Episode 75 The Power of Listening Partnerships with Belynda Smith

Belynda Smith is mother to two beautiful boys are now in their tweens/teens, a single mum living in Perth WA. She has been a Certified Hand in Hand Parenting Instructor (since 2017) and built on this solid foundation with a Certification as a Level 1 Aware Parenting Instructor in 2023. She is passionate about parenting with connection, supporting parents in the many roles she has, sharing particularly about the importance of listening for us all and reading, connection and books. In this episode Belynda shares her journey with Aware Parenting. She describes how receiving listening for herself transformed her early parenting journey from struggle and overwhelm to being able to be the parent she wanted to be. She shares how aware parenting has given her a nuanced understanding of each of her children’s unique needs and what lies underneath behaviour in the difficult moments. We talk about all the ways getting regular, consistent listening for ourselves, ideally in multiple different spaces, supports us in ways that make aware parenting possible. We describe our current set ups for listening and we reassure listeners that having struggles is a normal part of being human and needing support is a natural need for us all. Belynda also shares her love of books and why books bring so much value and joy to her life. If you would like to learn more about Belynda please visit her website https://belyndasmith.com.au/ and follow her on Facebook: ParentingwithBelyndaSmith and Instagram: @belyndasmithparenting Her podcast is called Tales from the Toolbox Podcast