Parenting Well Podcast

I'm Dr. Shelly Mahon, your host, and you are listening to The Parenting Well Podcast. Today's guest is Dr. Jazzmon Trotty-Herring. Jazzmon is the creator of The Connected Family System, a parenting and family-development framework focused on emotional stability, structure, communication, and healthy connection within the home. Through her work, she helps parents move away from reactive parenting and toward intentional family leadership rooted in consistency, values, and emotional awareness. Her message emphasizes that strong families are built through systems, not survival mode, creating environments where both parents and children can thrive emotionally and relationally.

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“If we don’t pay attention and aspire to a life where we are all living better, happier, healthier lives that are sustainable, then I don’t know that we reach it accidentally,” Martin Ogle

I'm Dr. Shelly Mahon, your host, and today's Well Source is Martin Ogle. Martin is an environmental educator, naturalist, and founder of Geo sapiens, an initiative focused on helping people become “Earth-wise humans” by integrating environmental and energy literacy into everyday life, work, and community.

This podcast centers around how parents can help children build a meaningful relationship with nature, develop a sense of wonder, and see themselves as connected, capable contributors to a healthier world through whatever work and careers they are interested in.

#EnvironmentalLiteracy #Communication #mentalhealth #AllAges #PracticalTips

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“The complex is simple and the simple is complex” 

Welcome to The Parenting Well Podcast. I'm Dr. Shelly Mahon, your host, and today's conversation is with Mark Talaga. Mark hosts the podcast Hopelessly Gifted, a deeply personal and thought-provoking exploration of intelligence, identity, achievement, and emotional well-being. Through candid storytelling and hard-earned insight, Mark examines what it means to grow up labeled as “gifted”  and the pressures, expectations, and emotional complexities that often come with that label.

Drawing from his own experiences, Mark challenges the assumption that gifted children naturally thrive. Instead, he highlights the hidden struggles many high-achieving kids face, including perfectionism, anxiety, isolation, burnout, and the difficulty of developing resilience when achievement becomes tied to self-worth.

Mark’s work resonates with parents, educators, and anyone raising children in achievement-oriented environments. His perspective offers a compassionate reminder that emotional health, curiosity, character, and connection matter just as much as academic success.

#resilience #positiveyouthdevelopment #braindevelopment #practicaltips

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“There are many ways to show up in the world, so pick the one that feels good” Dr. Darla Bishop

I'm Dr. Shelly Mahon, your host, and today's conversation is about raising money smart kids with Dr. Darla Bishop.

Dr. Bishop- known as the “FinanSis”-  is a mother, a former high school educator/bilingual elementary school reading coach, children’s book author, and passionate entrepreneur who founded Finansis LLC. Inspired by her challenging childhood in Detroit, she is passionate about helping families build strong financial foundations and empowering children to develop a positive money mindset early in life. Dr. Darla is all too aware of the correlation between low credit scores and short lifespan, her mission is to change that narrative.

Blending humor, insight, and tough love, Dr. Darla works to transform how communities think about wealth, believing financial literacy is key to creating resilient futures. With over 15 years in public health leadership, she also serves as a consultant, professor, mentor, and real estate investor. 

Among her proudest achievements are co-authoring Madeline’s Money Adventure with her daughter and helping young bilingual students succeed in reading.

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The teenage years can feel like losing your child in slow motion. The pushback, withdrawal, and irritability make it’s easy to assume they need less from us.

But what if adolescence is actually the time they need us most?

I’m Dr. Shelly Mahon, your host, and in this episode of the Parenting Well Podcast, I sit down with Kimberly Bryant to explore how the way we “meet” our teenagers during this massive brain restructuring phase shapes not only our current relationship, but the relationships we may one day have with our grandchildren.

We talk about the powerful shift from manager to mentor, how curiosity calms the nervous system, and why asking “What happened?” instead of “What’s wrong with you?” can change everything. Kimberly reminds us that teens don’t need perfection. They need emotional safety.

Because how we meet them… is what shapes them.

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The teenage years can feel like losing your child in slow motion. The pushback, withdrawal, and irritability make it’s easy to assume they need less from us.

But what if adolescence is actually the time they need us most?

I’m Dr. Shelly Mahon, your host, and in this episode of the Parenting Well Podcast, I sit down with Kimberly Bryant to explore how the way we “meet” our teenagers during this massive brain restructuring phase shapes not only our current relationship, but the relationships we may one day have with our grandchildren.

We talk about the powerful shift from manager to mentor, how curiosity calms the nervous system, and why asking “What happened?” instead of “What’s wrong with you?” can change everything. Kimberly reminds us that teens don’t need perfection. They need emotional safety.

Because how we meet them… is what shapes them.

Main Discussion Points

Key Takeaways

Resources

Anxiety is everywhere right now. It's in our culture, in our homes, and often in our own nervous systems. So how do we raise brave, resilient children without unintentionally reinforcing the fears we’re trying to protect them from?

I’m Dr. Shelly Mahon, your host, and in this episode of the Parenting Well Podcast, I sit down with Dr. Samantha Grigsby, clinical psychologist and founder of Foothills CBT, to break down what every parent needs to understand about how anxiety works and how to interrupt the cycle that keeps it growing.

We explore how to distinguish normal developmental anxiety from anxiety that needs support, and why avoidance, though well-intended, often strengthens fear over time. Dr. Grigsby explains the anxiety cycle in practical terms and shares why Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) are gold-standard treatments for anxiety and OCD.

We also discuss how rescuing, over-accommodating, minimizing stress, or offering constant reassurance can unintentionally perpetuate anxiety, as well as what supportive parenting actually looks like when a child is struggling. Finally, we examine the cultural pressures amplifying stress today and how to keep our own anxiety from shaping the emotional climate of our homes.

Because bravery isn’t the absence of anxiety.

Register to hear her talk at the Stress & Anxiety Conference 

In this podcast, we talk about:

How to tell when anxiety is normal and when it’s limiting your child

The hidden ways loving parents accidentally reinforce anxiety

Why avoidance and reassurance make anxiety stronger

What actually works (CBT & ERP explained simply)

How to stop passing your stress onto your child

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I’m Dr. Shelly Mahon, your host, and in this episode of the Parenting Well Podcast, I sit down with Stacey J. Acquavella, founder of Neurodivergent Uprising and speaker at our Stress & Anxiety Conference, to explore her powerful message: Regulation Is the Self-Care.

Register Here

Many parents, especially those raising neurodivergent children, are told to add more strategies, more routines, more coping tools. But when you’re already functioning at a deficit, “doing more” only deepens the exhaustion.

Stacey reframes overwhelm as a structural issue, not a personal one. You can’t self-care your way out of structural overload. Instead, regulation must be embedded into how the day is designed. Things like how transitions happen, how expectations are set, how decisions are reduced, and how environments are shaped help immensely.

We talk about survival mode and chronic bracing. The shame undiagnosed parents often carry. The stress of navigating school systems built for neurotypical learners. The difference between behavior management and regulation-based parenting. And why you don’t need a diagnosis to begin reducing overload.

If you’ve ever felt like you’re constantly on edge or you're bracing for emails, appointments, or judgment, this conversation will help you understand why.

And more importantly, it will show you where relief actually begins.

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Communication is often treated as a skill to master, but in this conversation with Susan Caso, we explore why it is far more complex than scripts and strategies.

When stress and anxiety are high, conversations can quickly become reactive, escalating, or disconnected. But when parents create emotional safety and presence, communication shifts from mechanics to connection.

We talk about what it really means to listen deeply, how to stay present when you feel triggered, and how giving space can de escalate conflict instead of intensifying it. Susan introduces the Cycle of Response and reminds us that connection is the foundation of every healthy relationship. Communication tools simply support that foundation.

Our children do not just need instruction. They need us. The steady presence who can pause, reflect, repair, and experience joy with them.

If you have ever walked away from a conversation wishing you had handled it differently, this episode will offer both hope and practical tools.

Register to participate in her workshop at the Stress & Anxiety Conference

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I am Dr. Shelly Mahon, your host, and in this episode of the Parenting Well Podcast, we’re talking about what truly shapes your child’s emotional health in the earliest years of life.

I’m joined by Emily Fried, LCSW, a specialist in infant, early childhood, and perinatal mental health, to explore what’s really happening beneath toddler behavior — and how attachment, brain development, and parental wellbeing are deeply connected from the very beginning.

We discuss how to create the right conditions for healthy development, how toddlers experience big emotions, the difference between prenatal depression and perinatal anxiety, and practical ways to support regulation in everyday moments.

If you’ve ever wondered whether you’re “doing it right” in these early years, this conversation will both ground you and guide you.

Register to participate in her workshop at the Stress & Anxiety Conference on Feb 28, 2026

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Welcome to the Parenting Well podcast with Parent Engagement Network!  I am Dr. Shelly Mahon, your host and today’s well source is Melissa Holland.

Melissa Holland is a parenting coach, founder of Inner Wisdom Parenting, and a PEN Ambassador at SHMS who is passionate about helping parents raise emotionally healthy, resilient children, starting with themselves.

Melissa works with parents of young children, particularly ages 5–10, helping them better understand what’s really going on beneath behavior and how to respond with clarity, confidence, and connection. Through her coaching and workshops, she supports parents in tuning into both their child’s inner world and their own, so discipline becomes less about control and more about growth, trust, and relationship.

Grounded, compassionate, and deeply practical, Melissa’s work empowers parents to slow down, listen differently, and parent from a place of intention rather than reactivity. Her approach reminds parents that they already have much of what they need. Sometimes they just need support accessing their inner wisdom.

Melissa will be speaking at PEN's Stress & Anxiety Conference on Feb 28, 2026.

Register Here

In this podcast, we talk about:

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