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AT Parenting Survival | Raising Kids with OCD & Anxiety

AT Parenting Survival | Raising Kids with OCD & Anxiety

Natasha Daniels: Child Therapist, Child Anxiety and Child OCD Expert 490 episodes Latest Jun 9, 2026

This podcast offers support and practical strategies for parents raising children or teens with OCD and anxiety. Hosted by therapist Natasha Daniels, it covers topics like contamination OCD, intrusive thoughts, perfectionism, and social anxiety. Each episode provides evidence-based tools, including ERP (Exposure and Response Prevention), to help parents respond effectively and reduce family accommodation. The goal is to empower parents with clear, compassionate guidance for navigating daily challenges and supporting their child's recovery.

Episodes

How to Help Kids When the Fear of Throwing Up Takes Over Jun 9, 2026 46:37 When the fear of throwing up begins to take over a child’s daily life, it can quietly shrink their world. School, eating, travel, social events, exercise, sleepovers, restaurants, and even ordinary conversations can suddenly feel unsafe.In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast, I’m talking all about emetophobia, the intense fear of vomiting, and how it can show up as both anxiety and OCD.We’ll
Is Your Child’s “Defiance” Actually Caused by OCD? Jun 2, 2026 51:40 Defiance can be one of the most misunderstood signs of OCD in children and teens.When kids refuse to touch certain things, avoid everyday tasks, struggle with homework, take excessive time completing routines, or seem resistant to basic expectations, it can easily look like oppositional behavior. But underneath that behavior may be intrusive fears, avoidance compulsions, contamination concerns, or
Things Parents Often Miss in Kids with Contamination OCD May 26, 2026 47:50 Contamination OCD is often much more complex than many parents realize. It is not always about germs, handwashing, or obvious fears of illness. For many kids, contamination OCD can center around chemicals, certain people, objects, or even an intense feeling of disgust rather than fear.In this episode, Natasha breaks down the subtle ways contamination OCD can be missed, misunderstood, or accidental
When Parents Become the “OCD Police” (And What to Do Instead) May 19, 2026 48:37 Watching our kids struggle with OCD can feel overwhelming, exhausting, and emotionally draining. When we understand OCD and begin recognizing compulsions more clearly, many of us naturally shift from accommodating behaviors… to hyper-focusing on every compulsion, reassurance loop, and avoidance pattern.This is what I call becoming the “OCD police.”In this episode, I explore how parents can uninten
Helping Kids with Just Right OCD May 12, 2026 38:32 “Just right” OCD can be one of the most confusing forms of OCD for parents, because it doesn’t look like fear.In this episode, we’re unpacking what it means when OCD is driven by a feeling instead of a specific fear. That internal sense that something is off, incomplete, or not quite right can keep kids stuck in loops that are hard to explain and even harder to stop.You’ll learn how “just right” O
Why Trying to “Reason” With Your Child’s OCD Backfires May 5, 2026 40:15 It feels so natural to explain, reassure, and try to calm your child down when OCD is loud. After all, that’s how we solve problems in real life. But OCD doesn’t play by those rules.When we try to reason with OCD, we often get pulled deeper into its loop, answering more questions, giving more explanations, and still watching our child struggle.In this episode, I talk about why reasoning and reassu
The 3 Stages Parents Go Through When Learning to Handle OCD (and Where You Might Be Stuck) Apr 28, 2026 47:43 Most parents think the hardest part of raising a child with anxiety or OCD is figuring out what to do.But the truth is, learning the skills is just the beginning.In this episode, I walk you through the three stages parents naturally move through when learning to handle OCD, from that first moment of awareness, to the messy middle of trying to implement strategies, to the point where things start t
Why Adjusting Expectations Matters When Parenting a Child with Anxiety or OCD Apr 21, 2026 46:59 When you’re parenting a child with anxiety or OCD, it’s easy to get caught in a constant push to fix, improve, and move things forward. But when our expectations don’t match where our child actually is, it can quietly create more frustration, more pressure, and more disconnection for everyone involved.In this episode, we explore how to recognize when expectations are starting to do more harm than
What Good Communication Actually Looks Like with Anxiety and OCD Apr 14, 2026 54:22 Good communication can feel like the missing piece when you’re raising a child with anxiety or OCD. You’re talking, explaining, reassuring, and trying to help, but somehow the conversations still feel stuck, tense, or like they’re going nowhere.In this episode, I unpack what good communication actually looks like, and why it’s not about saying the perfect thing or fixing the problem in the moment.
The Power of the Pause in Your Child’s Anxiety and OCD Apr 7, 2026 45:12 When our child is anxious or stuck in OCD, everything can feel urgent. The questions, the reassurance seeking, the distress, the pressure to fix it right away. As parents, our instinct is often to respond quickly so we can calm things down. But sometimes the most powerful thing we can do is pause.In this episode, I talk about the power of the pause and why slowing down our response can actually he
An Important Difference Between Anxiety vs OCD Reassurance Mar 31, 2026 40:54 Parents often hear the same questions from their child again and again, and it can be hard to know if answering is helping or making things worse. In this episode, I break down the important difference between anxiety reassurance and OCD reassurance.While they can look similar on the surface, they serve very different purposes. Anxiety reassurance often comes from a child not trusting their abilit
ARFID: Is It OCD, Anxiety, or an Eating Disorder? Mar 24, 2026 59:28 ARFID can look like OCD, anxiety, extreme picky eating, or even a traditional eating disorder, which is why so many parents feel confused about what they are actually dealing with. In this episode, I break down the five types of ARFID, avoidant, aversive, restrictive, mixed, and ARFID plus, and explain how each one presents differently.We also talk about how ARFID overlaps with OCD and anxiet

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