Advertise on podcast: Parenting in the Trenches with Karen Peters

Dr. Chuck Geddes is back and we're diving deeper into healing strategies parents and professional supports can use with children and youth who have experienced complex trauma. We're talking about understanding and working with your kid's "stress staircase" in ways that contribute to long term healing.

Expecting women with male partners - get ready to forward this episode to your baby daddies! We're talking with Dr. Dan Singley - expert in new parenting, fatherhood, practical supportive partnering, and oh, so much more. In much of our western culture, men are typically underprepared for caring for newborns, for supporting their partners during this stage of family life, and for recognizing what's needed. Do Not Miss This Episode. It's a doosie!

We're talking with sleep consultant, Johanna Snyder, all about managing sleep concerns and transitions during those early years of parenting. What are our expectations of ourselves and our infants around sleep? When our rapidly developing infants shift schedules, how to we adapt as parents? How do you go on with "normal life" when you're completely sleep deprived?! Let's talk about it.

Join Dr. Veronica Eyo and I as we wade through boundary setting, relationship health and self care as you grow your family. The stress load of new or seasoned parenting from pregnancy through to your kids' toddler years is significant and a massive pivot point in your life on so many levels. Let's talk about it.

We're talking with RMT and Athletic Therapist, Candice Thomas about perinatal mental health, how to be true parenting partners, and ways in which we can close the gaps in our systems of care for expecting and new parents.

When someone has lived through unsafe situations or been vulnerable in unsafe relationships, our protective instincts kick in in the form of the "4Fs" - Fight, Flight, Freeze & Fawn. Most of us are familiar with the first 3, but know little about the "fawning" response. Today I walk through its function, how it shows up, and ways you can help kids feel safe enough to shift from using this protective mechanism when its no longer needed.

If you are adopting or fostering, you'll have grappled with questions around risk factors, medical concerns, and understanding the impacts of in utero trauma and prenatal substance exposure on a child's development and what supports will be required to parent well. Join adoption medicine expert and certified Pediatrician, Dr. Julia Bledsoe and I for a conversation about these questions and more.

Lydia Faye, who created Becoming Lydia Faye and Adoptee to Adoption Worker platforms for educating white parents of black children and for adoptees to find safe spaces for mentorship, exploration and connection, is talking with us about transracial adoption. We discuss the trauma and losses inherent in being a transracial adoptee and the awareness white parents need to have when raising black children.

Renae is back to show us P.A.C.E. in action! This bonus episode is in follow up to our conversation in S11E5 where we cover this model of parenting in the wake of kids having experienced developmental or relational trauma. If you want to know what it sounds and looks like to put Dr. Hughes' approach into motion with your kids, have a listen.

Renae Regehr is a parent both biologically and through adoption and works as a therapist to support families who are healing from attachment ruptures and relationship trauma. Today she shares the principles of Dr. Daniel Hughes' P.A.C.E. approach to helping kids heal emotionally, developmentally and relationally when they've come through hard situations and need to experience safety, security and attunement. Watch for a follow up bonus episode where we put this model into action, sharing scenarios and role playing what it would look like to implement this approach.

Natalie's podcast, book, website and advocacy work flows out of her personal passion for strong support of those living with the effects of in utero exposure to alcohol. We talk about her family's journey, her work to increase awareness and supports in the US, and what she's learned about parenting a child (now 20 years old!) with FASD who recently ventured out of the family home to live in an "interdependent" arrangement with close friends. You'll hear about FASD Hope, and the possibilities that come with parenting someone with FASD.

Attachment trauma. It's a massive topic, but we've braving it today with my guest, Dr. Lark Eshleman. If you are parenting a child who has experienced a significant disruption in their attachment relationships, who struggle to relearn to feel safe and secure, we want to wrap ourselves in learning on this topic to help you see your child through their healing journey.