Send us Fan Mail

Hi Reflective Parents! As we jump into a new school year, I wanted to take some time to pause with you and reflect on how we can make this year feel a little less stressful and a lot more connected. This episode was inspired by a question from a mom that emailed me and I'm bringing in some unexpected inspiration — including a quote from a romance novel (Yours Truly) that  changed the way I think about how we relate to our kids.

I'm sharing three things I believe can make a real difference this year:

• Watch the expectations we place on our kids. It's okay to want your child to grow and push themselves but there's a difference between healthy goals and making them feel like they're constantly disappointing you. We'll talk about how to hold both.
• Slow down. Between homework, activities, and weekend plans, it's easy to feel like we're always reacting instead of connecting. I'll share small, doable ways to carve out real time with your family this year.
• Bring curiosity and learning into your home. Learning doesn't stop at the school doors. I'll walk you through how we use a "curiosity box" at home to keep that spark alive no matter how you school your kids.

If you're feeling the back-to-school hustle already, I hope this episode gives you a moment to breathe, reflect, and reconnect with what really matters this year. Happy reflections, my friends! See you inside our new book club!

Interested in joining our 8-week cohort? Apply below! Classes start October 12th.

https://form.typeform.com/to/F9qIbzPT?typeform-source=curiousneuron.com

Support the show

1. Join the Reflective Parent Book Club for only $9.99 for the year: https://reflectiveparentclub.circle.so/checkout/reflective-parenting-book-club
2. Watch my Tedx Talk on YouTube called The Over-Educated, Emotionally Underprepared Parent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDYJFY_9K9E&t=19s
3. Get your FREE emotional awareness training (comes with a poster, workbook and video):

https://tremendous-hustler-7333.kit.com/84371dc0b2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4iEbFRZ5QQ&t=12s

• Grab our course for $99, The Emotionally Aware Parent: https://curiousneuron.com/reflective-parent-club/
• Or email me to join the next 6-week training, to schedule a discovery call for a 1:1 consult for your and your family or to book some leadership training for your workplace [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Hi Reflective Parents, 

In today's episode, I share my honest thoughts about mental health care and honestly, they are not that positive. 

It's been feeling a little heavy these days with the Lindsay Clancy trial, a father that reached out who is struggle with depression and my own mental health from not having been in our home since January. 

I share my thought and as always, I share what I am doing to work through this hard season. 

Come reflect with me and if you want more of this, don't forget to join our Reflective Parenting Book Club below to join the conversation and reflections with other parents. 

Support the show

1. Join the Reflective Parent Book Club for only $9.99 for the year: https://reflectiveparentclub.circle.so/checkout/reflective-parenting-book-club
2. Watch my Tedx Talk on YouTube called The Over-Educated, Emotionally Underprepared Parent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDYJFY_9K9E&t=19s
3. Get your FREE emotional awareness training (comes with a poster, workbook and video):

https://tremendous-hustler-7333.kit.com/84371dc0b2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4iEbFRZ5QQ&t=12s

• Grab our course for $99, The Emotionally Aware Parent: https://curiousneuron.com/reflective-parent-club/
• Or email me to join the next 6-week training, to schedule a discovery call for a 1:1 consult for your and your family or to book some leadership training for your workplace [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

In this episode, I reflect on what it really means to teach children how to handle conflict. Drawing from my own experience coaching my seven- and nine-year-old sons through months of sibling conflict, I share practical ways to help children slow down, communicate their needs, listen to one another, and take responsibility for their part.

Here are the 3 reflections you can discuss with your kids after they had conflict:

• What could I have said or done differently to de-escalate this argument?
• Did I give the other person space to talk and explain themselves?
• What part of this conflict do I need to own? (ways I escalated the argument)

Don't miss my Tedx Talk!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDYJFY_9K9E&t=19s

Support the show

1. Join the Reflective Parent Book Club for only $9.99 for the year: https://reflectiveparentclub.circle.so/checkout/reflective-parenting-book-club
2. Watch my Tedx Talk on YouTube called The Over-Educated, Emotionally Underprepared Parent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDYJFY_9K9E&t=19s
3. Get your FREE emotional awareness training (comes with a poster, workbook and video):

https://tremendous-hustler-7333.kit.com/84371dc0b2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4iEbFRZ5QQ&t=12s

• Grab our course for $99, The Emotionally Aware Parent: https://curiousneuron.com/reflective-parent-club/
• Or email me to join the next 6-week training, to schedule a discovery call for a 1:1 consult for your and your family or to book some leadership training for your workplace [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

What if conflict isn't something we need to avoid—but something we need to learn how to do?

In this episode, I reflect on Brené Brown's idea of “rumbling” from Dare to Lead and what it can teach us about conflict at home. Instead of trying to win an argument, what if the goal was to unravel—to get curious, understand each other's perspectives, own our part, and work through the messy middle together?

I share personal reflections on how my own experiences shaped the way I used to show up in conflict, why taking a timeout can actually be an act of love, and how we can teach our children that conflict doesn't have to mean disconnection.

Because our kids don't need to see a home without conflict. They need to see what healthy conflict can look like.

A rumble is a discussion, conversation or a meeting defined by a commitment to lean into vulnerability, to stay curious and generous, to stick with the messy middle of problem identification and solving, to take a break and circle back when necessary, to be fearless and own your own parts and to listen with the same passion which we want to be heard. 

Support the show

1. Join the Reflective Parent Book Club for only $9.99 for the year: https://reflectiveparentclub.circle.so/checkout/reflective-parenting-book-club
2. Watch my Tedx Talk on YouTube called The Over-Educated, Emotionally Underprepared Parent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDYJFY_9K9E&t=19s
3. Get your FREE emotional awareness training (comes with a poster, workbook and video):

https://tremendous-hustler-7333.kit.com/84371dc0b2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4iEbFRZ5QQ&t=12s

• Grab our course for $99, The Emotionally Aware Parent: https://curiousneuron.com/reflective-parent-club/
• Or email me to join the next 6-week training, to schedule a discovery call for a 1:1 consult for your and your family or to book some leadership training for your workplace [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

In this episode, I reflect on Brené Brown’s Dare to Lead and what it means to bring the principles of daring leadership into parenting. I explore how courage, vulnerability, self-awareness, and connection show up in our homes and in the way we lead our children.

In this episode we reflect on:

• What it means to be a leader for our children and how parenting and leadership work overlap.
• The heart of daring leadership: courage, vulnerability, and “rumbling” with difficult conversations at home.
• How fear, self-awareness, and self-love shape the way we show up with our kids.
• Courage as contagious: modelling repair, honesty, and emotional growth so our children feel safe to do the same.

Ready to join our new book club? Come reflect with me (even if you don't have time to read, I will do it for you)

https://reflectiveparentclub.circle.so/checkout/reflective-parenting-book-club

Support the show

1. Join the Reflective Parent Book Club for only $9.99 for the year: https://reflectiveparentclub.circle.so/checkout/reflective-parenting-book-club
2. Watch my Tedx Talk on YouTube called The Over-Educated, Emotionally Underprepared Parent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDYJFY_9K9E&t=19s
3. Get your FREE emotional awareness training (comes with a poster, workbook and video):

https://tremendous-hustler-7333.kit.com/84371dc0b2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4iEbFRZ5QQ&t=12s

• Grab our course for $99, The Emotionally Aware Parent: https://curiousneuron.com/reflective-parent-club/
• Or email me to join the next 6-week training, to schedule a discovery call for a 1:1 consult for your and your family or to book some leadership training for your workplace [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

In this episode, I reflect on In Order to Live by Yeonmi Park and the deep questions it raised for me about freedom, identity, resilience, and what it means to think for ourselves. The book prompted powerful reflections on how we understand our own stories, how we support our children’s sense of self, and how freedom can feel both expansive and exhausting.

I also connect the book’s themes to parenting, especially around giving children room to explore who they are, make mistakes, ask questions, and develop their own identity. For parents, this episode is an invitation to pause and reflect on the mental load we carry, the freedoms we have, and the space we create for our children to become themselves.

Reflections for this week:

• What parts of your story have you kept private, and what might change if you shared them with the right person or community?
• In what ways are you helping your child build an identity that feels like their own?
• Are you giving your child enough freedom to make mistakes, get curious, and think for themselves?
• If someone asked you, “Who are you?” beyond your roles and titles, how would you answer?

See you inside our Book Club (it is only $10 for the entire year!)

Support the show

1. Join the Reflective Parent Book Club for only $9.99 for the year: https://reflectiveparentclub.circle.so/checkout/reflective-parenting-book-club
2. Watch my Tedx Talk on YouTube called The Over-Educated, Emotionally Underprepared Parent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDYJFY_9K9E&t=19s
3. Get your FREE emotional awareness training (comes with a poster, workbook and video):

https://tremendous-hustler-7333.kit.com/84371dc0b2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4iEbFRZ5QQ&t=12s

• Grab our course for $99, The Emotionally Aware Parent: https://curiousneuron.com/reflective-parent-club/
• Or email me to join the next 6-week training, to schedule a discovery call for a 1:1 consult for your and your family or to book some leadership training for your workplace [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

This week, I'm sharing six simple mantras from the book How to Love that made me stop, reflect, and think differently about the way I show up as a parent, partner, and person.

Together, we'll explore what it really means to be present, to recognize when someone we love is struggling, to ask for help when we're suffering, to notice the happy moments that are easy to overlook, and to remember that in conflict, two people can both be partly right.

These aren't parenting tips or book summaries. They're invitations to pause, reflect, and become more intentional in the way we connect with the people we love.

The six mantras we'll reflect on:

• I am here for you.
• I know you are there, and I am happy.
• I know you are suffering.
• I am suffering.
• This is a happy moment.
• You are partly right.

I hope this conversation gives you something to carry with you throughout the week.

Join our book club this week to discuss other books or to dig deeper on that last mantra "you are partly right". 

Support the show

1. Join the Reflective Parent Book Club for only $9.99 for the year: https://reflectiveparentclub.circle.so/checkout/reflective-parenting-book-club
2. Watch my Tedx Talk on YouTube called The Over-Educated, Emotionally Underprepared Parent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDYJFY_9K9E&t=19s
3. Get your FREE emotional awareness training (comes with a poster, workbook and video):

https://tremendous-hustler-7333.kit.com/84371dc0b2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4iEbFRZ5QQ&t=12s

• Grab our course for $99, The Emotionally Aware Parent: https://curiousneuron.com/reflective-parent-club/
• Or email me to join the next 6-week training, to schedule a discovery call for a 1:1 consult for your and your family or to book some leadership training for your workplace [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

What does Toy Story 5 have to do with raising emotionally healthy kids? 

Trigger warning: masturbation is mentioned in this episode.

 Much more than I expected. After watching the movie with my children, I found myself reflecting on something far bigger than screen time: the conversations we're not having about friendship, group chats, and cyberbullying. 

In this episode, I share the true story of a Grade 6 classroom that left me speechless, explore what research tells us about the long-term impact of cyberbullying, and offer three simple reflection questions you can use to start meaningful conversations with your own child. If we're going to hand our children devices, we also need to help them build the emotional skills to navigate the digital world.

Join our book club for only $9.99 for an entire year!
https://reflectiveparentclub.circle.so/checkout/reflective-parenting-podcast-book-club

Read my blog post about cyberbullying:

https://curiousneuron.com/2026/07/12/research-finds-that-cyberbullying-harms-kids-mental-health-over-time/

Read the scientific article I shared with you here:

Traditional bullying and cyberbullying in the digital age and its associated mental health problems in children and adolescents: a meta‐analysis

Support the show

1. Join the Reflective Parent Book Club for only $9.99 for the year: https://reflectiveparentclub.circle.so/checkout/reflective-parenting-book-club
2. Watch my Tedx Talk on YouTube called The Over-Educated, Emotionally Underprepared Parent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDYJFY_9K9E&t=19s
3. Get your FREE emotional awareness training (comes with a poster, workbook and video):

https://tremendous-hustler-7333.kit.com/84371dc0b2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4iEbFRZ5QQ&t=12s

• Grab our course for $99, The Emotionally Aware Parent: https://curiousneuron.com/reflective-parent-club/
• Or email me to join the next 6-week training, to schedule a discovery call for a 1:1 consult for your and your family or to book some leadership training for your workplace [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Why do so many parents feel like they don't have time to take care of themselves?

The answer isn't as simple as being busy.

This week, we're reflecting on a passage from the book How to Love by Thich Nhat Hanh and exploring why our own needs slowly disappear after becoming parents. I'll also share a simple reflection exercise that helped me reconnect with the things that brought me joy before having children—and why gratitude may be more powerful than we think.

In this episode, we reflect on:

• What brought me joy before I had children?
• How can I bring a small part of that back into my life?
• What moments of joy have I been overlooking?

Sometimes the goal isn't finding more time.

It's learning to notice what already helps us feel more like ourselves.

Don't forget to join our NEW BOOK CLUB!

https://curiousneuron.com/reflective-parent-club/

This week's resources:

1. This month's book: How to Love 
2. Article: The impact of gratitude on depression and anxiety: the mediating role of criticizing, attacking, and reassuring the self
3. Article: The efficacy of seven gratitude interventions for promoting subjective well-being

Related podcast episodes you might have missed:

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/reflective-parenting-podcast/id1440533170?i=1000771848174

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/reflective-parenting-podcast/id1440533170?i=1000720552759

Watch this episode on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/npYxwq3MT0Q

Support the show

1. Join the Reflective Parent Book Club for only $9.99 for the year: https://reflectiveparentclub.circle.so/checkout/reflective-parenting-book-club
2. Watch my Tedx Talk on YouTube called The Over-Educated, Emotionally Underprepared Parent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDYJFY_9K9E&t=19s
3. Get your FREE emotional awareness training (comes with a poster, workbook and video):

https://tremendous-hustler-7333.kit.com/84371dc0b2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4iEbFRZ5QQ&t=12s

• Grab our course for $99, The Emotionally Aware Parent: https://curiousneuron.com/reflective-parent-club/
• Or email me to join the next 6-week training, to schedule a discovery call for a 1:1 consult for your and your family or to book some leadership training for your workplace [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

When we hear the word radicalization, we often think, "That could never happen to my family." But what if radicalization begins with something much more human—a need to belong, to feel understood, or to make sense of emotional pain?

In this episode, I sit down with men's coach and former counterterrorism professional James Stamatelos to explore why some young people become vulnerable to extremist ideas, how social media can amplify that vulnerability, and what parents can do to build stronger protective relationships with their children.

In this episode, we discuss:

• What radicalization really is.
• Why belonging and emotional pain matter.
• How social media can influence young people.
• Why curiosity is often more powerful than confrontation.
• How connection can help protect our children.

Reflection Question:
If my child encountered harmful ideas online, would they feel safe enough to talk to me about them?

Book James mentioned:  How Minds Change: The Surprising Science of Belief, Opinion, and Persuasion (Amazon Canada)

Resources:

Violence Prevention Network

Diverting Hate

Life After Hate

Connect with James or learn more from him:

James J. Stamatelos is a professional coach and Certified Level 3 Internal Family Systems (IFS) practitioner who specializes in helping men overcome what he calls “anxious insecurity”—the persistent feeling of being chronically “not enough” despite external success.

Before transitioning into coaching, James worked in high-pressure environments as an intelligence analyst for the Region 13 Counter-Terrorism Task Force Fusion Center and as a specialist for the City of Pittsburgh Office of Emergency Management & Homeland Security. His background gives him a unique perspective on stress, identity, and psychological resilience.

Book a coaching with James

Support the show

1. Join the Reflective Parent Book Club for only $9.99 for the year: https://reflectiveparentclub.circle.so/checkout/reflective-parenting-book-club
2. Watch my Tedx Talk on YouTube called The Over-Educated, Emotionally Underprepared Parent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDYJFY_9K9E&t=19s
3. Get your FREE emotional awareness training (comes with a poster, workbook and video):

https://tremendous-hustler-7333.kit.com/84371dc0b2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4iEbFRZ5QQ&t=12s

• Grab our course for $99, The Emotionally Aware Parent: https://curiousneuron.com/reflective-parent-club/
• Or email me to join the next 6-week training, to schedule a discovery call for a 1:1 consult for your and your family or to book some leadership training for your workplace [email protected]