Louis Weinstock and I (Dr Genevieve von Lob) are launching a new space for parents navigating the complexity of raising children who are sensitive, neurodivergent or who don’t quite fit the mould.
The Resonant Parenting Labs were created in response to something we’re seeing again and again in our work: parents don’t need more information. We’re already saturated with it and often it only leaves us feeling more confused, not less.
What parents actually need is space to think, reflect, and make sense of their children without feeling like they’re getting it wrong. Sanctuaries to exhale in the here and now, moments where we can pause, drop the constant effort of figuring it out, and simply be with what is.
Live online zoom | 90-minute sessions
Dates:
Tuesday 5th May | 12:30–2:00pm (BST)
Monday 11th May | 8:00–9:30pm (BST)
👉 [Join the Parenting Labs on Eventbrite]
Join the Parenting Labs on Eventbrite
I sat down with my friend and colleague Louis Weinstock on Thursday for a Substack Live to explore something we’re both seeing more and more in our work with children and families:
A huge rise in diagnoses such as ADHD and autism
Parents and teachers feeling overwhelmed with information, and pulled in different directions
And a growing sense of confusion about what to actually do
Some parents don’t want a diagnosis and feel unsure what the alternative is.
Others receive one, and feel at least an initial sense of relief.
But then the same question returns: “Now what?”
There’s more awareness than ever, and more overwhelm than ever: Parents are navigating a constant stream of advice, opinions, and identities. It’s very noisy in the space of parenting generally, and specifically parenting a sensitive or neurodivergent child.
Diagnosis can bring relief…but rarely gives a roadmap: It can name the struggle, but it doesn’t always show you how to support your child day-to-day.
We’re raising children in a world that’s changing faster than the systems around them: Children are adapting to a rapidly evolving culture. Schools are often working under significant pressure and it can be difficult for systems to fully keep pace with childrens’ rapidly changing needs.
The search for labels is also a search for belonging: When you find a framework, you often find a community and we all have a fundamental human need to belong.
Sensitivity is not a problem, but it often gets treated as one: The children we see are not broken or flawed, they’re deeply feeling and perceptive, and may sometimes struggle when their needs are not fully matched in their environments.
We’re not here to tell you the system is broken; you already know how stretched it is.
And we’re not here to say labels are the enemy. Because sometimes they help, and sometimes they open doors.
But they don’t always tell you how to raise this child…in this life…with the reality you’re actually living.
Raising a sensitive, intense, deeply feeling or neurodivergent child can be incredibly exhausting, requiring a level of emotional attunement, flexibility, and presence that’s hard to fully understand unless you’re living it.
There can be a cumulative build-up of stress and fatigue, a kind of ongoing background alertness that doesn’t fully switch off. It can come with constant hypervigilance, adapting, anticipating and second-guessing your child, often without a clear map.
It can feel deeply isolating. Many of us are not living in the kind of village we were designed to raise children in. We’re holding a lot, often on our own.
For some parents, there’s also a grief. A sense of the gap between how they imagined parenting would feel, and the reality they are living. The reality of appointments, assessments, constant research… and how hard it can all be.
And alongside all of this, many parents are sitting with a sense of ongoing uncertainty about how to move forward.
We’re parenting in a time where a whole generation of children are, in different ways, challenging us and the systems around them. As parents, we’re often left holding that complexity. There can be a strong pull to find the answer — the right strategy, approach, or label. And sometimes a diagnosis really helps, it can open doors and bring access to much-needed support, especially within the school system.
But it doesn’t resolve everything.
So many parents still find themselves sitting with the same deeper questions, just in a different form. And this is where things can become overwhelming, when it feels like more tools, more strategies, more information should help, but often just adds to the noise.
What became really clear in my conversation with Louis is that parents don’t need more information. We’re already saturated with it and often, all that information just leaves us feeling more overwhelmed. What we all need is a space to think, reflect, and make sense of our children without feeling like we’re getting it wrong.
We need sanctuaries to exhale in the here and now, moments where we can pause, drop the constant effort of figuring it out, and simply be with what is.
These labs are live, 90-minute experiential space for parents who are asking:
How do I support my child without reducing them to a label?
What actually helps in day-to-day life?
How do I trust my own judgement again?
There’s nothing to learn, perform, or get “right.”
Instead, this is a guided, reflective space where you can:
Slow things down
Reflect on your child and your experience as a parent
Sit with the dilemmas, the complexity and uncertainty
Hear from other parents navigating similar realities
Feel less alone in what you’re holding
Parents who are:
Raising a child who doesn’t quite fit the mould
Supporting a sensitive or neurodivergent child
Waiting for assessment, or unsure about diagnosis
Feeling overwhelmed by conflicting advice
Wanting space to think and be — not more information
We also welcome carers, teachers and professionals working closely with children who want space to reflect more deeply on the children they support.
Format: Live online session
Duration: 90 minutes
Dates:
Tuesday 5th May | 12:30–2:00pm (BST)
Monday 11th May | 8:00–9:30pm (BST)
This is shared live reflective space to breathe, think and feel less alone in the complexity of raising children who are sensitive or neurodivergent. If this is something you’re navigating or quietly carrying on your own, you’re warmly welcomed to join us.
Join The Parenting Labs on Eventbrite
I write the Resonant Parenting Project in between my work as a conscious parenting coach and looking after my eight-year-old daughter Matilda. Any support from readers through liking, sharing or subscribing helps make this work sustainable. Thank you!
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