355: Why Starting Over Is a Parenting Superpower, with Wendy Snyder

About this episode

The episode discusses the power of starting over in parenting, especially for those raising neurodivergent children, featuring insights from Wendy Snyder on responsive parenting and healing from past patterns.

Starting over in parenting is not a sign that you failed. It is one of the bravest, most powerful choices you can make. In this conversation, I’m talking with Wendy Snyder about why fresh starts matter so much, especially when we’re raising neurodivergent kids and kids with strong wills, big feelings, and nervous systems that experience the world differently. We dig into what it really means to begin again after hard moments, reactive moments, or years of patterns that no longer feel aligned with who we want to be as parents. Wendy shares so honestly about her own journey from reactive parenting to more responsive, connected parenting, including the deep work of untangling inherited beliefs, healing triggers, and learning how to stop repeating what was handed down to us. We talk about the relief of knowing that when we know better, we can do better, while also acknowledging that knowing better is not always enough when our nervous system is still in survival mode. This episode is full of compassion for parents who feel stuck in shame, who are trying to unlearn punishment-based parenting, and who want to create more safety, trust, and connection at home. We also talk about…

People in this episode

Host: Penny Williams

Guest: Wendy Snyder

Topics covered

• parenting
• neurodivergent kids
• emotional literacy
• responsive parenting
• healing
• co-regulation

Keywords

• starting over
• parenting superpower
• neurodivergent
• reactive parenting
• emotional safety
• trust
• connection

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