Robin McEvoy, Ph.D.

08/25/2025

Great song and valid points

07/21/2025

This is a really good point. Don’t be afraid to reach out.

12/26/2024

We are all tired at this point, but hopefully we pulled it off. Remember to take it all in stride.

My one who is always late to the party was theee hours late as usual. One of my other young adults was not there at all, but texted frequently. My punctual one helped me keep things running smoothly. Her daughter, all of 12 months old, was adorable, except during the times she burst into wailing tears because she was exhausted, but was not about to leave the party. The kitchen was a disaster by the end of the day. As expected.

But it was a good day. And I am thankful, grateful, and feeling relaxed.

Because I just focused on the good stuff.

There was good food and laughter and appreciation of each other. There was an almost- walking baby who smiled about everything and everyone. And young adults who helped clean up.

09/16/2024

Celebrating the 10th anniversary of this cute and insightful video on empathy by Brene Brown and colleagues

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/mDLMa7D6pei1uw2T/?mibextid=WC7FNe

I can’t believe it’s been ten years since we first met that damn “Wanna sandwich?” empathy-fail deer!

Thank you Katy Ross (AKA Gobblynne) and RSA for turning this talk into an amazing cartoon.

❤️, BB

https://brenebrown.com/articles/2024/09/03/katy-ross/

08/30/2024

I come from a long family line of dyslexics, so jump on any good article that updates us on the state of our understanding of it. There is a lot of good information in this article. Some of the myths still surprise me, such dyslexia not really existing.

I have always told parents that reading, like any other skill, exists on a spectrum. We have a spectrum of great singers to not so great singers, great athletes to not so great athletes, and on and on. We are not all going to be great readers. And some of us will struggle enough with reading that it qualifies as a disability (but only because we live in a society that requires the skill for many careers).

Overall, a very good article addressing the importance of identification and remediation, but also the emotional fall out of struggling in the classroom.

Persistent misunderstandings about reading struggles have impeded progress in diagnosis and treatment.

08/29/2024

I always love Jen Hatmaker. She nails it and, from previous writing of hers, I know that she has some of the parenting challenges that are not that typical

A very quick learning from my progression as a mom of littles to bigs:

When they get, let’s say, teen-ish, you no longer have to solve their problems. This is such a hard and clunky transition, because you have always solved their problems. They needed you to solve their problems. They had no skill set to solve their own problems.

But now it is time to stop solving their problems. This will feel terrifying and irresponsible, like you have jumped out of an airplane without a parachute. What kind of insane parenting is this??

Start saying things like: What are you going to do about that? What do you plan on saying? What are you hoping will happen? Let me know how this turns out. Tell me what you decide. Follow your instincts.

And then it either goes well or terribly or somewhere in between but this is how it goes. You let them live. You let them choose. You let them develop autonomy over their own choices and responses and problem-solving.

If it goes in the gutter, it isn’t because you failed them. It is because they are learning and growing up, and this is how it works.

Oh, I forgot to tell you, this feels awful. All of it. You think you are being a bad parent. You are letting them flail around like little birds without wings and you are a monster. They are ruining their life and you are letting them.

None of this is true. These are their best lessons. The ones that actually stick because they chose them. Plus, they might surprise you.

Release. Unclench. You can’t control this, and you were never supposed to. Let them grow up in their own agency, for better or for worse. Both will be their teachers.

PARENTING IS SO RELAXING.

08/28/2024

In case you are wondering if it’s just you and your parenting, it isn’t. It’s hard right now

America's mental health crisis is weighing heavily on parents struggling with economic and societal concerns as they try to raise kids, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy warned in an advisory issued on Wednesday.

08/26/2024

I went to this conference last year. I really enjoyed it. They had top tier researcher/clinicians/speakers, such as Dan Siegel, and Bessel Van Der Kolk, as well as strong inspirational speakers, such a Jay Shetty. They also get some great celebrity speakers who have inspirational messages. This year, they will have Michael J. Fox among others.

I would love to have a friend/colleague along, such as Kelly Carmody!

We're thrilled to announce a special giveaway where you and a guest could win free tickets to The Global Exchange Conference 2024! 🏆

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08/25/2024

All my kids have entered young adulthood and I sometimes think about the "last times" that some little piece of parenting happened. And you will not even realize it is the last time. It may even take you a few years to realize it.

The last time I had to change her diaper.

The last time I put her down for a nap, singing or snuggling for a few minutes.

The last time I cut up her food.

In particular, I think about the last time someone crawled into bed with me at night for comfort. Maybe because that one held on a bit longer. Probably easily until 10 or 11 years old. It was not common at that point, but me and my bed were still a safe place when the midnight anxieties or fears flared. When she was no longer afraid of a monster under a bed, but the monsters lurking in her head.

And I become sad and nostalgic because I do not remember the last time. Adolescence set in. We could talk deep into the night if needed, but the offer of "come to my bed if you need to" was not taken up. It was her time to feel more grown up, to separate and brave her own battles with herself.

So there must have been a night that she came into my bed, just to feel the comfort of it, the safety of it. And it was the last time. Neither of us realized it then. There was so much growing up going on. It was hard to keep track of all of it. What would I have done if I had known it was the last time.

As I watch my girls step into adulthood with all its challenges and delights, I realize that there were so many last times that I did not realize at the time.

They still come to me when they need me . . .for advice, for assistance, for adventures, for unconditional love. But no one needs me in the dark of night for comfort.

I hope they are never in a place of pain that they would need to curl up with me all night, but I will be there if it happens.

Send a message to learn more

08/08/2024

Hi everyone, Shane here. This one hurts to write, but it needs to be done.

We currently have a silly video going viral, which should be cause for celebration. Instead, it’s forcing me to confront the painful fact that literally hundreds of thousands of people hate me and think I’m worthless because of my disability. I’ll explain…

The video is quite simple: there’s a trend going around of people posting funny clips of themselves failing miserably at sports, with an ironic caption that “announces” that they did not qualify for the Olympics this year. This kind of self-deprecating humor is right up our alley, so we joined the trend and posted a quick video of me “diving” into a pool, except my dive is obviously just Hannah gently lowering me into the water. My caption announces that I “sadly did not make the 2024 Olympic diving team.” Mildly silly at best, kind of dumb at worst, but it fits the trend perfectly.

As of right now, the video has almost 20 million views. In our work, that’s a major success. I should be ecstatic. I should be proud. I should be celebrating.

But do you know what makes it tough to feel those things? The comments pouring into the video. Let me share some of the brutally ignorant and aggressively hateful things people felt compelled to say on this lighthearted and fun video I created.

The very top comment says, “It’s always important to wash your vegetables,” referring to me as the vegetable. It has 97,000+ likes. That means almost one hundred thousand real humans on this earth agree with this humiliating insult!

The next one, with 79,000 likes: “I still struggle to see that they are in a relationship.”

10,000 likes: “One day she’s not going to pull him back up.”

And another: “Dating him is like doing charity work.”

“You should just drown him.”

There are thousands more just like these. Thousands.

I’m tired, guys. Tired of spending my entire life trying to get the world to accept me. Tired of dedicating my career to educating people about the true disabled experience, only to be reminded—DAILY, by hundreds of thousands of people—that I’m still widely regarded as a “vegetable” that would be better off dead in their opinions. Tired of being denigrated and dismissed. The sheer volume of these horrific comments is staggering, so please, I beg you, don’t tell me to simply ignore them. These are real, actual people, with families and jobs, with influence and votes, who are out there in the world every day harboring these absolutely disgusting ideas about disabled people. It’s sickening.

It’s moments like these when I just want to throw in the towel. Hannah and I have given the world thousands of hours of authentic and personal content about our lives. We’ve worked passionately and tirelessly to show people that a disabled life is just as valid, worthy, meaningful, and joyous as any other, and yet, hatred fills every comment section we create.

I won’t give up, though. It’s too important to me and the stakes are too high. Until disabled people are embraced by our world as equals, I’ll be here, sharing my disabled life that I so deeply enjoy and cherish, and hoping (maybe against reason) that it’s making a difference.

I do believe people can change their opinions. I believe people can grow.

If you believe that too, and if you believe there’s no place in this world for the kind of hatred we receive, it would mean everything to me if you’d share this post. Let’s fight hate with love. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for all the support you give us. You truly keep me going when I’m facing what feels like an overwhelming monster.

Love, Shane