop performing for an audience that isn't even watching.

In this episode, you'll learn:

Resources mentioned in this episode:

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New here? Start with our Start Here playlist — five episodes that will change how you think about motherhood.

If you're a people pleaser who can't figure out why you struggle to tell people how you really feel, especially when you're angry or hurt, this episode is for you.

What do you do when someone you love blames you for something that isn't your fault? JoAnn gets vulnerable about a recent conflict where, for the first time in her life, she didn't shrink. She's breaking down the fawn response, what the research actually says about staying quiet, and the exact words to use the next time silence feels safer than the truth.

In this episode, you'll learn:

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Ready to figure out where your guilt and people pleasing are running the show in your home? Join the free Happy Mom Reset class.

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Ever snap at your kid and then wonder where that even came from? Dr. Cassidy Freitas, licensed marriage and family therapist and author of Mom Needs a Moment, joins JoAnn to break down what's actually happening in your nervous system in the seconds before you react.

In this episode, you'll learn:

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Ready to stop reacting and start responding? Sign up for The Happy Mom Reset, a free class, and get started today.

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