Motherhood & The Brain
Are you tired of feeling like you’re always at your wit's end, especially when it comes to yelling at your kids?
You’re not alone.
Motherhood can be overwhelming, especially when your preteen seems to push every button and you just can’t seem to get through to them without losing your temper.
This podcast is for moms who are juggling work, family, and everything in between, and are ready to stop yelling and start connecting with their kids in a more peaceful way.
We’ll take you on a journey through the ups and downs of raising a preteen, offering brain-based strategies and practical tips on how to handle everything from discipline to managing your own emotions.
We’ll dive into topics like how to better understand your child’s behavior, how to stop yelling and start listening, and how to build a stronger, more trusting relationship with your preteen.
You’ll learn about positive parenting, emotional control, and simple, science-backed methods for managing mom anger and helping your preteen thrive.
If you’re looking for real, actionable advice on how to deal with the challenges of raising a preteen, this is the place for you.
Let’s make this motherhood journey a little smoother, together.
Motherhood & The Brain
Tired of Snapping at Your Kids Before Your Period? Try This Instead
Your preteen rolls their eyes when you remind them about homework. Your teen argues for just ten more minutes of screen time—again. Dishes pile up in the sink because no one bothered to clean up after themselves. And just like that, you feel it—the heat rising in your chest, the urge to yell bubbling up.
PMS makes everything feel louder, harder, more frustrating. But what if you could see it coming and stay in control?
IN this very short episode, I share a tool called "Noticing and Naming". It’s like spotting storm clouds before the downpour—you grab an umbrella instead of getting soaked.
Your kids will still argue. They’ll still test limits. But you get to decide how you respond. And when you stay calm, you teach them how to handle their own emotions, too.
A fresh way of handling PMS.
👉 The 60-second Yell Less Reset quiz is your first step toward change.
“I never wanted to be the mom who yells…”
But here you are, raising your voice, snapping over small things, saying things you wish you could take back.
You love your kids more than anything.
And you know they don’t deserve a mom who yells.
You just don’t know how to stop; especially when they won’t listen, talk back, or push every single boundary.
👉 The 60-second Yell Less Reset quiz is your first step toward change.
Already taken by many moms who wanted to break the yelling cycle.
Based on the science of how your brain responds to stress, this quiz goes beyond surface-level tips.
It helps you pause, uncover what’s really fueling those outbursts, and start shifting the pattern before it spirals again.
You’ll discover:
✅ Your personal Reset; so you can get your kids to listen without needing to yell, threaten, or give in
✅ It’s not just their behavior; it’s the moment you feel like nothing you say matters
✅A clear next step to help you stay calm and in charge; even when your kids are testing every boundary
You're listening to the Motherhood and the Brain podcast, episode number 49. Today we are diving into a topic that resonates with many of us I think I say this on every episode Especially the moms out there dealing with the emotional turbulence of PMS. How can we approach PMS using your beautiful brain, because we know the mood shifts are coming. How can we prepare for them before they escalate into snapping and yelling? So imagine for a moment that your life is like a living room. In this living room there is a strong, immovable pillar. This pillar is there. You can't remove it because the structure of the house depends on that pillar. That pillar supports the house. When you remove it, the house will collapse. So this pillar represents the natural hormonal shifts of PMS. It's always going to be there, but it doesn't have to define the entire space.
Speaker 1:So the first step is to become aware of the early signs that the mood is changing. In my program we call this noticing and naming. Perhaps you feel a sense of irritation building or a subtle heaviness that wasn't there before. Maybe your patience is starting to become very slim. Maybe your heart rate increases. You notice some muscle tension or even a slight headache. These bodily cues are your body's way of saying something is coming. Your thoughts may start to feel scattered or even negative, maybe complaining. You may catch yourself thinking I can't handle this, even before things escalate. Take a moment now and ask yourself do you recognize these early signals? Being aware of them is the first crucial step in preparing for the mode change. So once you start noticing these signs, the next thing you do is to give them a name. It sounds simple, but it actually helps your brain shift out of the knee-jerk reaction mode and into a more calm thinking space.
Speaker 1:In my program, we call this naming. It's just putting words to what you are feeling. For example, you could say to yourself I'm noticing some irritation, or I feel impatient. By simply naming what you feel, you're creating space between the feeling and your reaction. You may ask yourself what do I do right now? How can I take care of myself in this moment? This very little shift helps your brain focus from the intensity of the emotion to how you can manage it. Naming your feeling or how you feel is like pointing out the pillar in the living room. It doesn't change its existence, but it allows you to work with it rather than against it.
Speaker 1:In my program, we call this becoming a watcher of your mind. Becoming a watcher of your mind, you notice the irritation bubbling up and, instead of trying to shove it away, you just let it be there. Maybe you take a breath and think or verbalize I'm feeling really impatient right now. You don't have to fix it or make it go away, you just acknowledge it, that it is there. You might even sit down for a second if you can. Instead of rushing to react, you might loosen your jaw or unclench your fists and remind yourself this is just a feeling. It will pass, because feelings pass if we let them. Because feelings pass if we let them.
Speaker 1:You could picture irritation as a wave, a wave that is rising, peaking and eventually settling down. The more you let yourself feel the irritation without fighting it, the less power it has over you. Because when you stop fighting the irritation and the impatience or frustration or anger and just let them be there, they lose their grip on you. Instead of reacting from that hot, urgent place, snapping, sighing, eye rolling you create space between the feeling and what you do next. And these spaces are very small, so many people just skip over them, but they are very important the space between noticing that you feel irritation and doing whatever irritation is sending you to do that, space is very small, and in that very small space is our ability to grow.
Speaker 1:Like Dr Victor Franco said, when you do this practice of noticing that you feel irritated, you feel frustrated, you feel annoyed, you feel impatient just noticing it without doing anything. When you do that, it teaches your brain that discomfort is not an emergency. It is okay to feel impatient without needing to fix or control it right away. Without needing to fix or control it right away and over time, this makes it easier for you to stay calm in those tough moments, because you're building the muscle of sitting with hard feelings instead of letting them run the show. And, to be honest, this isn't just about keeping yourself sane. It actually helps your relationships too.
Speaker 1:When you handle those tough moments with a little more calm, you're showing your children what it looks like to deal with frustration, anger, overwhelm, impatience without snapping. And it does not just stop with them. Your spouse, your co-workers and your friends too benefit and, most of all, you will feel better about yourself. It's like you're setting a tone without even realizing it. So go, try it. Let me know what you think. We always have a choice to make, even though sometimes things seem very rushy, like they are happening beyond our control. But we always have some power. Thank you so much for listening. Bye for now.
