TPP 490: Debbie & Sheryl Stoller Explore What to Do When Our Own Fear Gets in the Way

Today we’re exploring something so many of us wrestle with but don’t always name out loud — the impact of our own fear and anxiety on our kids. I was actually about to record a solo episode when my friend and colleague Sheryl Stoller sent me an email, and the sentiment behind it stayed with me because it put into such simple, clear language the real impact our fears about their future, their potential, their lives, can have on our kids. In this short bite-sized conversation, we’ll talk about how parental anxiety shapes family dynamics, why regulating our own nervous systems is such a powerful gift we can offer our kids, and how empathy, validation, and community support can help us move from fear toward connection.

 

About Sheryl

Sheryl Stoller is a PCI Certified Parent Coach® who has devoted herself to coaching overwrought parents of children whose abilities, sensibilities, and behaviors go beyond expectations (gifted, twice/multi-exceptional) since 2009. This is a personal journey as well as an academic and professional one for Sheryl. She is deeply gratified to serve parents the way she had needed when her children were young.

Sheryl integrates many fields of knowledge and training into her coaching. Most recently, she is receiving her Somatic Attachment Therapy Certification; and is a Positive Intelligence (PI) Mental Fitness Coach, through Shirzad Chamine out of Stanford University. Sheryl Co-Leads two communities of practice for PI – Parents and Families, and Neurodiversity; and has received rave reviews for her customization of PI for her “Aligned Parents” and “Get Mental and Emotional Fitness” Group programs for 2E parents. Connect with Sheryl at: sheryl@stollerparentcoaching.com

 

Things you’ll learn from this episode:

• How fear in parents can show up as anxiety — and how children often absorb and mirror that energy

• Why managing our own fears is one of the most powerful ways we can support our kids

• How empathy and validation create safety even when anxiety is present

• Why remembering that everything is impermanent can help parents regain perspective

• How focusing on past successes builds a child’s confidence and counters fear-based narratives

• Why community, positive imagination, and ongoing learning remind parents they’re not alone in this journey

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