AT Parenting Survival | Raising Kids with OCD & Anxiety

When our kids start struggling with OCD it is normal to want to get them into therapy as soon as possible, especially Exposure Response Prevention (ERP) therapy, the first line treatment for OCD.

But going into therapy when a child isn’t ready can be a costly mistake and can sabotage the success of future therapy sessions.

In this episode I outline four key components needed to make therapy a success. Often therapy is a middle step, not the first step.

Want to know exactly where YOU should start? In my free series, Su...

When a child with moral OCD keeps confessing, even small or uncertain things can start to feel like evidence that they’ve done something wrong. They may feel driven to tell a parent every detail, ask whether they’re a good person, or keep revisiting something they said or did until it feels settled. To a parent, it can be difficult to tell where a child’s conscience ends and OCD’s demand for certainty begins.

The urge to confess can bring brief relief, but it often leaves the child needing to confess again the next time dou...

Parenting kids with OCD can be tough. Especially since much of how to navigate OCD is counterintuitive.

After over two decades supporting parents raising kids, teens and young adults with OCD, I have consistently seen a pattern in what parents get wrong about OCD.

In this episode I break down the six most common things parents get wrong, that delay long-term progress and keep families stuck.

Resources Discussed:

My parent course, How to Teach Kids to Crush OCD

My kids course, Crushing OCD Class for Kids

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Parenting a child with OCD can feel lonely in ways people don’t always understand. Even when you know what OCD is, know what you’re supposed to do, and are doing everything you can to help, there are parts of this experience that can feel overwhelming, confusing, and incredibly hard to talk about.

In this episode, I’m getting into some of the parenting struggles that often happen behind closed doors when your child has OCD — the parts that don’t always make it into books, treatment plans, or conversations with other parents. If raising a child with...

Sometimes doing the right thing for your child’s OCD can feel completely wrong.

When you start pulling back accommodations, your child may actually become more distressed, irritable, or angry. That can leave you wondering: Am I helping, or am I making this worse?

In this week’s episode, I talk about why things can get harder when you stop participating in OCD, what that increased distress actually means, and how to support your child without accidentally getting pulled right back into the OCD cycle.

Resources discussed:

www.nata...

Maybe they can go to school, visit friends, or function fairly well outside the house, but the second they get home, OCD seems to take over. That can leave parents wondering why the rules, avoidance, contamination fears, or compulsions seem so much stronger in one environment than another.

In this episode, I explain some of the reasons OCD can look different at home, including why home may become a “safer” place for compulsions, how contamination chains can build up over time, and why certain family members or spaces can become incorporated into OCD’s rules. I also talk a...

If your child seems to have big reactions to sounds, textures, clothing, food, transitions, or everyday experiences, sensory processing may be playing a bigger role than you realize.

In this episode, I’m joined by occupational therapist Laura Petix, from The OT Butterfly and author of The Sensory Code.

We talk about how parents can better understand their child’s unique sensory needs, recognize what may be happening underneath challenging behavior and big emotions, and respond with more empathy and less frustration.

Laura also shares practical ways we as parents can help accommodate our...

When you’re raising a child with anxiety or OCD, so much of your energy can go toward helping them cope that it’s easy to forget that you need coping skills too.

In this episode, I’m joined by Janine Halloran, author of Coping Skills for Everyone: A Workbook to Get Unstressed, Recharge, and Stay Calm in a Chaotic World, to talk about coping skills for adults.

We talk about what it looks like to take care of yourself when parenting feels stressful, overwhelming, or emotionally exhausting, and why the coping strategies that work for on...

If I could sit down with every person who has OCD and teach them just three skills, these are the ones I would choose.

In this episode, I’m sharing the three skills I come back to again and again when helping people change their relationship with OCD. They’re simple concepts, but learning how to actually use them when OCD is loud, convincing, and demanding is another story.

I’ll talk about why these skills matter, how they work together, and why you don’t have to feel confident or ready before you start practici...

When your child has OCD, treatment doesn’t happen in a vacuum. OCD comes home with them. It impacts routines, relationships, school, behavior, and often the way the entire family functions.

So why are parents sometimes left on the sidelines of OCD treatment?

Parents can be one of the most powerful resources in a child’s OCD recovery. You see what happens between therapy sessions, you’re often the one navigating accommodations and difficult behaviors, and you’re in a unique position to help your child practice the skills they’re learning.

In this...

One of the hardest parts of parenting a child with OCD is not knowing what’s actually going on. Your child insists they’re “fine,” avoids your questions, or simply can’t explain what they’re experiencing. It can leave you feeling confused, shut out, and unsure of how to help.

In this episode, I talk about why so many kids keep their OCD hidden, even from the people they trust most. You’ll learn why silence is often part of OCD itself and why pushing for answers can unintentionally make it harder for your child to open up.

Most people think contamination OCD is about germs, chemicals, or bodily fluids. But what happens when your child feels like a thought, memory, word, person, or experience has become contaminated?

In this episode of the AT Parenting Survival Podcast, Natasha Daniels explores mental contamination OCD—a lesser-known but surprisingly common form of OCD that can leave children feeling like something is dirty, ruined, tainted, or unsafe, even though nothing has physically changed.

You’ll learn how OCD can convince kids that contamination spreads through intrusive thoughts, memories, emotions, people, places, and even words, leading them to a...

In this episode, I talk with Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Chyllia Dixon about the emotional impact of growing up with a chronic illness and the unique mental health challenges children and families can face along the way.

Drawing from both her professional experience and her own childhood experience with Juvenile Myositis, Chyllia shares insight into what chronically ill kids may be carrying emotionally, the importance of helping children stay connected to the present moment, and ways parents can support their child’s mental health while navigating an ongoing medical condition.

We also talk about Ch...

It can be hard to tell whether OCD treatment is helping, especially when compulsions haven’t noticeably decreased, distress seems higher, or new themes suddenly appear.

But progress is not always measured by how quiet OCD looks on the outside. Sometimes treatment is preventing OCD from getting worse. 

Sometimes a therapist is building trust and readiness before beginning ERP. And sometimes increased distress is a sign that your child is learning to face discomfort instead of immediately escaping it.

In this episode, I’ll walk through the common ways parents misjudge treat...

If your child has OCD, you’ve probably spent countless hours trying to make their intrusive thoughts go away. It’s an understandable instinct, but it’s also one of the biggest misconceptions about OCD.

In this episode, I’ll unpack the common misunderstandings parents have about OCD intrusive thoughts and explain why many well-intentioned responses can accidentally keep OCD going. We’ll talk about why recovery isn’t about eliminating intrusive thoughts, why logic and reassurance rarely work, how OCD follows predictable themes and core fears, and what ERP is actually designed to do.

When y...

As parents, we naturally want to comfort, protect, and help our children. But when OCD enters the picture, some of our most loving instincts can unintentionally keep the OCD cycle going.

In this episode, I walk through seven common parenting traps that quietly strengthen OCD, not because you’re doing anything wrong, but because OCD is incredibly good at recruiting parents into its game.

These are subtle shifts, but they can dramatically change how you respond to OCD, and how your child learns to respond to it too.

Download the free PDF handout fo...

Growing up with OCD isn’t easy, especially when it tries to convince you to give up the things you love.

In this episode, I sit down with Izzy, a child in The AT Parenting Community kids support group, as she shares her personal journey with OCD. She opens up about when her symptoms began, what it has been like navigating treatment, and how she has learned to keep pursuing the activities she’s passionate about, even when OCD tells her not to.

Izzy’s story is an honest and inspiring reminder that courag...

Every parent begins their journey with hopes and expectations. We imagine what family life will look like, what milestones our children will reach, and the experiences we’ll share together. But when anxiety, OCD, autism, ADHD, chronic illness, or other challenges change that picture, many parents find themselves quietly grieving the life they thought they’d have.

In this episode, we talk about the difference between grieving and getting stuck in grief. You’ll learn why it’s okay to mourn the expectations you once held, how societal pressures and comparisons can make parenting even harder, and why...

Even the most dedicated parents can unintentionally miss what OCD is really doing.

If you’ve ever wondered why your child’s OCD keeps changing, why the same strategies don’t seem to work anymore, or why treatment feels like it’s not getting to the root of the problem, this episode is for you.

In this episode, I’ll walk you through eight common signs that you may be viewing your child’s OCD through a lens that keeps you focused on the surface instead of what’s driving it underneath. When you begin to u...

Starting treatment for OCD can be one of the most hopeful steps a family takes, but it can also be one of the most confusing. Many parents expect that once their child begins therapy, exposures, or a new approach at home, things should immediately improve. Instead, they are often surprised when anxiety spikes, meltdowns increase, or OCD seems louder than ever.

In this episode, I explore why OCD recovery can initially feel worse before it feels better. OCD thrives on avoidance, distraction, reassurance, and other coping strategies that provide short term relief. When children begin treatment, they...

Many OCD themes are frequently misunderstood, misdiagnosed, or completely overlooked because they don’t match the stereotypes most people associate with OCD. In this episode, I dive into the OCD themes that often fly under the radar, including Moral OCD, Harm OCD, POCD, SOCD, ROCD, disgust based OCD, symmetry OCD, and Just Right OCD.

I talk about how these themes can present in children and teens, why they are often mistaken for anxiety, behavioral issues, personality traits, or even hidden desires, and how shame and mental compulsions can keep kids struggling silently for years.

...

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 explore the hidden compulsions that often fuel this disorder, including reassurance seeking, body checking, food restriction, avoidance, hyperfixation on nausea, and the constant need to prevent...

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 “just right” OCD driving their actions.

In this episode, I explore how hidden OCD symptoms are often mistaken for defiance, difficult behavior, or laziness, leading parents, teachers, and even therapists to respond in ways that may unin...

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 accidentally reinforced. Parents often focus on visible avoidance without recognizing the true “ground zero” of contamination, the original trigger or core fear driving the OCD cycle. Understanding that core fear or disgust response is essential for...

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 unintentionally move from helping to over-monitoring, constantly pointing out compulsions, questioning behaviors, and trying to control OCD at every turn. While this often comes from a place of deep love and fear, hypervigilance can damage trust, increase shame...

“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” OCD can show up across daily life, from words and writing to clothes, shoes, grooming, and even how they move thro...

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 reassurance can quietly fuel OCD, what’s actually happening in your child’s brain in those moments, and how to start shifting...

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 to feel more integrated and sustainable.

Because knowing what to do and being able to actually do it consistently are two very...

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 good, why they develop in the first place, and how to gently adjust them without losing hope or momentum. You’ll learn how to shift from pushing...

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. 

We’ll talk about how communication builds trust, how to recognize what might be shutting it down, and why slowing down and focusing on connection can often m...

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 help our kids build resilience and break the anxiety and OCD cycle. A pause gives us space to respond intentionally instead of reacting out of...

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 ability to cope, while OCD reassurance acts as a compulsion that keeps the OCD cycle going. Knowing the difference can change how you respond.

If you are a parent who...

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 anxiety, when exposure and response prevention is the right fit, and when a feeding therapist or occupational therapist may be the better route. Understanding what is driving your child’s foo...

Most parents think they know what their child’s OCD looks like. They see the washing. The checking. The obvious behaviors.

But what they’re usually seeing is just the tip of the iceberg.

OCD isn’t only handwashing or checking. It’s mental reviewing, silent debating, internal checking, trying to “neutralize” a thought, confessing, reassurance seeking, avoidance, symmetry rituals, and that constant need for things to feel just right. Many of the most powerful compulsions happen completely inside your child’s mind, which means you will never see all of them.

In this epis...

Harm OCD is one of the most frightening and misunderstood themes of OCD, especially when it shows up in children. Intrusive thoughts about hurting oneself or someone else can feel shocking, confusing, and deeply distressing for both kids and parents. These thoughts often clash with a child’s true values, which is exactly why they feel so intense.

In this episode, we gently unpack what harm OCD really is and what it is not. We talk about the difference between intrusive thoughts and intent, and why fear can so easily be mistaken for danger. When parents understand th...

OCD rarely stays contained inside your child’s mind. It often pulls parents directly into the cycle through reassurance questions, confessing, repeated checking, cleaning rituals, avoidance rules, or even scripting exactly what you are allowed to say. 

If you feel like you are constantly answering the same questions, following invisible rules, or walking on eggshells, OCD may be involving you more than you realize.

In this episode, we break down how to identify family accommodation, how to decide what to stop doing first, and how to respond in a way that supports your child while shr...

How do you know if your child is just worried, anxious, or dealing with OCD?

Kids worry. That’s normal. But sometimes fear sticks around longer than it should and starts to take over daily life. In this episode, I break down the differences between typical kid worries, anxiety, and OCD so you can better understand what your child is really struggling with.

We talk about:

-What developmentally typical fears and worries include

-How anxiety shows up over time

-How OCD includes intrusive thoughts and the urge to do so...

In this episode, we talk about one of the most confusing and discouraging moments for parents raising a child with OCD, when things seem to get worse right as you start doing the right things.

Many parents interpret a sudden spike in distress, anger, or compulsions as a sign that therapy is not working. But often, this increase in symptoms is actually a sign that OCD feels threatened. When OCD accommodations are reduced or exposures begin, OCD does not quietly step aside, it escalates. This episode explains why that happens and what it means for your child’s...

In this episode, I break down why logical explanations, reassurance, and “talking it through” so often backfire when your child has OCD. While rationalizing may feel supportive and calming in the moment, it actually feeds the OCD cycle and strengthens your child’s need for certainty.

I explain what OCD really is, how it operates in the brain, and why it isn’t a problem of logic or understanding. You’ll learn why reasoning with OCD increases doubt instead of resolving it, and how these well-intentioned responses can unintentionally keep your child stuck.

Most importantly, I share a...

In this heartfelt and insightful episode, I sit down with Mia Mason, the creative force behind Worry’s Whispers, a beautifully illustrated collection of poems that gives voice to anxiety, fear, and the quiet corners of the inner world that so many of us know all too well.

Mia and I explore the origins of her work, what inspired her to turn internal dialogue into poetic expression, and how Worry’s Whispers serves as both a mirror and a companion for people navigating anxiety — whether persistent, sudden, quiet, or loud.

In this episode we break down:<...