Show Notes
This is a deeply personal episode. I am in the guest seat to share my transformation from high-demand, perfectionist parenting to the radical practice of Low Demand Parenting. Interviewed by my dear friend Rabbi Shoshana Meira Friedman, I open up about the turning point in my parenting journey, how the collapse of old paradigms gave way to deep healing, and why letting go isn’t failure—it’s freedom. Together, we explore the spiritual depth of radical acceptance, the impact of privilege on parenting choices, and why practicing low demand is never all-or-nothing. This episode is a love letter to the part of you that’s wondering if it’s okay to stop trying so hard.
Rabbi Shoshana Meira Friedman: https://www.rabbishoshana.com
The PDA Safe Circle is a new app, course, and welcoming online community designed to decrease distress and increase thriving for PDAers and our loved ones. Diane Gould of PDA North America calls The PDA Safe Circle Approach “a game changer.” No waitlist. Membership rates are equity-based and no one is turned away for financial reasons.
Ross Greene and the Collaborative & Proactive Solutions model: https://livesinthebalance.org
Misophonia information: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/24460-misophonia
More from Low Demand Parenting
In Part 2 of my conversation with Dr. Katherine Olson, we deep dive into PDA and why so many of the strategies we're told to use can backfire for PDA kids. We talk about autonomy, neuroception, connection, and the invisible energy underneath our words—and why relationship is probably the most powerful intervention we have.
In this first part of a deep dive into PDA from a professional's lens, I’m talking with Dr. Katherine Olson, a clinical psychologist with extensive training in autism, early childhood intervention, and neurodevelopment. But Katie is also a parent who had to completely rethink what she thought she knew clinically, when her own child didn't fit the frameworks she'd been trained to use. Next week we'll talk more about the definition of PDA itself and why so many common parenting strategies fail so spectacularly for PDAers.
Listen in as I talk with somatic coach and artist Jo Kelly about what happens when we practice truly trusting our children (and ourselves) for the long haul. Jo shares her experience stepping away from traditional schooling and choosing a radically child-led educational path for her children, who are now young adults, including what she learned about feeling our feelings, self-trust, curiosity, and the ways children flourish when we release the expectation of conformity. We talk about how conditioning teaches us to disconnect from our own bodies and feelings, why so many of us struggle to trust our instincts as parents, and what it can look like to create a life where our children are allowed to follow their interests, honor their needs, advocate for themselves, and become who they already are. What if our work isn't to fix or heal our children, but to stop interrupting the incredible humans they already are?
Esther Jones is a long-time unschooling parent who joins me to talk about how kids learn, how we can support learning, and what it looks like to truly trust our kids in their own educational journey. A rich conversation for people regardless of your schooling approach, Esther embodies a conviction that learning is our kids' native state, and that all we have to create a open, trusting, collaborative space, and they will learn in abundance!