Securely Attached

If you have a toddler you're likely no stranger to tantrums, aggressive behaviors or limit testing. Joining me on the podcast is clinical psychologist and founder of Parenting Translator, Cara Goodwin. Today's episode is all about helping you understand what is happening in your child's brain and body when they become upset, so we can work with their nervous system to help them learn to regulate their big emotions. I want to hear from you! Send me a topic you want me to cover or a question you want answered on the show! ✨ DM me on Instagram at @securelyattachedpodcast or @drsarahbren ✨ Send an email to [email protected] ✨ And check out drsarahbren.com for more parenting resources

As parents, we often strive to encourage a strong foundational relationship between our child and music. Whether placing headphones on your pregnant belly, attending music class with your toddler, or getting Baby Shark stuck in your head after playing it on repeat - we want to encourage their love of music, while also allowing it to be child lead. Joining me today is musician and father of 3, Mark Joseph. Mark and I will discuss the ways we can authentically create opportunities for music in our homes and how to allow our child's intrinsic motivations to drive the relationship. Mark also shares his own personal experience of finding resilience, self-actualization, and never losing his love of music. I want to hear from you! Send me a topic you want me to cover or a question you want answered on the show! ✨ DM me on Instagram at @securelyattachedpodcast or @drsarahbren ✨ Send an email to [email protected] ✨ And check out drsarahbren.com for more parenting resources

Parents often worry, will my child attach to me? And the answer is almost always - yes! Attachment is less about whether or not a child will form a bond with their primary caregiver, and is more focused on the quality of that relationship and how secure it is. Today, I am joined by the author of Strange Situation: A Mother's Journey into the Science of Attachment, Bethany Saltman. Bethany will break down what attachment is and more importantly what it isn't, discuss the importance of cultivating delight, breaking cycles and offer suggestions for allowing attachment theory to help inform the choices parents make in raising their children. I want to hear from you! Send me a topic you want me to cover or a question you want answered on the show! ✨ DM me on Instagram at @securelyattachedpodcast or @drsarahbren ✨ Send an email to [email protected] ✨ And check out drsarahbren.com for more parenting resources

Parents are redefining what it means to be a working mom or dad and embracing what today's guest, Neha Ruch, calls the grey area. As the founder of Mother Untitled she has a unique pulse on the mindset and challenges that modern mothers are facing when deciding to hit pause on career to focus on family life. In this episode we'll discuss tuning into your own needs to determine what works best for right now and recognizing there will be time to readjust as you and your family grow and evolve. We'll offer advice for navigating identify shifts, redefining self-care, and learning to feel confident fielding the all-too-common and all-too-intrusive question, what do you do all day? I want to hear from you! Send me a topic you want me to cover or a question you want answered on the show! ✨ DM me on Instagram at @securelyattachedpodcast or @drsarahbren ✨ Send an email to [email protected] ✨ And check out drsarahbren.com for more parenting resources

Masks can cause a great deal of stress for parents - it's one more thing to remember before getting out the door in the morning, can be a source of power struggles, and perhaps the most daunting, the fear that months spent without seeing full faces will impede their child's development. Today I am joined by speech-language pathologist and founder of Let's Gab Speech, Becky Birkenfeld. Becky will answer all our burning questions about mask wearing and suggest some actionable and simple strategies parents can start implementing to encourage social, emotional and language development with their child. I want to hear from you! Send me a topic you want me to cover or a question you want answered on the show! ✨ DM me on Instagram at @securelyattachedpodcast or @drsarahbren ✨ Send an email to [email protected] ✨ And check out drsarahbren.com for more parenting resources

Sibling dynamics can be complicated! And the way we parent the interactions between brothers and sisters often looks different than how we would handle the same situations in a playdate, daycare or school setting. In today's episode, I am joined by Dr. Emily Upshur and we'll help one mom who asks for advice on how to understand and respond to her kids when they're fighting. We'll offer mindset and behavioral shifts you yourself can make, break down the psychology of sharing, and help you set appropriate developmental expectations of your children. Plus, we'll help you reframe the situation to turn these tough moments into opportunities to help your children hone their empathy skills. I want to hear from you! Send me a topic you want me to cover or a question you want answered on the show! ✨ DM me on Instagram at @securelyattachedpodcast or @drsarahbren ✨ Send an email to [email protected] ✨ And check out drsarahbren.com for more parenting resources

Parents often feel they need to be perfectly aligned with their partner in their parenting approach. While it is true that sharing the same overall values and standards do help, allowing your partner to parent in a way that feels most authentic to them can actually make for a healthy and diverse experience for children. And both relationships, while different, can still create secure attachment bonds. Today I am welcoming my husband Danny to the podcast. We'll share the lessons we learned ourselves, so you don't repeat our mistakes. And also offer you tools we used that helped us to get on the same parenting page. I want to hear from you! Send me a topic you want me to cover or a question you want answered on the show! ✨ DM me on Instagram at @securelyattachedpodcast or @drsarahbren ✨ Send an email to [email protected] ✨ And check out drsarahbren.com for more parenting resources

If you've ever asked, "is it bad my baby naps less than my friends' kids?" "is it too late to break the poor sleep habits I created?" or the all too common "am I doing this right?," this sleep episode is for you! Along with my guest, infant and child sleep consultant and owner of Lolo Lullaby, Lauren Wolf, we'll be busting parents' biggest sleep myths. Whether it's navigating power struggles, setting proper developmental expectations, making mindset shifts, or learning to find what works best for you and your unique child and family - by the end of this episode you'll walk away with some concrete strategies you can implement to help sleep time turn from stressful to restful. I want to hear from you! Send me a topic you want me to cover or a question you want answered on the show! ✨ DM me on Instagram at @securelyattachedpodcast or @drsarahbren ✨ Send an email to [email protected] ✨ And check out drsarahbren.com for more parenting resources

You don't need to be Ferris Bueller to realize that time moves pretty fast these days. And for parents, that can lead to feelings of stress, exhaustion and burnout. In this episode, I'll walk you through 5 actionable steps you can start taking today to get more time back into your days and weeks. And then, once you've found these extra minutes or even hours, I'll help you take stock of what matters most. So you can be intentionally spending this newfound freedom on things that fill up your tank and allow you to show up as the best version of yourself - for you and for your entire family. I want to hear from you! Send me a topic you want me to cover or a question you want answered on the show! ✨ DM me on Instagram at @securelyattachedpodcast or @drsarahbren ✨ Send an email to [email protected] ✨ And check out drsarahbren.com for more parenting resources

The postpartum period presents new parents with a massive identity shift and an overwhelming flood of sudden changes. It's important we talk about this and acknowledge that having a newborn is hard. While about 20% of mothers experience a PMAD, there is also a lesser talked about, yet still common situation that can occur. 1 in 10 new fathers or non-birthing partners experience some form of perinatal mood and anxiety disorder within the first year after the birth of their child. In this episode, Dr. Emily Upshur and I will dispel the myth that PMADs only affect mothers, the importance of preparing for this possibility ahead of time, and what you can do to support you partner (mom or dad) if you think they need help. I want to hear from you! Send me a topic you want me to cover or a question you want answered on the show! ✨ DM me on Instagram at @securelyattachedpodcast or @drsarahbren ✨ Send an email to [email protected] ✨ And check out drsarahbren.com for more parenting resources

Millennial moms and dads have a lot of their plates. As the first generation to become parents in this advanced digital age, we're especially hard-hit by the mom-guilt, constant comparisons, and access to an overwhelming (and unvetted) amount of information. Many of us were raised with punishments, sticker charts, and external rewards systems - so it's no wonder we now find ourselves looking outward for validation. In this episode, Marcella Kelson and I discuss ways millennial parents can turn inward, ways to build our confidence as parents, how to break cycles of generational trauma, and strategies for communicating our values to others (especially the baby boomers) in our lives. I want to hear from you! Send me a topic you want me to cover or a question you want answered on the show! ✨ DM me on Instagram at @securelyattachedpodcast or @drsarahbren ✨ Send an email to [email protected] ✨ And check out drsarahbren.com for more parenting resources

Perinatal mood and anxiety disorders effect about 20% of women. It's important we prepare parents-to-be for the possibility that they may experience this, and the symptoms to look out for. In this episode, I'll be discussing the different forms of PMADs - postpartum depression, postpartum anxiety, postpartum bipolar disorder and postpartum psychosis, and a few others. I'll also share who is most at risk for developing these during and after pregnancy and what you can do if you or someone you love is experiencing any of these symptoms. I want to hear from you! Send me a topic you want me to cover or a question you want answered on the show! ✨ DM me on Instagram at @securelyattachedpodcast or @drsarahbren ✨ Send an email to [email protected] ✨ And check out drsarahbren.com for more parenting resources

In this episode I am joined by professional chef and father to biological, adopted and foster children, Chef Kibby. You'll hear how he uses the kitchen to help his children learn to trust and work through their trauma. And we'll walk you through what goes on in your child's brain when they engage in these activities. All parents can use the 3 step process we'll discuss to help you connect with your own children, regardless of whether they've experienced trauma or are just looking for a fun way to connect with you. Getting your kids cooking and sharing meals together provides you with a wonderful opportunity to strengthen and deepen your parent-child relationship. I want to hear from you! Send me a topic you want me to cover or a question you want answered on the show! ✨ DM me on Instagram at @securelyattachedpodcast or @drsarahbren ✨ Send an email to [email protected] ✨ And check out drsarahbren.com for more parenting resources

Warning: This episode includes discussions on childhood sexual assault and may be triggering for some listeners. It falls on us as parents to push through our own discomfort to engage in conversations that allow us to learn and understand the best ways to protect our children and keep them safe. In this episode, I am joined by Feather Berkower to discuss ways you can arm yourself and your children with tools to prevent sexual abuse. We'll talk about preventative measures, the conversations we should be having with the caregivers in our children's lives, the language we should use when teaching body safety to our children and fostering their sense of body autonomy, some signs to look out for and resources where you can go to seek help. I want to hear from you! Send me a topic you want me to cover or a question you want answered on the show! ✨ DM me on Instagram at @securelyattachedpodcast or @drsarahbren ✨ Send an email to [email protected] ✨ And check out drsarahbren.com for more parenting resources

When parents have a picky eater on their hands it's easy for them to unwittingly enter into a dance with their child that can lead to them becoming more and more resistant to foods as parents grow more and more frustrated during mealtimes. If you've been stuck in this dynamic with your own child, don't worry, there is a way out of this vicious cycle. In this episode, I'm joined by Rebecca Taskin, a trained feeding therapist and licensed speech and language pathologist. We'll discuss techniques you can use to start gently stretching your child out of their food comfort zone and mindset shifts for you to make that will allow you to remove some of that pressure during mealtimes. We'll also talk about the signs to look out for if you think your child might have a more serious feeding issue and when to seek clinical help if you're worried their food struggles may be more than picky eating and could be a feeding disorder. I want to hear from you! Send me a topic you want me to cover or a question you want answered on the show! ✨ DM me on Instagram at @securelyattachedpodcast or @drsarahbren ✨ Send an email to [email protected] ✨ And check out drsarahbren.com for more parenting resources

Favoring one parent over the other is a very common and developmentally normal phase for children. In this episode, Dr. Emily Upshur and I help a mom who is struggling with this issue. We discuss identifying which battles to pick, techniques she can use to help her child grow comfortable with Dad doing more, and how to handle this often highly emotional situation while being sensitive to the feelings of all the parties involved - Mom, Dad and child. If you're managing similar struggles in with your child, this episode is sure to help! Once you've come up with a plan and put these actionable steps into practice you'll slowly see your child's inflexibilities begin to shift as he becomes more comfortable and trusts in the new normal. I want to hear from you! Send me a topic you want me to cover or a question you want answered on the show! ✨ DM me on Instagram at @securelyattachedpodcast or @drsarahbren ✨ Send an email to [email protected] ✨ And check out drsarahbren.com for more parenting resources

When it comes to helping our children with sleeping, the goal is to make them feel confident and capable of independently falling asleep and then falling back asleep if they wake up in the middle of the night. Sounds simple enough, but how do we as parents help our children build that skillset? In this episode, my guest Eileen Henry and I will review many of these factors. We'll discuss regulation techniques, how to create an ideal sleep environment - both physically and emotionally - and how to identify when your child is suffering and needs you to step in versus when they are struggling and you can help guide them without fixing the problem for them. I want to hear from you! Send me a topic you want me to cover or a question you want answered on the show! ✨ DM me on Instagram at @securelyattachedpodcast or @drsarahbren ✨ Send an email to [email protected] ✨ And check out drsarahbren.com for more parenting resources

What do I do when my partner and I are not on the same page with our parenting values, how do we raise our kids, how can we address behavioral issues? In this episode, I'll be tackling all those questions and helping you and your partner work as a team to create a united front. I'll cover when and how to have conversations together (sneak peak: it's the same advice I give parents about when to communicate with their child too). How to determine and define the values that are important to you, both individually and as a team. And how to create a family game plan, so everyone is one the same page on how these values will be carried out. This will be constantly evolving as your children grow, so it's important to schedule regular check ins to discuss what's working and what's not working in a way that makes you both feel seen, heard and valued. I want to hear from you! Send me a topic you want me to cover or a question you want answered on the show! ✨ DM me on Instagram at @securelyattachedpodcast or @drsarahbren ✨ Send an email to [email protected] ✨ And check out drsarahbren.com for more parenting resources

Young children often need our help to get their bodies and minds back into a regulated state after they've lost their cool. One of the most effective tools parents can use to do this is to coregulate with their child. Start by making sure you're regulated yourself, then become a solid and grounding presence, and continue holding firm to the limits you've set. In this episode, I am joined by Dana Rosenbloom of Dana's Kids and together she and I cover exactly how parents can follow this process to help their child transition back into a calm and regulated frame of mind. Eventually, the goal is for your child to be able to internalize the skills you've taught them through coregulating with them and, after a bit of practice and patience, they will begin to have the ability to soothe themselves independently. I want to hear from you! Send me a topic you want me to cover or a question you want answered on the show! ✨ DM me on Instagram at @securelyattachedpodcast or @drsarahbren ✨ Send an email to [email protected] ✨ And check out drsarahbren.com for more parenting resources

I'm joined by Deborah Carlisle Solomon and together we'll discuss 3 easy to implement and actionable steps parents can start taking today to strengthen trust and cooperation in their parent-child relationships - and the best part is that you can add them right into the routines you've already established! I want to hear from you! Send me a topic you want me to cover or a question you want answered on the show! ✨ DM me on Instagram at @securelyattachedpodcast or @drsarahbren ✨Send an email to [email protected] ✨ And check out drsarahbren.com for more parenting resources

Dr. Sarah and Dr. Emily respond to a mom who is asking for help figuring out what to do when her child says "I hate you!" or uses hurtful language. I want to hear from you! Send me a topic you want me to cover or a question you want answered on the show! ✨ DM me on Instagram at @securelyattachedpodcast or @drsarahbren ✨Send an email to [email protected] ✨ And check out drsarahbren.com for more parenting resources

Jennie Monness, creator of @momommies and co-founder of Union Square Play and I discuss what exactly the function of play is (spoiler alert - it's more than you might imagine), why play is so important for healthy development, and how to create a safe and enriching environment for your child. I want to hear from you! Send me a topic you want me to cover or a question you want answered on the show! ✨ DM me on Instagram at @securelyattachedpodcast or @drsarahbren ✨Send an email to [email protected] ✨ And check out drsarahbren.com for more parenting resources

In my deep dive on the topic of attachment theory I'll review the nuts and bolts of exactly what it is and why secure attachment bonds are so essential to the formation of personality and predictive of all kinds of positive mental health outcomes. I want to hear from you! Send me a topic you want me to cover or a question you want answered on the show! ✨ DM me on Instagram at @securelyattachedpodcast or @drsarahbren ✨Send an email to [email protected] ✨ And check out drsarahbren.com for more parenting resources

In this episode I'll tell you a bit more about myself and my journey to create this podcast. I'll talk about how and why I pivoted my clinical work from adults with trauma histories to parenting. And I'll share my passion for helping parents understand the building blocks of child development and how to harness the power of the parent-child relationship so they can calmly and confidently respond to any problem that arises, feel more in sync with their child, and truly enjoy parenting!⁠⁠ I want to hear from you! Send me a topic you want me to cover or a question you want answered on the show! ✨ DM me on Instagram at @securelyattachedpodcast or @drsarahbren ✨Send an email to [email protected] ✨ And check out drsarahbren.com for more parenting resources

Parenthood is a messy, chaotic, wild ride - and guess what, that's okay! I'm Dr. Sarah Bren, a clinical psychologist and mom of two. I've built a career dedicated to helping families find deep connections, build healthy relationships, repair attachment wounds, kick the guilt, and raise kids who are healthy, secure, resilient, and kind. In this podcast, I've taken all of my clinical experience, current research on brain science and child psychology, and the insights I've gained on my own parenting journey, and distilled everything down into easy to understand and actionable parenting insights. Consider this your one stop shop for psychologically informed, research based information about parenting, child development, and the fundamentals of fostering secure attachment relationships with our kids. My goal is to help you to understand the building blocks of children's social, emotional, and cognitive development so you can tune out the noise, stop googling, and tune into your own authentic parenting voice with the confidence to respond to any situation parenting throws at you. So go ahead and reheat that coffee for the 3rd time today, take a few deep breaths, hit subscribe, and join me every Tuesday here on Securely Attached.