Real Parenting For Sensitive Moms

In this episode, Leah and Adrienne explore the concept of emotional contagion and the impact of being a highly sensitive parent has on the parent's emotional regulation and response to their children's emotions.

Takeaways

• Emotional contagion describes the unconscious process of automatically catching and absorbing the emotions and attitudes of those around you.
• Highly sensitive parents may experience a deeper and more impactful emotional response to their children's meltdowns, and it is important to recognize that this is a normal part of being highly sensitive.
• Repairing the relationship with the child after a challenging interaction is crucial, and it is important to practice tools and techniques to regulate emotions and respond more effectively in these situations.

Don’t forget to rate and review Real Parenting!

🌐 Connect With Us ⁠@adriennebishopcoaching | ⁠@leahandreoni

✨ Get's Adrienne's FREE guide - 5 Ways to Stay Calm When Your Kids are Driving you Crazy! - https://www.adriennebishopcoaching.com/5-ways-to-stay-calm/

We love to hear feedback about the show! Send us a text!

📲 Share this episode with another sensitive parent 🌐 Visit www.adriennebishopcoaching.com or risingsuntherapy.com for more support.

*DISCLAIMER: This podcast is for educational purposes only. It is not to be used for therapeutic or medical advice.

Most parents feel powerless when their child refuses to eat, but the secret to turning mealtime stress into a positive experience is surprisingly simple. Jennifer Anderson, founder of Kids Eat in Color and author of Feed Them Well, reveals the movement away from pressure, dieting, and rigid rules and towards playful, compassionate strategies that encourage healthy eating habits without the stress.

If you're tired of tantrums and stress at the dinner table, this episode offers life changing insights to reshape your family’s relationship with food.

Jennifer's personal experience with her own children’s picky eating, combined with her professional background as a registered dietitian with a Master of Science in Public Health from Johns Hopkins, fuels her mission: helping parents break free from outdated rules like "finish your plate" or "one polite bite" that often backfire. Instead, she advocates for a relaxed, play-based approach that reduces anxiety, promotes curiosity, and fosters genuine food enjoyment.

You’ll discover how to shift the focus from control to connection, even in the face of extreme picky eating and ARFID; simple ways to make meals fun through visual tricks, modeling, and removing pressure; and how to use the powerful concept of "safe foods" to build trust with your child.

Whether you’re currently experiencing feeding challenges or want to prevent future issues, these strategies create a kinder, more relaxed environment for everyone at the table.

Listen now and discover how small changes in your mindset and routines can transform mealtime from a battleground into a place of connection and growth.

Jennifer Anderson is a registered dietitian, CEO of Better Bites, and the author of Feed Them Well, coming September 8, 2026. With over 2 million followers on social media and a background in public health, she combines research, clinical experience, and parenting wisdom to revolutionize how we think about feeding our kids and ourselves.

Connect with Jennifer:

Instagram: @kids.eat.in.color

Tik Tok: tiktok.com/@kids.eat.in.color

Facebook: facebook.com/kids.eat.in.color

Top resources for Parents: 

• Jennifer’s book, Feed Them Well, A Guide to Raising Healthy, Confident Eaters for Life is now available for pre-order.
• Wondering if your child is a typical picky eater or if it's more serious? Take the Pediatric Screener for ARFID and Extreme Picky Eating (PSA-Eat)
• BetterBites: Whether you are managing  ARFID, extreme picky eating, or a nutrition problem, our app-based programs give parents a research-backed path to change how their child eats, one step at a time.

Connect with Adrienne @adriennebishopcoaching and Leah @leahandreoni on Instagram

You know that feeling when the kids walk through the door and you've already mentally clocked out? Or when your partner says "hi honey!" and you're like... please, not you too.

In this episode, Adrienne and Leah get real about the 3pm wall: why it hits highly sensitive moms so hard, why you're not lazy or a bad mom, and what's actually going on in your nervous system when everything starts feeling like sandpaper on your brain.

They cover the sneaky things draining your energy all day (yes, even your emotions count), why that afternoon coffee might be making things worse, and a bunch of quick tricks to reset, from cold water hacks to a 20-second hug that actually works.

Don’t forget to rate and review Real Parenting!

🌐 Connect With Us ⁠@adriennebishopcoaching | ⁠@leahandreoni

✨ Get's Adrienne's FREE guide - 5 Ways to Stay Calm When Your Kids are Driving you Crazy! - https://www.adriennebishopcoaching.com/5-ways-to-stay-calm/

*DISCLAIMER: This podcast is for educational purposes only. It is not to be used for therapeutic or medical advice. 

We love to hear feedback about the show! Send us a text!

📲 Share this episode with another sensitive parent 🌐 Visit www.adriennebishopcoaching.com or risingsuntherapy.com for more support.

*DISCLAIMER: This podcast is for educational purposes only. It is not to be used for therapeutic or medical advice.

As a highly sensitive mom, you may naturally want to have peace in the house and not cause conflict in your life. To achieve this, you end up saying yes to others and do things you don't want to do so that other people don't judge you.

But what would happen if you stopped worrying what others thought (hello: your mom) or what others were doing (i.e. the neighbors) and instead listened to your intuition? What would it be like to create the family life that works best for YOU and YOUR family, no matter how counterculture? Would you be less burned out? Less exhausted? Happier?

Well, we certainly think so, but it's so hard to do!

You're in luck though! Help is here!

In this episode, Leah and Adrienne sit down with Trina Stutzman, a recovering people pleaser, wellness coach, and author of 12 Steps to Overcome People-Pleasing, for a conversation about why so many women struggle to put themselves first.

Trina breaks down what people pleasing really looks like, where it comes from, and why highly sensitive women are especially prone to it.

We also explore the important connections between people pleasing and hormonal shifts, trauma responses, and the "shoulds" we absorb from culture, religion, and family and why it's so hard to listen to our instincts and do what is best for us and our families, no matter what everyone else is doing.

From parenting boundaries to birthday party logistics, we get real about the guilt that keeps us stuck, the resentment that builds when we stay silent, and the small but powerful shifts that can help us start choosing ourselves, without adding yet another thing to the to-do list.

Whether you're a burnt-out mom, a chronic over-giver, or someone who just can't seem to say no, this episode is your permission slip to stop performing and start living as your actual self.

Topics covered:

• The 20 signs you might be a people pleaser
• Why sensitivity and people pleasing so often go hand in hand
• How hormones (hello, perimenopause) can shift your tolerance for self-sacrifice
• The role guilt plays in keeping us stuck
• Practical first steps from Trina's 12-step framework
• Why being "the world's okayest mom" might be a compliment
• How to live counter culture and have the family life YOU want.

Find Trina at TrinaStutzman.com and grab her book 12 Steps to Overcome People Pleasing on Amazon or wherever books are sold.

Don’t forget to rate and review Real Parenting!

🌐 Connect With Us ⁠@adriennebishopcoaching | ⁠@leahandreoni

✨ Get's Adrienne's FREE guide - 5 Ways to Stay Calm When Your Kids are Driving you Crazy! - https://www.adriennebishopcoaching.com/5-ways-to-stay-calm/

*DISCLAIMER: This podcast is for educational purposes only. It is not to be used for therapeutic or medical advice. 

We love to hear feedback about the show! Send us a text!

📲 Share this episode with another sensitive parent 🌐 Visit www.adriennebishopcoaching.com or risingsuntherapy.com for more support.

*DISCLAIMER: This podcast is for educational purposes only. It is not to be used for therapeutic or medical advice.

If you’ve ever found yourself spiraling trying to figure out…
Is this ADHD? Anxiety? High sensitivity? Sensory issues? Something else? — you are so not alone.

In this episode, we sit down with Alane Freund and walk through real parent scenarios that will probably feel very familiar.

We talk about a 4-year-old with intense, daily meltdowns that seem to come out of nowhere…
An 18-month-old who won’t separate or engage socially…
A teen dealing with anxiety, OCD, and school refusal…
And even what “inattentive ADHD” can look like in a highly sensitive kid who’s constantly in their own world.

This is one of those conversations where you start to realize…it’s not as clear-cut as we’ve been told.

Inside the episode, we get into:

• Why highly sensitive kids can look like they have ADHD (even when they don’t)
• How anxiety shows up in the body (nausea, headaches, shutdowns) and why it’s often misunderstood
• The concept of kids being “half their age” when they’re overwhelmed and how that changes how you respond
• Why tantrums aren’t something you fix in the moment (and what actually helps instead)
• What to do when your child refuses school, including options most parents don’t even realize they have
• The difference between temperament vs. diagnosis (and why that matters so much)

Get Alane's FREE GIFT here: 10 Pillars of Resilience

https://alane-freund.mykajabi.com/10-pillars-of-resilience 

Find Alane here:

Alane Freund | Are You Highly Sensitive
Links to events
Learn about and join the Are You Highly Sensitive membership here

Follow Alane on

Eventbrite
Facebook
YouTube
Instagram

Don’t forget to rate and review Real Parenting!

🌐 Connect With Us ⁠@adriennebishopcoaching | ⁠@leahandreoni

✨ Get's Adrienne's FREE guide - 5 Ways to Stay Calm When Your Kids are Driving you Crazy! - https://www.adriennebishopcoaching.com/5-ways-to-stay-calm/

We love to hear feedback about the show! Send us a text!

📲 Share this episode with another sensitive parent 🌐 Visit www.adriennebishopcoaching.com or risingsuntherapy.com for more support.

*DISCLAIMER: This podcast is for educational purposes only. It is not to be used for therapeutic or medical advice.

Clutter stresses me out, but getting my kids to actually help clean it up? That's a whole other battle. And if you've ever resorted to threatening screen time or bribing with dessert just to get the toys off the floor, first of all, same. But also, this episode is going to change the way you think about all of it.

Leah and I sat down with Ann Dooley, founder of Simple Joy with Ann and creator of the Dooley Method, and I genuinely walked away from this conversation seeing things differently.

Ann is a certified master level KonMari consultant, a parenting coach, and author, and her whole approach is about connection first, which honestly fits in perfectly with everything we talk about on this show.

We get into why threats and bribes actually backfire, like, they're literally triggering your kid's fight or flight response, which explains so much. We also talk about how the home you grew up in shaped the way you deal with clutter today, whether you're the person who keeps everything or the person who throws it all away. Both extremes come with a lot of baggage, and a lot of us are just on autopilot repeating patterns we never even chose.

Ann walks us through her SHINE framework — Seen, Heard, Independent, Nurtured, Engaged — and how using it helps kids actually build internal motivation to help around the house instead of just avoiding it. And she closes the episode with a guided meditation that I genuinely did not see coming but absolutely needed.

If you've ever just done it all yourself because it felt easier than dealing with the meltdown, this episode is for you. It's one of those conversations that sticks with you.

Guest: Anne Dooley | simplejoywithann.com | @simplejoywithann

Don’t forget to rate and review Real Parenting!

🌐 Connect With Us ⁠@adriennebishopcoaching | ⁠@leahandreoni

✨ Get's Adrienne's FREE guide - 5 Ways to Stay Calm When Your Kids are Driving you Crazy! - https://www.adriennebishopcoaching.com/5-ways-to-stay-calm/

We love to hear feedback about the show! Send us a text!

📲 Share this episode with another sensitive parent 🌐 Visit www.adriennebishopcoaching.com or risingsuntherapy.com for more support.

*DISCLAIMER: This podcast is for educational purposes only. It is not to be used for therapeutic or medical advice.

You may have heard that in order to feel better and regulate your nervous system you need to "process" your emotions.

But how the heck do you do that? 

Enter TAPPING - the easy, accessible tool that will help you process and release emotions, and feel better fast - and your kids can use it too!

In this podcast episode we are talking with Nicole Sabella — dancer, wellness coach, and founder of The Nourished Dancer — to explore the transformative practice of EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques), also known as tapping.

Nicole breaks down how tapping works using the body’s acupressure points to calm the amygdala, reduce cortisol, and help us process tough emotions — from anxiety and overthinking to parenting frustrations and performance stress. Whether you're a busy mom, a sensitive soul, or just navigating life’s daily overwhelm, tapping offers a simple, science-backed tool you can use anytime, anywhere.

You’ll hear:

- A step-by-step walkthrough of a tapping session (perfect for beginners!)

- How tapping differs from talk therapy, mindfulness, and CBT

- Real-life applications for moms and kids — from bedtime worries to sibling squabbles

- Why it’s not about “fixing” emotions, but moving through them with self-compassion

- Tips for introducing tapping to neurodivergent children and teens

- And a powerful reminder: "The only way out is through."

Nicole also shares how tapping supports emotional regulation, nervous system balance, and confidence — whether you're facing a big presentation, a tough conversation, or just the chaos of a school morning.

Plus: practical advice for building a 5-minute tapping habit, when to work with a certified practitioner, and how to start small (even if you're skeptical!).

👉 Learn more about Nicole at https://thenourisheddancer.com or connect on Instagram @nicole.e.sabella.

Don’t forget to rate and review Real Parenting!

🌐 Connect With Us ⁠@adriennebishopcoaching | ⁠@leahandreoni

✨ Get's Adrienne's FREE guide - 5 Ways to Stay Calm When Your Kids are Driving you Crazy! - https://www.adriennebishopcoaching.com/5-ways-to-stay-calm/

We love to hear feedback about the show! Send us a text!

📲 Share this episode with another sensitive parent

🌐 Visit www.adriennebishopcoaching.com or risingsuntherapy.com for more support.

*DISCLAIMER: This podcast is for educational purposes only. It is not to be used for therapeutic or medical advice.

In this episode, Leah and Adrienne dive deep into the invisible burden so many women carry, the mental load.

From remembering school schedules to managing emotional climates at home, they unpack how women, especially highly sensitive and empathic moms, end up as the "default parent," often at the cost of their own well-being.

They explore how hormonal changes during perimenopause, like declining estrogen and oxytocin, can make caretaking feel suddenly overwhelming, even impossible. When your brain fog thickens and your patience thins, it’s not failure, it’s biology. And yet, cultural expectations haven’t caught up.

Why are we still told to “do it all” when our bodies and minds are signaling it’s time to share?

Leah and Adrienne discuss:

- The difference between helping and truly owning responsibilities (spoiler: your partner isn’t “helping”—they’re co-parenting)

- Practical ways to redistribute the mental and emotional labor in your relationship

- How burnout shows up, from irritability to “hospital fantasies”, and why naming it reduces shame

- Strategies for raising boys who grow into emotionally attuned, capable men who co-create family life instead of just “pitching in”

They offer actionable steps for couples, like weekly check-ins, assigning full ownership of tasks, and modeling shared care, to build a more balanced, sustainable family dynamic.

Whether you're in the thick of parenting, entering perimenopause, or raising the next generation of caregivers, this conversation is a lifeline. It’s time to stop carrying it all, and start sharing it all.

Don’t forget to rate and review Real Parenting!

🌐 Connect With Us ⁠@adriennebishopcoaching | ⁠@leahandreoni

✨ Get's Adrienne's FREE guide - 5 Ways to Stay Calm When Your Kids are Driving you Crazy! - https://www.adriennebishopcoaching.com/5-ways-to-stay-calm/ 

We love to hear feedback about the show! Send us a text!

📲 Share this episode with another sensitive parent

🌐 Visit www.adriennebishopcoaching.com or risingsuntherapy.com for more support.

*DISCLAIMER: This podcast is for educational purposes only. It is not to be used for therapeutic or medical advice.

Perimenopause doesn’t just bring hot flashes, it can quietly reshape everything about how you show up as a mom, partner, and person. And for highly sensitive moms, the emotional intensity, brain fog, and shifting energy levels can feel especially overwhelming.

In this honest, empowering conversation, Ashley Basilio, midlife wellness advocate, talks with Adrienne and Leah about her own perimenopause journey and how it collided with parenting teens, burnout, and identity shifts. As a certified menopause health coach and founder of the Strong Her Together community, Ashley blends science, warmth, and lived experience to help women understand what’s really happening, and how to respond with kindness, not guilt.

We dive into:

• What perimenopause actually is (and why it’s not just about reproduction)
• How hormonal shifts impact mood, memory, and parenting capacity
• Why highly sensitive women may feel these changes more deeply
• The surprising upsides of this life stage
• Practical tools for self-care, boundary-setting, and hormone support

Whether you're in perimenopause or preparing for it, this episode is a lifeline for any HS mom navigating change with grace and strength.

🧠 Recommended Resources

• 📘 The Menopause Brain by Dr. Lisa Mosconi
• 🌐 menopause.org – Find a certified menopause provider near you

🙋‍♀️ Where to Find Ashley

• Website: getfitwithashley.com
• Community: Strong Her Together
• Podcast: Stronger Voices (on all platforms)
• Instagram: @getfitwithashley

We love to hear feedback about the show! Send us a text!

📲 Share this episode with another sensitive parent

🌐 Visit www.adriennebishopcoaching.com or risingsuntherapy.com for more support.

*DISCLAIMER: This podcast is for educational purposes only. It is not to be used for therapeutic or medical advice.

Anxiety is incredibly common for highly sensitive moms, especially after becoming a parent. In this episode, Adrienne and Leah have an honest, grounded conversation about how anxiety actually shows up in sensitive motherhood and why parenting can intensify it so much.

They explore how anxiety often lives in the body, not just the mind, and how it can look like hypervigilance, overthinking, people pleasing, perfectionism, difficulty resting, and feeling responsible for everyone else’s emotions. They also talk about how overstimulation, lack of solitude, and constant emotional attunement to kids can keep sensitive moms stuck in survival mode.

This episode goes beyond awareness and into support. Adrienne and Leah share practical, nervous-system-based tools to help regulate anxiety, including grounding, breathing, co-regulation, somatic practices, temperature regulation, tapping (EFT), and hypnosis techniques designed to interrupt anxious patterns and create new neural pathways.

You’ll also hear a live hypnosis example that shows how anxiety can shift when you work with the body instead of against it.

DOWNLOAD the FREE Hypnosis tools Cheat Sheet here!

We love to hear feedback about the show! Send us a text!

📲 Share this episode with another sensitive parent

🌐 Visit www.adriennebishopcoaching.com or risingsuntherapy.com for more support.

*DISCLAIMER: This podcast is for educational purposes only. It is not to be used for therapeutic or medical advice.