My guest today is Wendy Snyder. I’m so excited to have her here because our stories are so similar, especially the “early-years overwhelm,” leading us to find something that does work.

Wendy shares her background and what “raising strong-willed children with integrity” means to her. We agree on so much around kids being our teachers and the importance of childrens’ dignity. Wendy and I talk about what happens when we can start letting go of expectations and focus on creating the best environment for our kids instead while still being the leader of our home. I ask Wendy what’s been surprising to her about navigating the teen years with her own kiddos, and that leads us to identifying missing life skills, modeling sobriety, and harm reduction. Wendy shares her thoughts on some starter steps to mend and nurture our relationships with older kids, how to establish firm boundaries, and how to respond when those boundaries are crossed.

Takeaways from the show

Raising strong-willed children with integrity
Firm kindness
Creating the best environment for your child
Inviting collaboration, cooperation, and contribution
Teens experimenting with drugs & alcohol
Identifying missing skills
Starter steps to mend and nurture relationship with older kids
Moving away from punishment
Viewing mistakes as opportunities to learn
Establishing boundaries (and what happens when they do not adhere to those boundaries)

For more show notes, including transcripts, visit our website here.

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Eps 407: Raising strong-willed children with Wendy Snyder