Parenting Your Sensitive Child Julia McGarey

This isn’t a typical podcast, but then, this hasn’t been a typical month for us.
I took an unplanned break from recording new episodes, and I want to take the time today to share a little bit about what’s been going on for us and why a break was necessary.
Going forward, I will publish occasional podcast episodes, but they definitely won’t be weekly. Make sure you are subscribed to the podcast and receiving notifications for new episodes so you don’t miss out when I do release one.
You can also stay connected by subscribing to the Lifeline, my weekly-ish email list. You can do that here.
I mentioned in the episode that we recently signed my daughter up for tapouts. Tapouts offers weekly group coaching sessions for kids at a very reasonable price. If you’re interested in exploring this option for your child, you can sign up for a free consult here AND get 50% off your first month. It is an affiliate link, so if you use it we both win - you get 50% off, and I get a referral bonus.
Finally, even though I won’t be podcasting as often, I will still be coaching. You can schedule your free consultation (and learn more about my tiered pricing options) right here. If you’re even remotely considering it, I’d encourage you to get the process started as soon as possible. With my renewed homeschooling commitments, I am very close to fully booked and needing to start a waitlist.


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit partneredpathparenting.substack.com

In the spirit of reflection, I want to offer you my own reflections, my own lessons learned over the past year of life with my almost nine year old daughter.
We’ve had a lot of ups and downs this year. Our biggest challenges, in retrospect, have been breaking through negativity bias and navigating evolving friendships. Both of these things have created a lot of stress in our lives and have led to a lot of resistance and a big attachment to personal time. So, without diving too deep into any of the details, here are some of my takeaways from this season of our life.
As I mentioned in the episode, my calendar is once again open for consultations. Here's the link to my website: https://juliamcgarey.com/#work


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit partneredpathparenting.substack.com

I want to close out 2023 with a question for you to think about.
This is especially pertinent if you were sent to your room a lot as a child or you’ve been immersed in time-out culture as a parent.
The question is this: When your child is upset and pushing you away, or attacking you, or running away from you, what if what they (and probably you) think they need isn’t what they actually need?
In other words, many parents believe that their kids need space to calm down.
Many kids “show us” that they need space to calm down - or that they think they do - by removing themselves from the rest of the group.
What if this is a pattern built on a false belief system?
What if what they actually need is for us to follow them and engage in our own self-regulating practice nearby?
What if we are mis-interpreting the need for a pause as the need for space, for alone time?
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Ready to explore coaching together in 2024? Get on the waitlist here: https://www.waitlistr.com/lists/586ee643/january-consultations


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit partneredpathparenting.substack.com

I'm publishing this episode a little bit later than I usually do because LIFE, but it's a fun one so here we are. I shared this as an Instagram post a few days ago, but as I'm sure you know, posts fade away much more quickly than podcasts, and I want these reflections to live on in a semi-permanent way.
I don't know if you know this, but I used to teach kids yoga. I taught for several years before my daughter was born, and it's something that I think had a bigger impact on my own journey and how I parent than almost anything else that I've done. So, here are four surprise lessons I learned from teaching kids yoga.
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I’m going to be very direct this week and invite you to schedule a free consultation with me within the next week.
I'm going to block my schedule for the whole of our winter break because that's what's working best for my family right now, so even if you're thinking out into January, I want to encourage you to get started now.
There's no risk, no pressure, just an hour together to talk about you, what you're needing support with, and see if coaching together would be a good fit. I love working one on one with parents because together we create such a personalized path forward.
So, come see what it's all about. Head over to juliamcgarey.com and click on coaching to get started. I can't wait to meet you.


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit partneredpathparenting.substack.com

In the last episode, I shared some ideas for how you can regulate yourself when your child is feeling angry. If you’re regulated, you can respond calmly and help them through it rather than getting tangled up in their anger and prolonging their experience.
But this just helps them manage. This week, we’re talking about how you can help them with whatever is causing their anger. More specifically, we’re talking about how you can figure out what that root cause is.
This is detective work. You have to get curious and come up with a number of possibilities, because odds are your child isn’t going to be able to articulate why they are getting so angry, and even if they are, they probably don’t have a good sense of what the root cause is.
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If you are struggling to parent your highly sensitive child, one on one coaching may be just the answer you've been looking for. I work with my clients weekly for a period of at least six months to help them better understand their child's big emotions and challenging behaviors AND understand and shift their own heat-of-the-moment reactions to their child's emotions and behaviors so that they can show up the way they want to: calm, connected, present.
If you feel like you've tried everything and nothing's worked, let's talk.
Our work together starts with a free consultation. Head to https://juliamcgarey.com for more info.



This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit partneredpathparenting.substack.com

As we know, highly sensitive kids feel things deeply. When they’re excited, everyone around them knows it. They bubble over with excitement! Their joy is contagious. But when they are sad, they’re overcome with sorrow. If something is stressful for them, it’s completely overwhelming.
Anger, like any other emotion, is also felt in a big way. So if you have a kid who you think is highly sensitive and they get angry in a big way, this episode is for you. We’re going to talk about a couple of things you can do to help moderate your own response to their anger, and we’ll look at how we can help them in more detail next week (in part 2).
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If you are struggling to parent your highly sensitive child, one on one coaching may be just the answer you've been looking for. I work with my clients weekly for a period of at least six months to help them better understand their child's big emotions and challenging behaviors AND understand and shift their own heat-of-the-moment reactions to their child's emotions and behaviors so that they can show up the way they want to: calm, connected, present.
If you feel like you've tried everything and nothing's worked, let's talk.
Our work together starts with a free consultation. Head to https://juliamcgarey.com for more info.


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit partneredpathparenting.substack.com