On I Hate You. What's For Dinner? we explore whether childhood explains everything. We'll ask our biggest questions about love and hate, rage and fear, and the awesome and mundane that all get smushed together when we're growing up.
Tune in to make better sense of childhood, parenthood, and life in general.
Ep 20 - We’re on A New Planet: Letting Kids Go, Letting Them Grow
There are many points in the course of our relationships with our kids when the dynamics will shift. That’s how it’s supposed to happen. But as parents, we don’t always realize or own up to the fact that we have relational needs that we’re trying to meet in our relationships with our kids.
So when shifts happen –– smaller ones like a younger kid wanting to spend more time with peers or big ones like a kid going off to college –– we’re not always great at separating how our behavior is serving ourselves and maybe not so much our children.
Not that we know anything about those experiences personally. Today, we’re having an off-the-cuff friend hang, talking about our big feelings about our changing relationships with our kids as Gillian’s kiddo gets more interested in friends and Rob’s eldest goes off to college, along with unpacking some of our personal neuroses, perspectives on what’s weird about being an only child, and what can happen when you’re an only child and a highly-sensitive kid.
Listen to the full episode to hear:
How becoming therapists entrenched some of our only child weirdness, and also forced us to figure out how engage with others and not take everything personally
The overlaps of being sensitive, only children, feeling like outsiders, and overthinking social interactions
Unpacking the hidden motives behind hyperfocusing on being a “good” parent and getting honest about our relational needs
How Gillian is navigating her feelings about wanting one-on-one time with her kiddo as he’s spending more time with friends
Why attuning to your kids and when they’re ready and able to talk is more important than any influencer’s list of essential conversations
Learn more about I Hate You. What’s For Dinner? (https://www.podpage.com/hate-you-whats-for-dinner/)
Learn more about Gillian Boudreau, PhD.:
Website (https://gillianboudreauphd.com/)
Instagram @clearconnectionpsychology (https://www.instagram.com/clearconnectionpsychology/?hl=en)
Learn more about Rob Galligan, PhD.:
Instagram @dr.robert.galligan (https://www.instagram.com/dr.robert.galligan/)
Resources:
Ep 05 - Connection Is Survival: Parenting for the Loneliness Epidemic with James Ellis (https://www.podpage.com/hate-you-whats-for-dinner/ep-05-connection-is-survival-parenting-for-the-loneliness-epidemic-with-james-ellis/)
Sexuality Beyond Consent: Risk, Race, Traumatophilia, Avgi Saketopoulou (https://bookshop.org/p/books/sexuality-beyond-consent-risk-race-traumatophilia-avgi-saketopoulou/63d01b4be141f836)
Ep 18 - Dad's Performance Review: Teddy Galligan On What Worked And What Didn't (https://www.podpage.com/hate-you-whats-for-dinner/dads-performance-review-teddy-galligan-on-what-worked-and-what-didnt/)
17 Sept 2026
Ep 19 - Unconditional Love and Identity Theft: Jamie Beth Cohen on Her Dad
A lot of us end up spending a significant part of our adult lives unpacking our childhoods.
We obviously do a lot of that in therapy, for ourselves and the parents we work with. Some, like our guest, use their creative work as part of processing their past.
Today, we’re talking with Rob’s lifelong friend, author Jamie Beth Cohen. In our conversation, we revisit Jamie and Rob’s coming of age on the East Coast in the 80s and 90s, and do some speculating on what it’s like to be a kid these days. We also talk about the complicated work of conceptualizing parents who had both good and really harmful parts and how Jamie has infused her fiction and her essays with the difficult characters of her childhood.
Listen to the full episode to hear:
How both Jamie and Rob experienced not realizing that elements of their childhoods were not normal
How Jamie’s father’s spending and gambling shaped her relationship with money, work, and being an artist
Why Jamie couldn’t cut ties with her father and how it impacted the behaviors she tolerated in other relationships
How writing about her father has brought more understanding, but maybe not more peace
The stark differences in Jamie’s experience of being a teenaged girl and her daughter’s
Learn more about Jamie Beth Cohen:
Website (http://jamiebethcohen.com/)
Instagram: @wastedpretty (https://www.instagram.com/wastedpretty/)
Learn more about I Hate You. What’s For Dinner? (https://www.podpage.com/hate-you-whats-for-dinner/)
Learn more about Gillian Boudreau, PhD.:
Website (https://gillianboudreauphd.com/)
Instagram @clearconnectionpsychology (https://www.instagram.com/clearconnectionpsychology/?hl=en)
Learn more about Rob Galligan, PhD.:
Instagram @dr.robert.galligan (https://www.instagram.com/dr.robert.galligan/)
Resources:
Wasted Pretty (https://bookshop.org/p/books/wasted-pretty-an-alice-burton-book-jamie-beth-cohen/fb9e45cab328b535)
When the Identity Theft Is Coming from Inside the House - The Billfold (https://web.archive.org/web/20190217224413/https://www.thebillfold.com/2017/11/when-the-identity-theft-is-coming-from-inside-the-house/)
When I Realized My Dad Didn't Want To Get Better – Kveller (https://www.kveller.com/when-i-realized-my-dad-didnt-want-to-get-better/)
Perspectives: Mourning Without a Road Map - Pittsburgh Magazine (https://www.pittsburghmagazine.com/perspectives-mourning-without-a-road-map/)
3 Sept 2026
Ep 18 - Dad's Performance Review: Teddy Galligan on What Worked and What Didn't
Every parent has moments when they look at their kid and wonder, “Are they gonna be okay when they head out into the world?”
In the day to day struggles that come up with school, homework, activities, chores, siblings, we can lose sight of the big picture. Which makes it all the more delightful when you get to have conversations with your kid that make you realize that yeah, they’re going to be fine.
Today’s episode is the result of one of those conversations. We’re joined by Rob’s son, Teddy, who very graciously agreed to record a conversation with his dad and his dad’s friend from grad school who he hasn’t seen since he was seven. We talk about shifting family dynamics as Teddy moves on to college, reflect back on some of the hard times between Rob and Teddy and what was fueling their conflicts, and even get Teddy’s take on new school versus old school parenting.
Listen to the full episode to hear:
Teddy and Rob reflect on school years, the interruptions of COVID, and how the cycle of novice to established keeps repeating
The mindset challenges that drove a lot of Teddy’s conflicts with his dad early in high school, and how he came to recognize the stakes at play
Why Teddy thinks that new school collaborative parenting isn’t always the right answer
Unpacking how Teddy’s behavior could bring up jealousy, shame, and helplessness for Rob and how that colored their relationship
What Rob and Teddy hope for the future of their relationship
Learn more about I Hate You. What’s For Dinner? (https://www.podpage.com/hate-you-whats-for-dinner/)
Learn more about Gillian Boudreau, PhD.:
Website (https://gillianboudreauphd.com/)
Instagram @clearconnectionpsychology (https://www.instagram.com/clearconnectionpsychology/?hl=en)
Learn more about Rob Galligan, PhD.:
Instagram @dr.robert.galligan (https://www.instagram.com/dr.robert.galligan/)
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