ICD doctoral candidate Emmy Reilly recently appeared on the Mom Enough podcast to talk about her research into self-compassion and sensitive parenting. Reilly’s ongoing research has looked into whether self-compassion in parents of toddlers is associated with warm, nurturing parenting behaviors. Her dissertation is measuring whether parents who participate in a loving kindness meditation will see increased self-compassion and reduced stress physiology in the moment.

“Treating yourself as a parent with that kindness and understanding and being mindful, we think that can help to reduce chronic stress or stress in the moment … and that will help you to be able to respond to your child in a more sensitive way and be more present with them,” Reilly said.

Reilly said some preliminary evidence from her previous studies have shown that parents who have higher self-compassion tended to engage in more sensitive parenting behaviors with their toddlers.

Mom Enough is a weekly podcast co-hosted by mother-daughter team Marti Erickson, Ph.D., retired CEHD faculty member, and Erin Erickson, D.N.P., M.P.H.

Listen to the full interview here.