If you're completely drained from parenting your child who's wired differently—and wondering if you're just not cut out for this—I need you to hear this: It's not because you're weak or doing it wrong. There are very specific, research-backed reasons why this type of parenting is exponentially more exhausting than typical parenting. And once you understand what's actually happening, you can stop blaming yourself and start protecting your energy.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• Why you're functioning as your child's external regulation system (and what that's doing to your nervous system)
• How you're making hundreds more decisions every day than other parents—and what to do about decision fatigue
• The invisible translation work that's draining you (and how to stop doing it alone)
• Why chronic uncertainty keeps you in a constant state of low-level panic
• Practical strategies to restore your energy between co-regulation moments
• How to pace yourself for the marathon, not the sprint

By the end of this episode, you'll understand the seven specific reasons parenting your child is so depleting—and have concrete strategies to protect your own capacity so you can keep showing up.

Resources mentioned: Sign up for the newsletter at www.climbingfishparenting.com and get your Swimming Strategy for the week - a research finding about co-regulation that didn't make it into this episode.

Your kid isn't broken. Your parenting isn't broken. Sometimes we're just asking our fish to climb trees. That's what we fix here.