Breaking Generational Patterns and Building a Family Culture That Heals with Brad and Jenna Ballard

10 snips

Jun 4, 2025

Jenna and Brad Ballard, co-founders of Ascension Leadership Academy, share their insights on parenting shaped by their contrasting childhoods. They discuss the importance of breaking generational patterns to create a family culture rooted in emotional safety. Topics include the impact of presence over perfection, the need for open communication about tough subjects, and the significance of nurturing bonds within families. Their conversation emphasizes transforming past wounds into a supportive environment for their sons, ensuring they feel seen, celebrated, and secure.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Transcript

Episode notes

ANECDOTE

Jenna's Childhood and Dad's Impact

Jenna shares her childhood experiences with her simple, generous, but disciplinarian father.
She reveals moments of feeling unseen and the impact of her parents' divorce on their family dynamics.

ANECDOTE

Seeking Father's Approval

Jenna recounts a pivotal moment when her dad supported her at a school play but she still felt unloved due to her mom's absence.
She also describes her experience playing sports for her dad's approval despite not enjoying it.

ANECDOTE

Childhood Trauma and Its Impact

Jenna reveals she was sexually abused at six and faced confusion and self-doubt in her early childhood.
This trauma influenced her choices, including shelving her passion for performing to gain her dad's approval.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

Different childhoods. Different wounds. One shared commitment: to raise boys who feel seen, safe, and strong.

Some of us were raised on discipline. Others in silence. Some were praised only when we performed—others not at all.

But no matter what we inherited, we all face the same question when we become fathers: Will I repeat what I came from, or will I build something new?

In today’s episode, I sit down with Jenna and Brad Ballard—two parents building something they didn’t fully have growing up: a family grounded in presence, emotional safety, and truth.

Brad and Jenna are the co-founders of Ascension Leadership Academy (ALA), where they help people break through limiting beliefs and lead with emotional intelligence and purpose.

Their upbringings were different—one shaped by performance and pressure, the other by steadiness and structure. But what unites them now is a shared commitment to raising sons who feel seen, celebrated, and secure.

This isn’t a conversation about parenting hacks or surface-level advice. It’s about the quiet patterns we carry from childhood. The ones we repeat without realizing. The ones we choose to break. And the ones we intentionally rebuild—through rituals, reflection, and relentless love.

🔹 What You’ll Get From This Conversation:

🔥 Why presence matters more than perfection—and how the smallest moments can leave the biggest mark. 🧠 How your childhood shapes your parenting (even when you don’t realize it)—and what it takes to break that cycle. ❤️ The power of rituals, mantras, and intentional language to create emotional safety at home. 🎯 What it really means to lead by example—not just at work, but where it counts most: with your kids. 💡 How to raise children who feel seen, strong, and safe—without passing down what you never meant to carry

___________________________________________________________________________

👋 Want to learn more about Front Row Dads? We are in the business of building better families.

👉 Join The Brotherhood: https://frontrowdads.com/brotherhood

While most dads would say that family matters most, the challenge is they feel guilty knowing their careers get the best of them, and their family seems to get the rest of them.

We help Dads become family men with businesses, not businessmen with families, so they can thrive personally AND professionally.

Subscribe to the Front Row Dad podcast to learn about fatherhood, marriage, and how to level up your game at home, or if you’re ready for the best coaching and true brothers to grow with

👉 Join The Brotherhood: https://frontrowdads.com/brotherhood

🎤 Listen to Front Row Dads podcast here:

🌐 Website: https://frontrowdads.com/podcast/

 Apple: http://bit.ly/3XLSRWj