Neha Ruch is sharing strategies for embracing flexibility as you balance, shift, and grow in both your career and parenthood.

In this episode we explore:

- How to redefine what “career” means to you at this stage of life and navigate the evolving roles of being a working or stay-at-home parent.

- Why downshifting your career can be a valuable smaller step if you're not ready to take a full pause.

- Preparing for this transition to feel less overwhelming—emotionally, financially, and in terms of your shifting identity.

- Supporting women in feeling validated and respected in their choices to dial up or down in their careers.

- How motherhood can be a time to foster creativity and the importance of staying connected to what brings you joy—whether it's for work or personal fulfillment.

- A good first step for moms who don’t know where to begin in making this shift.

- What a “family administration” meeting is and how to evaluate what’s working and what’s not—giving yourself permission to let go of what isn’t serving you.

Don't miss this episode that will help you redefine what career means to you!

LEARN MORE ABOUT NEHA:

https://www.motheruntitled.com/

READ NEHA'S NEW BOOK:

📚 The Power Pause: How to Plan a Career Break After Kids--and Come Back Stronger Than Ever

ADDITIONAL REFERENCES AND RESOURCES:

🎧 Listen to Neha's first Securely Attached episode, Redefining what it means to be a stay-at-home parent with Neha Ruch

📱 I sang my sister’s praise in this episode! Check out @mychicnest to follow along with her interior design account.

CHECK OUT ADDITIONAL PODCAST EPISODES YOU MAY LIKE:

🎧 Going back to work after baby: Maintaining a healthy and secure attachment bond Q&A with Dr. Emily Upshur

🎧 Turning parenthood into a career asset for working moms and dads with The Fifth Trimester’s Lauren Smith Brody

🎧 What it means to be a working parent today: Challenging parental guilt, managing your time, and setting effective boundaries with Daisy Dowling

Beyond the Sessions is answering YOUR parenting questions! In this episode, Dr. Emily Upshur and I talk about...

- Unpacking your own feelings about swearing (or any undesirable behaviors) your child is engaging in.

- How to teach your child to attune to their environment and know when and where certain behaviors are appropriate and when and where they are not.

- Zooming out to identify what your child’s intention is when they are swearing (to test boundaries, in anger, in silly moments, etc.) to help you know how to respond.

- When and how to use strategies that have the greatest likelihood of getting this behavior to stop.

- A playful script that can defuse the tension and keep you from feeling triggered.

- The big differences to the approaches you may want to try based on who is the recipient of inappropriate or hurtful language.

- How to get your children to disengage from each other’s negative behaviors, instead of being fueled by each other.

- How Dr. Sarah and Dr. Emily handle swearing in their own homes with their kids.

- The benefits of swearing that may surprise you.

REFERENCES AND RELATED RESOURCES:

• Swearing may be a sign of a higher intelligence

• Cursing can increase pain tolerance

ADDITIONAL PODCAST EPISODES YOU MAY LIKE:

🎧 Listen to my podcast episode about what to do when kids say they hate themselves

🎧 Listen to my podcast episode about what to do when kids say they hate you

🎧 Listen to my podcast episode about enforcing consequences that teach

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU:

Go to https://drsarahbren.com/question to send us a question or a topic you want to hear us answer on Securely Attached - Beyond the Sessions!

A deep dive on combating parental burnout to start off 2025 with more balance.

In this episode I dive deep into…

- Understanding what parental burnout actually is and how it is different from regular “stress” in parenthood?

- The pros and cons of the rise of the “Parenting Industrial Complex.”

- The output/input formula that will inevitably lead to depletion, and why parents of sensitive children are more susceptible to an imbalance in this equation.

- An exercise you can use to address (and flip!) your personal output/input equation to create more balance for yourself.

- Taking a Family-Systems approach to addressing and treating parental burnout.

- How parental burnout can impact the parent-child relationship, leading to more dysregulated behaviors from our kids, us losing our cool, and creating a self-perpetuating negative feedback loop.

- Why traditional self-care strategies don’t work for combatting parental burnout, and my recommendations for practical, realistic, and attainable strategies that actually do!

LEARN MORE ABOUT DR. SARAH BREN:

https://drsarahbren.com/

FOLLOW DR. SARAH ON INSTAGRAM:

@drsarahbren

ADDITIONAL REFERENCES AND RESOURCES:

• The Surgeon General Report: Parental Mental Health & Well-Being

• In one study, Parents whose children experienced anxiety or ADHD had two to four times higher risk of experiencing parental burnout (anxiety: OR, 2.54; ADHD: OR, 4.41) compared with those whose children had no anxiety or ADHD. [1]

• Addressing systemic problems with Raena Boston, Lauren Smith Brody, and Alexis Barad-Cutler

• Encouraging your child to engage in independent play

CHECK OUT ADDITIONAL PODCAST EPISODES YOU MAY LIKE:

🎧 Quit the never-ending to-do list: How to find balance in the home, at work, and in parenthood with Chelsi Jo

🎧 Is fun the antidote to burnout? How play could be the key to mental health and well-being with Dr. Mike Rucker