How parenting can be easy and enjoyable (really!) A Happy Hour Conversation with Eliane Sainte-Marie

This week's show is with Eliane Sainte-Marie, the founder of Parenting for Wholeness, creator of the acclaimed Clean Parenting Program where she guides parents in experiencing the ease and harmony she promises is possible in families, author of the book Clean Parenting: the Peaceful Parent’s Essential Handbook, and mother to three wonderful adult daughters. She’s passionate about helping parents raise children who are whole, as well as helping them shed what’s in their way of living from a place of wholeness.

In this conversation, we spoke about what's wrong with modern day parenting - where typically the focus is on short term results, rather than the long term implications. And what the alternative is... getting back to what nature intended, which not only feels easier and more enjoyable in the short term but also has long term positive impact.

This show is for you if the usual mainstream advice doesn't feel quite right - your instincts are telling you that's something off, or you've heard a lot about peaceful parenting but you don't know quite how to make it work, or maybe you're already feeling peaceful parenting is right for you but you're still feeling doubtful because you don't know anyone else who does it that way.

What you'll learn from this episode:

• Instead of looking at latest fad or theories, look at what has worked for human animal over millennia. Though our lives have evolved, our bodies and needs haven’t. Connect with your instincts, trust your own inner voice and values.  
• Something that's worth remembering is: every behaviour is an attempt to meet a need. If you only focus on addressing behaviour, you’re doing nothing to address the underlying need, whereas if the need is met, the behaviour will naturally disappear.  
• Come up with mission statement or a set of core values for your family. This can be such a helpful guide for both your children and yourself - you're then all able to check in and ask yourselves whether the current behaviour will create what you most want, in both the short and long term.  
• Even when you've made the choice to parent peacefully, you'll probably still be surrounded by people who still think the mainstream way is the right way. It is so important to get support from like-minded parents, ideally from people farther along in parenting journey, who have been through your current stages, and can keep pointing you back to your own instincts.