Progress and Presence Beat Perfect Parenting | After Hours With Amanda Season 5 - Ep. 9

In this episode, I’m talking about a morning where I messed up as a mom, said something that wounded, and realized I could not just wait until the end of the day to repair it. So I used my lunch break, pulled one of the tiny queens out of school, apologized, got Chick fil A, opened blind boxes, and learned something I do not want to forget.

This one is about parenting mistakes, repair, preteen emotions, presence, progress, and why our kids do not need perfect parents. They need parents who keep showing up and trying again.

00:00 Episode Two of 52
01:01 Inside Out Is Too Real Right Now
02:00 Whole Foods Smoothie Drama
02:40 I Messed Up This Morning
04:28 When a Sting Becomes a Wound
06:07 Pulling Her Out to Repair
07:08 Progress and Presence Over Perfection
08:02 Showing Up With Urgency
10:19 What Pursuit Feels Like in Relationships
11:41 Preteen Emotions and the Control Board
14:35 I Do Not Know What I Am Doing
16:04 Staying Present When They Push Away
18:10 Distance Creates the Wedge
19:05 Body Image, Food, and Outside Noise
20:38 Learning What Hat They Need Me to Wear
22:26 Chick fil A, Pop Mart, and Baby Molly
25:24 Progress and Presence Beat Perfection
26:39 When They Need You the Most
28:19 Becoming the Matlock of Emotions
30:18 Foxhole People and Showing Up
31:06 Not Every Seat Needs to Be Filled
34:19 Podcast Dreams and 2026 Energy
35:13 Progress, Presence, and Marriage Too
36:11 You Are Doing Really Good