Being With:
A Course for Parents of Kids with Big, Baffling Behaviors
8 weeks of practical, brain-based tools for parenting
highly-sensing kids and sturdy support for YOU!
Stop playing behavior whack-a-mole with your child’s most baffling behaviors by finally addressing the real problem
On Summer Break
🌞 🍓
On Summer Break 🌞 🍓
Hello there! I’m MereAnn. So glad you’re curious about the groups I host for parents. I run this one 2-3 times a year. I’m taking the Summer off to reconnect with my family and create new resources for you!
I’ll be back with bells on in the Fall—click the button below to get more details on days/times—or share your questions.
Join me and a small group of fellow parents committed to reconnecting with their kids, without losing themselves. Whether you’re navigating neurodiversity and regulation needs in your kids, yourself, or both—this series is a brain-based game-changer.
Understand BIG behaviors and what’s fueling them, so you can meet them more effectively.
Trust your own good thinking so you can follow your instincts and quiet critics (even inner ones!)
Identify fresh skills for chronic stress to shift what gets your attention, and stop the reaction train from picking up steam!
Let’s Get To The Root Of What Feels Stuck.
And Start Easing The Intensity.
With this no-shame, no-blame approach to parenting, you’ll finally understand why good intentions and honest emotions can clash—even when we “know what to do”—but especially when we feel overwhelmed.
We’ll explore the neuroscience of behavior, expanding your toolbox with a series of flexible, practical strategies for responding in the midst of intensity and overwhelm, while growing your capacity for managing stress and reducing frustration.
This series is strategically designed so you don’t just learn a bunch of parenting tools and techniques. You will be equipped with practical interventions that actually work—and you’ll understand which tools to use when and why—based on the science of being relationally, socially, and behaviorally human.
This series is especially powerful for parents navigating neurodiversity in their kids, themselves, or both. Part of my mission with all my workshops is connecting more families with tailored resources, whole-hearted support, and one another!
Course created by Robyn Gobbel, LCSW :: host of The Baffling Behavior Show podcast
Grow Your Support Network
“I enjoyed the connection and community with other parents. It helped me feel less isolated in my struggles to support my child.”
— parent of a Kindergartener
You Can Expect
Practical info and fresh tools each week, so you can apply what you’re learning right away
Time for Q+A every time we meet—come get your BIG (and small) questions answered
Neurodiversity-affirming parenting strategies rooted in a strength-based, connection-first, science-informed approach
Printable workbook and sensory tools to use between sessions
You get to decide how much “homework” (i.e.—intentional experiments, written reflection, resources) you engage in
Shift toward more confidence and less conflict, so you can enjoy your kids more!
I’m sharing my best resources from 15+ years of working with kids, parenting my own, and training teachers and therapists.
I’ll braid all this experience together with the brain science to back it up, helping you add strategies to your toolbox that are tailored for your daily challenges. So you can reframe BIG behaviors and redirect your energy, so you AND your kids get your needs met.
I’ve got you.
I don’t turn away when parenthood gets messy. I’m sturdy like that. So are you.
I won’t teach you how to parent like me. Or anyone else, for that matter.
I’ll cheer you on as you uncover your best tools. In the midst of everyday messes.
That is where we lean into resilience. And you learn to see your brilliance.
Our kids map their coping skills and emotional regulation on ours.
Our parenting task is to shine a light in the direction we want to guide them. Your regulation and sense of connection matters as much as theirs.
After over a year of in-depth study, I’m excited to share this professionally designed curriculum, brimming with practical, brain-science based strategies and tons of support for your family.
“I’ve already shared with anyone who will listen how this class has empowered me to pause and shift my parenting responses. This benefits the relationship between me and my child, as well as other relationships in my life.”
— Parent of two kids under 6
Our weekly topics are mapped below, so you have an idea of where we’re headed.
Section I: How to become the expert in your kid’s behavior
We’ll explore the brain science of regulation and behavior, with attention to non-verbal communication, taking a no-shame, no-blame approach to making sense of big reactions and specific support for anchoring through BIG behaviors and high stress moments.
I’ll share how I talk with kids about understanding their own brains and needs—so you can help guide them through this process, too. And you’ll get to experience a whole new perspective on what it means to navigate the world (inside and outside) with a vulnerable nervous system.
Modules 1 + 2
What You See Isn’t What You Get
Regulated, Connected Kids Who Feel Safe & Know What To Do Behave Well
You are nearly the best-equipped person in the world to write the operator’s manual for your own child, second to only to them!
Why do none of the off-the-shelf parenting books seem to work for your kid? One wide-sweeping guess? They’re not written for or about your kid! The deal with parenthood is that you don’t get all the information up front. It’s more like a spigot that turns on fast or slow over time, sometimes a trickle of insight flows out—other times it’s gushing! But what a book can’t tell you is how to handle each individual moment when you and/or your child are flooded. That’s where this series picks up: We’ll start with navigating the hotspots, making sense of what’s happening in those moments, and working backward from there…so you can meet the next mighty moment with more perspective & tools.
Module 3
A New Lens On Behavior
Why rewards, consequence, logic & control don’t budge some of the most persistent behaviors. When we focus on the behavior, it can feel like playing a game of Whack-A-Mole! Just when one behavior shifts, another one pops up…you’re not nuts, and you’re not the only one. This his how vulnerable nervous systems respond to stress.
Together, we’ll get curious about how Connection, Protection, and Non-Verbal communication are part of the path to finding new ways in.
Section II: Now Let’s Shift Those Behaviors (not ‘fix’ your kid)
Module 4
Getting To Know The Engage, Protect, Shut-Down Brain Pathways
Modules 5 + 6
Increase Felt Safety (in the body, the environment, and relationships)
Changing The Brain With Connection and Co-Regulation
Modules 7 + 8
Strategies To Calm The Protection Brain and Soothe The Shut-Down/Withdrawal Brain
Module 9
What To Do When Their Thinking Brain Returns (AKA: What about a consequence?)
Section III: Why Knowing Isn’t Even Half The Battle
(AKA: Why “know better, do better” isn’t the whole story
Supporting your child and their needs is an essential responsibility of parenthood. But it does not require you to let go of your own needs in the process. It’s possible to feel more connected with your child without losing track of yourself. I’ll show you what I mean…no bubble baths or solo retreats required. And no judgment if those are part of your dream! We’ll lean into expanding your capacity by tuning into yourself.
Module 10
How You Can Know What To Do And Still Not Do It
Modules 11 + 12
Growing Your Capacity For Stress Tolerance
4 Steps To Not Flip Your Lid
“Parents are appreciated and celebrated in this course rather than made to feel judged in their parenting.
I constantly go back to what I learned in this class when observing my daughter—what I learned from MereAnn, other families, and my own self-reflection.”
— parent of Kindergartener
Details
LIVE group sessions with immediately useful resources, spotlight coaching, answers to your questions, and heartfelt support among smart, resourceful parents looking to feel more connected and less alone navigating BIG behaviors.
What You Can Expect
⭐️ Neurodiversity-affirming, no-shame, no-blame support
⭐️ Designed for parents of pre-school and school-age kids ages 2-15
⭐️ Mind-shifting info on the brain science of connection, regulation, and stress coping even (and especially!) amidst BIG challenges
⭐️ Bring your burning questions to our weekly teaching & discussion meet-ups, and ask me anything as we explore this approach
⭐️ Weekly small-group sessions! PLUS you’re welcome to add-on private sessions to help tailor this info for your family.
⭐️ I’m on a mission to share with parents what play therapists and occupational therapists know about modern brain science!
You’re the best expert on your child, their needs, and how even small shifts can send a BIG ripple through your family. If I can help connect the dots between the behaviors that fluster and frustrate you, while helping translate what they’re communicating AND how we can change the context, you’ll have new options for responding—growing your capacity and compassion for challenges.
Partial scholarship available for BIPOC, LGBTQ+ and sole parents at need.
Hi, I’m MereAnn
I’m a child development specialist and parent coach focused on supporting families through the preschool and elementary years. I focus here because I needed extra support then, too.
These are seasons of tremendous growth and change for everyone in the family. That’s why I’m committed to collaborating with parents to see problems and solutions in totally new ways.
As a long-time student and teacher of attachment theory, I’m fascinated by how relationships, persistent stress, and how we were parented shapes our parenting. Good news—we can shift our patterns and habits to better meet our needs and our kids’!
Tapping into current brain science and learning flexible, positive communication tools means honing your parent wisdom, so you can really get what’s fueling the behaviors you want to change.
Gaining skills to be able to see under the surface means you can more directly tap into your genius as a parent, and steer from there—even through the inevitable storms.
I am especially excited to work with parents of kids with BIG behaviors and nervous systems that need a little extra support.
You already know the ways your kids are sensitive and seeking support—let’s work together to understand what’s brewing below underneath, so you can lead with confidence and connection.
I trust your judgment, insights, and bandwidth.
There’s no such thing as “being behind” in this series. You are where you are. You know your child best. And all of you is welcome. This series is designed to support and encourage you, not add to your To-Do List.
The content is geared for families navigating neurodivergence (ADHD, autism, anxiety, learning challenges, regulation needs) and looking to ease behaviors that are more confusing and overwhelming than “typical” parenting books have room for.
FAQs
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If If we haven’t yet met, request a free phone consult, and let’s chat.
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Awesome! They are welcome to join you—the enrollment is per family, not each. You’ll both get more out of it if you attend together, rather than alternating weeks. Each session is designed to build on the last, with tools grouped together.
Sole parenting and want to invite your nanny or a grandparent to join you, go for it!
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Hoping to explore the tips and tools we cover in more detail? You are welcome to add on a private coaching session for a special price just for alumni of my groups.
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Since this is a series of live group sessions, I’m open to shifting the order of our content and making space to focus on your questions. Each session builds on the prior one, so do let me know if you have to miss a session, and I’ll share a couple resources to fill you in. Sessions won’t be recorded, but your course workbook will highlight the main ideas.
When we shift how we make sense of behavior, we can receive it as communication. And respond differently.
What needs are feeding those BIG behaviors?
When we understand what fuels off-track behavior—theirs and ours—
we can go right to the heart of communicating safety and boosting regulation—even when trauma, grief, defiance, sensory needs, or aggression are in the mix.
If you’ve been clear and consistent, something else is getting in the way. Let’s decode what they need.
Modern brain science supports the feel-good relief of playfulness!
While we can’t always lead with play, making time to connect and stir up some laughter reminds us not all of parenting is a struggle—and actually eases tension in our physiology.
We’re learning SO MUCH about the brain-body connection—accessible neuroscience can help us invite and support better behavior. So you can enjoy more fun and less funk.
Emotional intelligence and regulation are more than “good behavior.”
We’ll explore how regulation and connection contribute to raising kids with steadier coping skills, social-emotional smarts, and the power to ask for help.
Navigating challenge takes flexibility. When kids know we’ve got their back, they can take healthy risks, cultivate empathy, and make amends.
What Parents Say About My Courses
Gain Confidence in Your Parenting
“The idea that children need to offload [big feelings] and letting my children do that without trying to fix things or get them to stop has given me more confidence and taken a little bit of struggle away.”
— dad of preschool twins
Get tools you can use
“MereAnn offers an effective and comforting blend of parenting strategy and group support. I would recommend this class to anyone who works with or cares for children as a means of better understanding their behavior.”
— parent of pre-teen boys
Unpack kids’ behavior
“The annoying little things your kid does, the patterns you've noticed but been unable to break...MereAnn helped us understand why these things happen and how to proactively anticipate them.”
— dad of preschooler
