Power Your Parenting: Moms With Teens

What are things you tolerated in 2025 that you don't want to tolerate in 2026?

Today we are going to explore tolerations, messes, and irritations. You know the things that annoy you on a daily basis and steal your I feel good energy.

If I ask you the question what are you tolerating? What’s the first thing that comes to mind?

Maybe the first thing that comes to your mind is something about your teen, your boss, or your partner. In other words you are tolerating your relationships.

Or, maybe the first thing that you thought of is the color of your kitchen wall, all those piles of papers on the table, or the kitchen disposal that hasn’t worked in a year. You are tolerating things in your physical space.

Heres the thing. All of us tolerate things we shouldn't, instead of handling them. Every time we tolerate things instead of managing them they drain our energy. It steals our attention away from what we really want to do and what we want to achieve. And if we don’t handle these little things in life we can go into resignation. Like if I can’t handle these little irritations then I can’t have what I want and we feel this at a deep unconscious level.

This episode helps you become aware of what you're tolerating and gives you a plan to clean up your irritations and messes in your physical space and your relationships.
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What if grief isn’t something you “get over,” but something you learn to carry—without losing yourself in the process?

In this powerful conversation, Colleen O’Grady talks with grief expert and widowed mom Krista St. Germain about what grief really looks like—beyond the outdated “five stages” idea. Krista shares her personal story of losing her husband suddenly and what she learned the hard way: grief doesn’t end, it changes—and healing comes from integrating loss into your life with compassion, emotional safety, and realistic expectations. Together, they explore how grief shows up differently in families (including anger, shutdown, clinginess, and conflict), why time doesn’t “heal” on its own, and how parents can support grieving teens without forcing conversations or pressuring anyone to “be okay.”

Krista St. Germain is a Master Certified Life Coach, post-traumatic growth and grief expert, widow, mom, and host of the Widowed Mom Podcast. After her husband was killed in a crash caused by an impaired driver, Krista rebuilt her life using tools from life coaching, nervous system regulation, and modern grief science. She now coaches and teaches widows—and educates the broader public—so people can move forward without being harmed by outdated, isolating grief myths.


Grief isn’t a problem to solve—it’s an experience to understand.
When a teen becomes clingy, angry, or shuts down, start with: “How does this make sense?” Instead of pushing for words, offer steady presence, reassurance in the present, and emotional permission.


Healthy grieving includes both sorrow and restoration.
The Dual Process Model helps families stop judging themselves: you’ll naturally move between “loss-oriented” moments (crying, remembering, handling logistics) and “restoration” moments (laughing, hobbies, friends). Healing lives in the back-and-forth.


Watch for secondary losses—and name them.
Grief isn’t only the big loss. It’s also the “paper cuts” that keep coming: milestones, holidays, weddings, traditions, even taking something down in the house. Naming a moment as a secondary loss reduces shame and helps you respond with compassion instead of “What’s wrong with me?”


When your teen won’t talk but is acting different:
“I notice you’ve been wanting to stay close lately. That makes a lot of sense after what happened. You don’t have to talk about it, but I’m here—and we’ll get through this together.”


When anger shows up (yours or theirs):
“Something big is underneath this. We can take a pause. I’m not here to fight you—I’m here to understand what’s going on.”


When you feel guilty for laughing or having a good moment:
“This is the restorative bucket. I’m allowed to breathe. Grief and joy can exist in the same life.”

Learn More at: https://www.coachingwithkrista.com/

Follow at: https://www.instagram.com/lifecoachkrista/

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In this episode I interview Dr. Charles Sophy, author of FAMILY VALUES: Reset Trust, Boundaries, and Connection with Your Child . He is the medical director of the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services and a regular contributor on the Dr. Phil show. Dr. Sophy has helped all kinds of families break harmful patterns. Based on his wealth of experience as a psychiatrist and as a father, Dr. Sophy assures every parent: “No matter how complicated life gets or how off course your family dynamics become, it’s never too late to hit the reset button and move forward with confidence, love, and authenticity, with your family values leading the way.”

 For more information on Dr. Charles Sophy: ⁠https://drsophy.com/⁠.

Follow on Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/sophyonthestreet/
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Does your teen wake up in the middle of the night overwhelmed with worries they can’t shut off? Have you noticed that everything feels so much bigger for teens at 2:00 AM than it does in the light of day?

There’s been a surge in what experts are calling the “2 AM Spiral”—a late-night loop of overthinking fueled by screen time, academic pressure, social stress, and the natural sleep-cycle shift that happens during adolescence. In this episode, Colleen talks with therapist Kevin Logie about what’s really happening in teens’ brains during these late-night spirals, why sleep deprivation intensifies anxiety, depression, and irritability, and how parents can respond with more curiosity and less control. You’ll learn why this isn’t “teen drama,” how phones and lack of downtime play a major role, and practical, compassionate strategies to help teens regulate, reset, and sleep better—without turning bedtime into a nightly battle.

Kevin Logie is an associate therapist who brings creativity, warmth, and flexibility to his work with children, tweens, teens, and families. With a background in the arts and improv, Kevin blends narrative and person-centered therapy with evidence-based tools such as CBT, EMDR, ABA, and mindfulness practices. He specializes in helping clients rewrite unhealthy narratives, build emotional awareness, and develop resilience. Kevin is also a dad to a 12-year-old son, bringing both professional insight and lived experience into his work.

🌱 Three Key Takeaways for Moms

1. The 2 AM Spiral is biological, not behavioral.
Teens’ brains are still under construction, and late-night exhaustion weakens emotional regulation—making worries feel catastrophic at night.

2. Phones intensify spirals, but connection matters.
Instead of harsh phone rules, collaborative wind-down routines and advance warnings help teens disengage without feeling controlled.

3. Regulation beats resolution at 2 AM.
Late night isn’t the time to solve problems. Gentle tools like breathing exercises, body scans, calming sounds, and mindfulness help teens settle their nervous systems and return to sleep.

Follow The Mood Tools https://www.instagram.com/themoodtools/

Learn more at: https://moodtools.org/
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Our guest today is a wonderful human being and has so much well-earned wisdom to share with us in this episode and she is also a relatable and engaging writer. Which you can find in her recently published book, Mom Enough: Inspiring Letters for the Wonderfully Exhausting but Totally Normal Days of Motherhood. I love her viral quote: “Sometimes you have to let go of the picture of what you thought life would be like and learn to find joy in the story you are living."

Our guest today Rachel Marie Martin is the founder of the social media community Finding Joy™, author of both Mom Enough and The Brave Art of Motherhood, and a founding partner in Audience Industries – a company designed to train and equip entrepreneurs in their ventures. Her articles have been translated into over 25 languages, her site reaches millions of visitors per month and she has a robust, engaged Facebook community. Her content has been featured in The Huffington Post, The Today Show, PopSugar, Motherly, and many more. She speaks worldwide encouraging moms and entrepreneurs to live each day with purpose and drive. Beyond that, she’s a mom to seven and calls Nashville, Tennessee, her home.

Follow Rachel Marie on Facebook at ⁠https://www.facebook.com/findingjoyblog⁠

Find out more at: ⁠https://findingjoy.net/author/rachel-marie-martin/
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