70: Trust, Respect and Love Unconditionally

This week, my 15-year-old daughter, Sophie, joins me to talk about unconditional love, respect, and trust. 

These are some of the questions we explored during our conversation:

• Should every parent respect and love their children unconditionally?
• Do all children feel loved unconditionally?  If not, why not?
• How does Sophie know I love her?
• Do all parents talk to their children with respect? If not, what does Sophie think they're doing wrong?
• Why do parents criticise their children and what does criticism do to them? Does it result in a child trying harder?
• How can a parent encourage a child to overcome her faults?
• Is it really necessary to change our children? Do all children have to be the same?
• What do misbehaving children need?
• Do we gossip about our children?
• Is writing down our thoughts and feelings valuable?
• What is trust? How can trust grow between parent and child?
• Do we judge people on their appearance? Including children?
• Am I a perfect mother? Have I got everything worked out? Or is it okay if I make mistakes?

We hope you'll be patient: Sophie is suffering from allergies and this is affecting her ability to speak clearly. Speaking with a stuffy nose was very annoying for her. Sophie did her best and I'm grateful for her effort.
You can find me on my blog Stories of an Unschooling Family, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.  You can find my children's novel The Angels of Abbey Creek on Amazon. If you'd like to sign up for my newsletter, please do. I'd love to have you on my team! 
Podcast music: 60's Quiz Show by Podington Bear, (CC BY-NC 3.0)