Siah Fried Coach

Siah Fried Coach I'm Siah Fried|Parent & Family Coach|NBC-HWC|MPH. 30 years in clinics,college & high school classrooms watching the mental health epidemic unfold in real time.

Parenting&wellness support without blame or shame.đź”—Free Parent Guide: www.siahfriedcoach.com I am Siah Fried. I am a health and parent coach. My career spans over 30 years in the public health field with a breadth of experience educating and coaching very diverse populations on a vast array of health topics from chronic disease management and prevention to resilience and mental health coaching. I

have taught or coached various health topics in hospitals, clinics, and classrooms from preschool to college and every grade between. There isn’t a health topic, situation, or personality that I have not come across. There are two ways you can work with me:

Health & Wellness Coaching

I am a Nationally Board Certified (NBHWC) Health and Wellness coach, with a master's degree in public health. My experience includes 10 years as a clinical health educator, 17 years as a health, nutrition, and women’s health professor, and 4 years as a high school health teacher. As your health and wellness coach, I will support you as you connect the dots between your health goals and/or doctor’s recommendations and the practical steps needed to achieve sustainable results. Parent Coaching

I am also a Certified Parent Coach through the Jai Institute of Parenting. My experience as a parent coach includes the work I did for 18 years as a school health consultant and the work I continue to do as a parent health educator for the local school district. Most importantly, I am a parent of 2 grown kids and 1 teenager. I have helped parents (including myself) and students overcome hundreds of stress and mental health challenges over the years. As your parent coach, I will support you as you support your child through an eating disorder or other mental health challenge.

08/03/2026

For years, I asked the question I hear from so many parents:

“Why are they giving me such a hard time?”

Then one day I realized…

I was asking the wrong question.

Instead, I started asking:

“Are they having a hard time?”

That doesn’t excuse disrespect.

It doesn’t mean we stop setting boundaries.

But it completely changes where we begin.

When we stop seeing behavior as the problem and start asking what it might be communicating…

our response changes.

And often…

our relationship changes too.

I’ve seen this shift transform families over and over again.

Sometimes the biggest parenting breakthrough doesn’t come from a better consequence.

It comes from a better question.

Behavior is often the clue—not the problem.

💚 If you’re feeling stuck and nothing you’re trying seems to be working, join me for my FREE monthly parenting class.

Together we’ll look beneath the behavior and help you discover your next meaningful step FORWARD.

đź”— Registration link in my bio.

👇 Which question do you think leads to a better conversation?

08/02/2026

One of the biggest parenting myths is this:

“If I were a better parent, my child wouldn’t be struggling.”

After more than 30 years working with families, I can tell you that’s simply not true.

I’ve worked with loving, attentive, deeply committed parents whose children still experienced anxiety, depression, ADHD, eating disorders, and other mental health challenges.

Children are shaped by biology, temperament, relationships, life experiences, and the world around them. No parent can control all of that.

Your job isn’t to prevent every struggle.

Your job is to become the safe place your child returns to when life gets hard. One important step is to understand what’s underneath the behavior so you can move FORWARD with connection and confidence.

That doesn’t mean lowering expectations or giving up on boundaries.

It means showing up with curiosity before judgment, connection before correction, and the confidence that your presence matters—even when you can’t fix everything.

Sometimes the greatest gift we give our children isn’t protecting them from every challenge.

It’s reminding them they don’t have to face those challenges alone.

One meaningful step can move your family FORWARD.

💚 If you’re feeling stuck or carrying more guilt than you deserve, join me for my FREE monthly parenting class. Together, we’ll look beneath the behavior and discover one meaningful step to help move your family forward.

đź”— Registration link in my bio.

👇 What’s one message you wish every parent knew?

08/02/2026

If you want to understand today’s teens, listen to this.

What she describes in 10 seconds helps explain so much of what I see in my work with teens and families.

This clip stopped me.

Not because it’s about a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader.

Because it’s one of the clearest descriptions I’ve heard of the pressure many teens and young adults are living with today.

“Everyone sees everything we do. They can record it and comment… it’s an insane amount of pressure.”

This level of scrutiny is creating new worries that many parents didn’t have to navigate when they were growing up.

One of the reasons I love watching shows like this is because I naturally watch them through a different lens.

As a parent coach, I’m always listening for what pressure sounds like.

When I heard her say those words, I wasn’t just thinking about cheerleading.

I was thinking about the teens and young adults I work with every week.

Most aren’t performing on national television.

But many feel like they’re being watched every day.

By classmates.

By teammates.

By social media.

By colleges.

By friends.

And sometimes by the expectations they’ve placed on themselves.

Different stage. Same pressure.

That doesn’t mean every teen experiences it the same way.

But it does remind me to pause before judging what’s happening on the surface.

When a young person seems anxious…

Withdrawn…

Irritable…

Or like they’re trying to be perfect…

I try to ask a different question:

“What pressure might they be carrying?”

Sometimes that one question changes the entire conversation.

Because when we understand the pressure, we often understand the person.

08/02/2026

The last conversation I had with my dad still shapes the way I parent and coach other parents.

The last conversation I had with my dad is one I’ll carry for the rest of my life.

As I was leaving, he looked at me and said four simple words:

“Be better than me.”

He wasn’t talking about money.

Or success.

He was giving me permission to break the patterns that had quietly been passed down through generations.

That moment changed the way I parent.

And it changed the way I coach families.

We can’t change the past.

But we can choose what we carry forward—and what stops with us.

That’s one of the greatest gifts we can give our children.

Those four words became my promise.

To keep the love…

and stop passing down the patterns that hurt our family.

That’s the promise I carry into every family I coach… and every decision I make as a mom.

One meaningful step can change generations.

One meaningful step can move your family FORWARD.

08/02/2026

“I’ve said it a hundred times.”

This is a comment we all say as parents when we can’t get our kids to listen or make behavior change.

As parents, this doesn’t mean we are failing because we haven’t given enough advice or the “right” advice.

Often, the advice isn’t the problem.

Children are much more likely to hear guidance when they first feel understood.

That doesn’t mean lowering expectations.

It means building connection first, so your words have somewhere to land.

Sometimes understanding comes before change.

If you’re feeling stuck, you’re not alone.

My free monthly parenting class will help you see what’s happening beneath the behavior and identify one meaningful step to move your family FORWARD.

đź”— Registration link in my bio.

👇 Have you ever noticed a conversation go better after your child felt understood first?

08/01/2026

“You just want everything to be OK for your kids… and sometimes you can’t do that.”

Sometimes I’m watching something that has nothing to do with parenting, and a single comment stops me because it has everything to do with the families I work with.

Parent coaching is always on my mind, so I’ll often hear a quote from a completely different place that gives me a new lens on parenting. Sometimes a new lens is exactly what helps a family move FORWARD.

While watching America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, I heard Faith Ward’s mom say:

“You just want everything to be OK for your kids… and sometimes you can’t do that .”

That may be one of the hardest truths in parenting.

As parents, we want to protect our children.

We want to fix the problem.

We want to take away the hurt.

But we can’t.

And if we’re honest, trying to rescue them from every disappointment, failure, or criticism may actually keep them from developing the resilience they’ll need throughout life.

Our role isn’t to make sure life is always okay.

Our role is to help our children learn they can be okay, even when life isn’t.

That shift doesn’t make parenting easier.

But it often makes it wiser.

No blame. No shame. Just FORWARD.





08/01/2026

“America’s strength isn’t running away from history. It’s understanding what shapes us… and continues to shape us.”

That quote immediately made me think about generational patterns in parenting.

Parent coaching is always on my mind, so I’ll often hear a quote from a completely different place that gives me a new lens on parenting. Sometimes a new lens is exactly what helps a family move FORWARD.

Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch shared those words during NBC’s Meet the Press anniversary special, and I immediately thought of a coaching session from earlier that week.

A client said,

“I think it’s important that you understand how I grew up.”

I smiled and said,

“I completely agree.”

Understanding how we were raised, the messages we received, our family culture, and the patterns we learned helps explain how we parent today.

That’s why one of the seven steps in my Move FORWARD framework is Recognize Generational Patterns.

Not to assign blame.

Not to stay stuck.

But to choose what we carry forward—and what ends with us.

If someone needs to process trauma or unresolved pain, that’s the important work of therapy.

My role is different. I help parents understand what continues to shape them so they can make more intentional choices moving forward. I told him, “This Stops Now- with you.”

No blame. No shame. Just FORWARD.





08/01/2026

One of the biggest fears I hear from parents is:

“What if I say the wrong thing?”

It’s a natural fear. We all want to help, and we don’t want to make things worse.

But after more than 30 years of working with families, I’ve learned something that often brings parents relief.

Children rarely remember the perfect words.

They remember who stayed.

Who listened.

Who kept showing up, even when the conversation was hard.

You don’t have to get every response exactly right.

Your consistent presence often matters more than the perfect sentence.

One meaningful step can move your family FORWARD.

👇 What’s one moment when simply being present mattered more than knowing exactly what to say?

08/01/2026

Anne Hathaway said something recently that stopped me.

She shared the idea that people don’t strive for perfection because they feel safe. They strive for it because they’re afraid something bad will happen if they aren’t.

I immediately thought of so many parents, teens, young adults, and adults I’ve worked with over the past 30+ years.

I’ve watched fear disguise itself as perfectionism more times than I can count.

It can look like:
• Straight A’s.
• Never asking for help.
• People pleasing.
• Overachieving.
• Constantly trying to get everything “right.”

From the outside, it often looks like confidence or ambition.

Underneath, it can be fear.

Fear of disappointing someone.

Fear of failing.

Fear of not being enough.

That’s why I try to look beyond the behavior before judging it.

Sometimes the behavior isn’t the problem.

It’s the clue.

đź’ś Have you ever looked back and realized fear, not confidence, was driving your perfectionism?

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