My guest this week is Dr. Yael Schonbrun, a clinical psychologist with an excellent new book entitled Work, Parent, Thrive: 12 Science-Backed Strategies to Ditch Guilt, Manage Overwhelm, and Grow Connection (When Everything Feels Like Too Much). This episode is part 2 in a 4-part series on parenting. As you’ll hear in our discussion, Yael has a gift for both/and thinking. She acknowledges the conflict between our roles as parents and people who work for pay, and she also underscores the ways that these roles can be mutually enriching.

Topics we explored included:

• Work-family conflict and work-family enrichment
• The expectation that we should be able to work as if we aren’t parents, and vice versa
• Emily Oster’s #ParentingInTheOpen movement
• Similar and different challenges for fathers vs. mothers
• Finding a break by switching from one role to another
• How to deal with the resistance we feel to shifting from work to parenting and vice versa
• Feeling more enjoyment and creativity through breaks and interruptions
• How Yael’s book might be different if written by a dad
• Appreciating that parenting is hard for everyone, regardless of gender
• Acknowledging and accepting the inherent conflict between work and parenting

Yael Schonbrun, PhD, is a clinical psychologist, assistant professor at Brown University, co-host the of Psychologists Off the Clock podcast, and mother of three.

Yael’s academic research explores the interaction between relationship problems and mental health conditions.

She has authored chapters in several books and has written dozens of scientific articles.

In her private practice, writing, and podcasting, Yael uses evidence-based science to help individuals and couples learn to manage work, parenting, and marriage in more effective and fulfilling ways.

She draws upon treatments that integrate ancient Eastern philosophy with scientifically backed practices. Yael’s writing on work, parenting, and relationships has appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Greater Good Science Center, Behavioral Scientist, Kveller, Lilith Magazine, The Wise Brain Bulletin, Psychology Today, and Motherly.

Find Yael online at her website, her podcast, and on Twitter.