“I don’t let my kids sleep anywhere. I’m very strict about it.”
Katherine Schwarzenegger is urging step parents everywhere to invest in a step-parenting coach.
On March 26, the 35-year-old author welcomed two therapists — Ashley Graber and Maria Evans — onto her “BDA Baby” podcast to talk about some of the pressures parents face today.
During the introduction, Schwarzenegger reveals that Graber has been her step-parenting coach “since day one.”
“Anybody who says, ‘Oh, what’s it like being a step parent?’” she says in the podcast. “I’m like, ‘You need a step-parenting coach, which is what Ashley was for me.”
Schwarzenegger is a stepmom to her husband Chris Pratt’s 12-year-old son, Jack Pratt, whom he shares with his ex-wife, Anna Faris.
She has since welcomed three children of her own with Pratt, including daughters Lyla Maria, 4, and Eloise Christina, 2, and son Ford Fitzgerald, 3 months.
On the podcast, Schwarzenegger explains how she met Graber through her sister, Christina, who sent her one of Graber’s articles about blended families.
At the time, Schwarzenegger had just announced her engagement to Pratt.
“I was entering into step parenthood and needed some guidance,” Schwarzenegger explains. “And I want to be equipped with great tools and information.”
She says being a step parent is a role she watched her “Uncle Bobby” play — referring to Robert F. Kennedy, who is a stepfather to his wife Cheryl Hines' daughter.
Kennedy also shares two children with his first wife, Emily Ruth Black, and four children with his second wife, Mary Richardson.
Schwarzenegger says she eventually turned to Garber for guidance as she began her own journey as a step parent, and described that decision as the “best choice” she ever made.
“I love being a step parent and it’s been such a wonderful experience, but a step-parenting coach is essential — just like a parenting coach for so many people,” she added.
Schwarzenegger talks feeling anxious and overwhelmed as a step parent
In the episode, Graber and Evans share their advice for how parents can help their children — and themselves — feel more grounded and connected amid the chaos.
Through what they describe as their “SAFER” parenting model, they hope to give parents the tools to “regulate your own nervous system, show up with more intention, and create calm in your home.”
Graber and Evans talk about the rise in anxiety levels that they’ve seen in clients — noting that the anxiety in parents often leads to an increase in anxiety for their children, and vice versa.
This realization led the two therapists to publish their newest book titled Raising Calm Kids in a World of Worry, released in February.
“It’s also so hard to parent these days,” Evans says on the podcast while reflecting on “how different it is to parent in 2025 than it ever was.”
“Just how many stressors parents have between screens and news and phones and pandemics,” Evans continued.
You can watch their conversation in full below:
One of the biggest pieces of advice Schwarzenegger says she took from the book was the importance of showing emotions and feelings around her kids.
“It is true that parenting is really challenging. And there are pros and cons to every era and generation that have been parents,” Schwarzenegger admits.
“But it seems like the amount of information we have hitting us in the face every single day is very overwhelming,” she continues. “And it contributes to a lot of this anxiety.”
Graber notes that one of the main reasons she recommends showing emotion around kids is to teach them that it’s okay to feel certain ways about certain things.
“In that opportunity, you get to name those feelings and you get to model what it is that you do when you have feelings,” Graber explains.
“Because feelings are inevitable. We’re going to have them all the time,” she adds.
