Resilient Kids, Sane Parents

Notes

Leslie shares how the landscape of student coaching has shifted: once focused ontime management and study skills, it now often involves navigating anxiety, overwhelm, and school systems that don’t always provide the right supports. She helps parents understand what it means to accept their child’s “executive age” and why recalibrating expectations is the first step to easing tension at home. Leslie highlights how critical intentional communication is at every step of the way.

This conversation is packed with strategies parents can use right away, including: 

• How to set parameters while giving your child agency.
• Why structured choices reduce anxiety and increase motivation.
• The importance of letting kids experience safe discomfort and failure.
• How to shift your language from “you have to” to “you get to choose.”
• The role of micro–moment willpower in building lifelong resilience.

Leslie also introduces powerful communication tools, like WAIT (“Why Am I Talking?”), that help parents step back, listen, and guide instead of fixing. And she reminds us that resilience deserves recognition and that specific praise for kids’ small wins can have a lasting impact.

If you’ve ever felt helpless, frustrated, or unsure how to support your child through the challenges of ADHD, executive dysfunction, or just the daily overwhelm of growing up, this episode offers both validation and hope.

BONUS:

How Kathy Met Leslie:

At Kathy’s first NAPO (National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals) Conference in 2014, she found herself needing a little quiet time away from the hustle and bustle of the conference. Leslie walked by, noticed her sitting by herself and that her name badge had the tell-tale blue “First Time Attendee” ribbon on display, and stopped to say hello and check in to see if she was okay. Kathy was kind of in awe that this organizer celebrity (yes, really) and speaker at that conference was stopping to say hello… to HER! Leslie’s kindness made an instant impression on Kathy, even though neither could guess they’d become such close “frolleagues” (friend+colleagues) only a couple of years later.