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Reflective Parenting Podcast by Curious Neuron
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Reflective Parenting Podcast by Curious Neuron

Author: Cindy Hovington, Ph.D.

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You don’t snap at your kids because you’re a bad parent. You snap because your stress builds faster than your awareness, and no one ever taught you how to handle that.


I’m Dr. Cindy Hovington, a mom of three with a doctorate in neuroscience and founder of Curious Neuron. I created The Reflective Parenting Podcast for parents who care deeply, know a lot, and still find themselves overwhelmed in the real moments.


This is not a podcast where I tell you how to be a perfect parent. I’m in it with you.


Each week, I invite you into my own reflections:

  • what I’m learning from scientific articles and books,
  • what I’m noticing in my nervous system and emotions,
  • and what real parents and experts teach me in conversation.


Together, we get curious about why we snap, shut down, or over-function in conflict, and what’s actually happening in our brain and body when we do. We talk about stress, shame, repair, boundaries, playfulness, and the quiet moments no one sees—so you can start to recognize your patterns and gently shift them.


By listening, you’ll learn to:

  • notice your stress and body signals earlier,
  • understand the lenses and stories that intensify hard moments,
  • regulate your nervous system when parenting feels like “too much”,
  • and handle conflict with more calm, clarity, and repair.
  • But more than that, you’ll have a companion in the work.


I’ll share where I struggle, what I’m practicing, and how I’m trying to grow, so you don’t feel like the only parent who finds this hard.


If you’re ready to move away from “perfect” parenting and toward reflective parenting—where every tough moment becomes data, not failure—pull up a chair. 


Let’s learn, feel, and grow together.



Find out which book I will be covering next month:

https://curiousneuron.com/podcast/ 


Join the private group on Facebook:

www.facebook.com/groups/reflectiveparentingpodcast/


Start training your emotional awareness for FREE:

https://tremendous-hustler-7333.kit.com/84371dc0b2


Purchase my course The Emotionally Aware Parent.

https://curiousneuron.com/reflective-parent-club/


Follow us on Instagram @drcindyhovington or Facebook @curiousneuronparenting


270 Episodes
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Send us Fan Mail I'm joined by occupational therapist and author Laura Petix to celebrate the launch of her new book, The Sensory Code. Laura shares the moment she took her own daughter to the ER because of daily meltdowns, and how that experience shaped her work with parents. In this episode, we talk about: The difference between a tantrum and a meltdown, and why length and recovery time matterWhy gentle parenting still matters even when it doesn't stop the meltdownThe eight sensory systems,...
Send us Fan Mail As parents, many of us want our children to do well in school, but what if one of the most important skills they need is not memorizing information, but learning how to question it? In this episode, you and I reflect on what it means to raise critical thinkers in a world filled with headlines, social media experts, AI-generated information, and endless opinions. Together, we explore how curiosity, thoughtful questions, and open conversations at home can help our children lear...
Send us Fan Mail I'm back with part two of the conversation sparked by my episode with Georgiana but this time digging into one of the most misunderstood words in parenting: discipline. Pulling from Dan Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson's No-Drama Discipline, I challenge how most of us were taught to think about the word — punishment, stopping a behavior that's annoying us — versus what actually works: discipline as teaching. I share a moment from my son's soccer practice that stopped me in my tra...
Send us Fan Mail In this episode, I sit down with Georgianna Karamitos — a lawyer, educator, trauma-informed conflict resolution practitioner, and children's book author — to unpack the real difference between discipline and punishment. We dig into why repeating yourself doesn't work until a child feels heard, how power struggles hijack parent-child relationships, why "relational safety" is the missing piece in most conflict, and what the neuroscience actually says about spanking and harsh di...
Send us Fan Mail Hi Reflective Parents, Ever feel stuck arguing about the same thing over and over with your partner? In this episode, I break down a key concept from the Gottmans' book Fight Right: that perpetual conflict often hides a deeper "dream" underneath it, and naming that dream can turn conflict into a chance for real intimacy. I also reflect on what this means for parenting from bedtime battles to unrealistic expectations and how getting curious with your child, the same way ...
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