HeyJaredLisa Mckay
One psychologist testing research and conventional wisdom against real life (chaos, complicated kids, and all). Coffee helps. Humour helps. Honest writing helps. Real life is still mostly winning so far.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 8
- Latest publication
- Sep 17, 2026
- Audience
- Checking…
- Earliest in this view
- Jul 15, 2026
Latest issues
Amazturbation, Subspanking, and Other Perils of Publishing (opens the original)
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Several weeks ago, I caught myself doing it again. Waking up, reaching for my phone, tapping on the Substack app, eyes going straight to my subscriber number. Not checking email, the news, or even texts in my family group chat. Checking whether anyone new had decided I was worth their inbox space since the last time I looked, which was when I woke up in the middle of the night and decided to pick up my phone then, too.No one new had subscribed between 2am and 6am, which was mildly disappointing.
There Is Nothing We Can't Help You Figure Out (opens the original)
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A couple of years ago now, when Caleb was eleven, I started hearing more and more about toxic manfluencer views showing up inside classrooms, and decided to ask my boys if any of their friends ever talked about watching someone online named Andrew Tate.They said no. But then, of course, Caleb asked a gazillion questions.Thanks for reading Road Testing Psychology! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.<form class="subscription-widget-sub
Chocolate Cake Served with a Side of Bad News (opens the original)
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Last Sunday I baked a chocolate cake. This was not a “happy birthday” cake or a “I’m just in a good mood” cake. This was a “I’ve got leftover icing in the fridge and we need to share difficult news with the boys and hard news lands better with cake attached.”I’m not sure that bit about hard news landing better with cake attached is research supported, but in my experience sugar at least helps achieve the initial objective of getting the kids to put down their iPads and come to the kitchen table
What I Learned to Say Instead of "I'm a bad mother" (opens the original)
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I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the pressure mothers are under. I’ve been in this game fifteen years now (!?!) and many mothers I know frequently feel isolated, anxious, and guilty about everything from screentime to bedtime. They feel a constant sense of pressure to parent not just well but perfectly—to always stay emotionally regulated themselves, to know what to say in every situation, and to cherish every confusing, boring, or frustrating blessed moment of it all.So this week I’m rep
Two Roses, One Thorn, and a Bush Made of Leeches (opens the original)
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One stormy summer evening when Caleb was ten years old he was sleeping on a mattress on the floor of my bedroom because my room had a working air conditioner and I didn’t have the heart to make him sleep hot.By 7:45pm, as a cozy bedtime chat, he had hit me with all of the following questions in under ten minutes…Thanks for reading Road Testing Psychology! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.<input class="
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