Root to Ring: A Resilient Parenting Podcast

About Root to Ring: A Resilient Parenting Podcast

You love your teen fiercely, but some days it feels like all you do is argue, walk on eggshells, or miss who they used to be. Root to Ring is a parenting podcast for emotionally invested moms navigating the messy middle of motherhood, when old tools stop working and deeper connection feels out of reach. Hosted by Parenting Coach, Abi Brown (M.A. Clinical Counseling, family systems-trained), each episode blends emotional insight with practical strategy to help you lead with calm, rebuild trust, and feel like yourself again. Let’s grow together, from root to ring.

Publisher

Abi Brown

Category

kids & family

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

4 Aug 2025

Latest episode

10 Jun 2026

Latest episodes

25 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   10 Jun 2026

   24. Why Your Family Doesn't Need a Routine, But It Does Need This

   You do not need a color-coded calendar to be a good mom. You don't need a five-step morning routine, a family meeting on Sunday nights, or a chore chart that no one actually follows. You don't even need dinner on the table at the same time every night. What you do need is smaller than all of that. So small it might almost feel embarrassing to call it structure. But I promise you, that small thing is doing more for your family than any perfectly planned routine ever could. This one is for the moms who have tried the planners and the systems and the apps and the color-coded everything, and still feel like failures because none of it sticks. You are not the problem. The tool is. In This Episode: Why the routine model was never built for the way your brain works and why that's a design problem, not a character flaw The difference between a routine and a rhythm (and why it changes everything) What your teen's nervous system is actually scanning for at home and how a single small thing can provide it Why decision fatigue is quietly draining the energy you need for the moments that actually matter What actually counts as a rhythm (food, phrases, questions, locations…it's smaller than you think) How to come back when the rhythm breaks without relaunching the whole system The chocolate chip story and why four seconds a morning is doing more than you realize What You'll Hear Me Say Out Loud: "You've been trying to use a tool that was not built for how your brain works. The answer is not to try harder. The answer is to use a different tool." "A rhythm is not a schedule. It is a feeling of enough predictability that your family can finally breathe." "Your teenager (the one who acts like they could not care less) is running a background scan of your home environment constantly, looking for signals that say: is this place safe and stable?" "When the rhythm breaks, you don't relaunch. You just come back. As simply as possible." "Rhythms are heartbeats, not schedules. They flex, they return, they keep going." Your Practice This Week: Identify one small thing that could become a rhythm in your home. Just one. Something you genuinely enjoy, something that takes less than five minutes, something that could happen most days without requiring heroic effort. Do it today. Then do it again tomorrow if you can. Start with the chocolate chip. Free Resource: Because sometimes the rhythm gets interrupted and you just need the words to find your way back — the 3-Minute Reset Script is free, word-for-word, and made for exactly those moments. Grab it from the link below, or DM me RESET on Instagram @parentingwithabi (https://www.instagram.com/parentingwithabi) and I'll send it straight to you. 👉 The Free 3-Minute Reset Script (https://www.rootedinresiliencecollective.com/reset-script) Ready to go deeper? If what you actually need isn't a better system but a different way of thinking about consistency altogether — that's exactly the work we do in 1:1 coaching. We figure out what rhythms actually fit your life, your season, your family. Not a template. Yours. DM me READY on Instagram @parentingwithabi (https://www.instagram.com/parentingwithabi) and we'll start the conversation. Come find me on Instagram: @parentingwithabi (https://www.instagram.com/parentingwithabi) Tell me what your chocolate chip is, or what you're going to try this week. Next week on Root to Ring: I'm making the case for the parts of you that have always felt like too much: the intensity, the weirdness, the too many feelings. Turns out they might be your greatest parenting assets. Root to Ring is produced by Abi Brown. No sponsors. No fluff. Just real talk for moms of teens.

2. 

   1 Jun 2026

   23. Why You Keep Fixing Things Your Teen Didn’t Ask You to Fix

   I want to describe a mom to you. She's the one who did the research. Found the best tutor, the best therapist, the best travel soccer league. She checks the school portal more often than her teen does. She has color-coded the family calendar, remembered every deadline, sent approximately sixteen texts to make sure nothing fell through the cracks. She loves her teen fiercely. She would do anything for them. And she is exhausted in a way she can't quite explain, because she is doing everything right, and yet somehow the relationship still feels hard. Here's what I want to say to that mom today: the thing making the relationship hard might not be your teen's attitude or their phone or the fact that they won't talk to you. It might be that you've been doing so much for them that there's no room left for them to do anything for themselves. And here's the part that's going to sting a little. The reason you keep doing it might not actually be about them at all. Stick with me. This one is important. In This Episode: What overfunctioning actually is and why it looks nothing like what you'd expect The quiet message your teen is receiving every time you step in before they get a chance to try Why this pattern shows up across all personality types (it's not a type A problem) The pre-apology: what it means when your teen is managing your feelings before you've even had them Why the very thing you're doing to stay close is creating the distance Support vs. substitution, and the one question that tells you which one you're doing The pause and hand back: a practical framework for stepping back without stepping away What to actually say if you want to name the pattern out loud with your teen What You'll Hear Me Say Out Loud: "The common denominator is not the personality type. It's anxiety and the deeply human desire to protect the people we love from discomfort." "Every time you step in before your teen has a chance to even try, they receive the message that their own judgment isn't quite enough." "Resilience doesn't grow in a managed environment. It grows in the dirt." "The very thing you are doing to stay close ends up creating the distance." "Am I doing this for them? Or am I doing this because I cannot tolerate watching them say no to something I think is good for them?" Your Practice This Week: Find one place where you've been overfunctioning and choose not to. Just one. Let their no be the final word. Let the email go unsent. Let them navigate one thing on their own. And notice what happens, both in them and in you. Free Resource: If you're feeling that tight, uncomfortable recognition right now, that's actually a good sign. Something is shifting. The 3-Minute Reset Script is free, word-for-word, and built for the moments when the urge to jump in is loud and you want to choose a different response but don't know what to say instead. Grab it from the link below, or DM me RESET on Instagram @parentingwithabi (https://www.instagram.com/parentingwithabi) and I'll send it straight to you. 👉 The Free 3-Minute Reset Script (https://www.rootedinresiliencecollective.com/reset-script) Ready to go deeper? If the overfunctioning pattern goes deeper than one situation or one school email—if it's connected to something underneath about your own anxiety or your own fear of watching your teen struggle—that's exactly the work I do in 1:1 coaching. We look at where it's coming from, figure out what your teen actually needs from you right now, and build a different way of showing up that feels rooted instead of reactive. DM me READY on Instagram @parentingwithabi (https://www.instagram.com/parentingwithabi) and we'll start the conversation. Come find me on Instagram: @parentingwithabi (https://www.instagram.com/parentingwithabi) Tell me where you've been overfunctioning. No shame, just honest. Next week on Root to Ring: If this episode was for the mom who does too much, next week is for the mom who can't figure out how to do enough consistently. We're talking rhythms over routines, and why the difference might matter more than you think. Root to Ring is produced by Abi Brown. No sponsors. No fluff. Just real talk for moms of teens.

3. 

   18 May 2026

   22. What Your Teen's Attitude Is Actually Trying to Tell You

   Okay, I have a confession. I watch pimple popping videos. Not casually…intentionally. At night, when the house is finally quiet, I will choose to watch a dermatologist extract a deep-seated blackhead over whatever is on TV. And if you've ever watched one, you understand the appeal. There's something deeply satisfying about watching something that's been stuck underneath the surface finally come out. I was watching one recently and had this moment: this is exactly what we do with our teens. We see a blemish—an attitude, a bad grade, a slammed door, a lie—and we want to squeeze it. Get it out. Clean it up. Move on. Today we're talking about why that instinct, as understandable as it is, is actually making things worse, and what to do instead. In This Episode: Why your teen's behavior is not always the problem, it's the communication What happens when you squeeze a blemish before it's ready (in skincare AND in parenting) The self-fulfilling prophecy at the heart of the "difficult teen" dynamic Why lecturing and consequences without curiosity keeps confirming the wrong story The "wait and witness" approach, and exactly what to say in a neutral moment How to sort what needs a response from what just needs to be let go The long game: what it actually looks like when the roots start coming through What You'll Hear Me Say Out Loud: "Your teen's behavior is not always the problem. The behavior is the communication." "What picking at the blemish does is confirm the narrative. What getting to the root does is offer a different story." "I am not here to pick at you. I am here to be with you." "Roots grow slowly and underground where you can't see them, so you have to trust the process." "Your job is not to maintain a perfectly clear complexion. Your job is to keep the roots fed." Your Practice This Week: Pick one behavior that's been bothering you and get curious about it instead of reactive. Just curious: what might be underneath it? What might your teen be trying to communicate that they don't have the words for yet? Then find one neutral moment to say something low-pressure that tells them: I see you and I'm in your corner. Walk away. Don't wait for a response. Just let it land. Free Resource: If you're thinking about a specific blemish that's been sitting in your house for a while and you're realizing you've been picking at it without ever asking what's underneath, I made something for exactly that moment. The 3-Minute Reset Script is free, word-for-word, and built for when you feel the urge to go pick rising and you want to choose a different response instead. Grab it from the link below, or DM me RESET on Instagram @parentingwithabi (https://www.instagram.com/parentingwithabi) and I'll send it straight to you. 👉 The Free 3-Minute Reset Script (https://www.rootedinresiliencecollective.com/reset-script) Ready to go deeper? If you're sitting with a specific teen, a specific dynamic, a specific blemish that's been in your house for a while and you're not sure how to get underneath it, that's exactly what 1:1 coaching is for. We look at the whole picture, the behavior and the root, your patterns and your teen's, and we build a real plan for your specific relationship. DM me READY on Instagram @parentingwithabi (https://www.instagram.com/parentingwithabi) and we'll have a real conversation about whether it's a fit. Come find me on Instagram: @parentingwithabi (https://www.instagram.com/parentingwithabi) Tell me what landed, or which blemish you're getting curious about this week. Next week on Root to Ring: A pattern I see in so many moms that's quietly making the parent-teen relationship harder without anyone realizing it. We're calling it the overfunctioning trap. Root to Ring is produced by Abi Brown. No sponsors. No fluff. Just real talk for moms of teens.

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