Joyful Courage for Parenting Teens

Today’s guest is Naomi Gottlieb-Miller. She is a mom, yoga teacher, self-care advocate, Air Force spouse and Star Trek nerd. She is passionate about working with busy moms and empowering them to take better care of themselves so they can re-write the story of what healthy motherhood feels like. She loves to make yoga fun and accessible for everyone she works with. Naomi is passionate about helping people find space for their daily yoga practice. We are discussing yoga, self care and parenting.Join us!"Yoga is not just what you do on your mat but it's how you live your life." What you’ll hear in this episode: Parallels between yoga and parenting Self exploration in yoga and parenting How what we read influences our perception of how we parent Making decisions about what matters to us vs what we "should" do Yoga on social media and competition The five second rule and how it relates to self-care Habit change personality types Yoga as a practice and how it relates to ego The difference between simple and easy Feeling into action and engaging - in yoga and parenting Being with the discomfort in parenting and yoga Therapeutic irritation and holding space and identifying appropriate times for release Creating conscious conversations with our kids Baby steps for starting yoga Starting small as a way to inspire more future What is a mantra and why is it helpful?  Resources:Naomi’s introductory Yoga videos on her Youtube channel NaomiGottliebMillerWhere to find:Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Youtube: NaomiGottliebMillerTransform Chaos To Calm Program Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s guest is Katie Hurley. She is a child and adolescent psychotherapist specializing in anxiety disorders and stress and learning differences and author. She is the author of The Happy Kid Handbook and No More Mean Girls. She runs empowerment groups for girls. We are discussing girls and their relationships. Join us! "We have to load them with coping skills because life is hard.""Teach them coping skills. Teach them how to be kindness warriors. Teach them how to engage in a positive way on social media so that other girls start to follow suit....""We owe it to our girls to stop labelling them and let them grow into themselves.""The more we fail and the more we fail out loud and accept it and acknowledge it and talk about it with other people, the more we grow as humans.""We have to stop this cult of perfectionism among our girls and the best way to do that is to really open up to them and tell them what we go through." What you’ll hear in this episode:-The changing landscape in the world of girls and bullying-Why these relationship challenges are starting earlier than ever-Toxic competition and how it impacts relationships between girls-How conditioning for high achievement can impact girls-Shifts in educational expectations and how that affects children-How attitudes towards sports have changed and what that has meant for girls-Social emotional learning and the expectation it should happen at home vs. at school-Belonging and significance in relationships between girls-How building empathy can be helpful-The Iceberg Metaphor and how it relates to conflict between girls- Protective instincts and how they impact coaching empathy and understanding-Clique behaviors and how they can impact girls-Modelling those behaviors as parents and exercising compassion in moments of frustration-Social media culture and how it removes safe spaces at home from interpersonal conflict between kids-Checking off the boxes and how it can create overwhelm-How not letting kids make choices can create stress and cause problems later in life-The importance of coping skills and raising kindness warriors-The impact of how we talk about school shooters and how that impacts their in-school relationships-How social engineering by parents can impact our girls-Understanding where parental interference in interests and social relationships can affect them-Peer pressure among parents to "check the boxes" for our kids in terms of their extracurricular activities-How labels affect and limit our girls What does Joyful Courage mean to you?To me, it just means being joyful about taking great leaps. It's okay wherever you land. Know that you're okay wherever you land and you can always make adjustments and give it another shot. Resources:The Happy Kid HandbookNo More Mean Girls Where to find Katie:PracticalKatie.comFacebookTwitter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

My guest today is Danielle Slaughter. Danielle is an Academic turned mommy. She has Bachelors of Arts from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and a Masters of Arts in English from Georgia State University. With a doctoral background in English, focusing on Rhetoric and Composition, Danielle likes to call herself and mothers like her “Mamademics”. Mamademics is a merging of her two “careers”–motherhood and academia. She lives in Atlanta with her husband and two sons were she runs both of her businesses Mamademics and Raising an Advocate.Danielle has an award-winning blog as well as composition work. She is a 2015 recipient of the Type-A Parent’s We Still Blog Award. A 2016 recipient of the Conference on College Composition and Communications Scholar for the Dream Award. A BlogHer Voices of the Year Winner for 2016 and 2017. As well as a two-time nominee for an Iris Award for Most Engaging Content (2017 and 2018).I found Danielle this past spring when I was searching for the voices of POC in the parenting world. If you listened to episode 142 you know that I made a pledge to search out a variety of voices and personalities to come and be on the show. Danielle does really important work, and I recently completed a course she offers called “Raising an Advocate” – Danielle has written a lot about the role white women play in raising social justice advocates, as well as the power white women also have to get in the way of social justice….Where to find Danielle:Facebook | Mamademics Website Check out Mamedemics Website to get to the Raising an Advocate course Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

SOLO SHOW!!I am on speaking directly from the tranches…. Feeling the stretch and pull of raising adolescent kids. Kind and firm, yes, and IT’S HARD!! Moving into summer and thinking about routines and agreements.Enjoy!Eps 96: Melissa Benaroya talks Summer Routines and StructuresEps 129: Solo Show - Using the Iceberg Metaphor to Understand Behavior:::Become a Joyful Courage PATRON!You can now find Joyful Courage at http://www.patreon.com/joyfulcourage and make a contribution to the show that you love! This is a opportunity for you to sign up to make a monthly financial commitment and support the sustainability of the podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s guest is Lindsay McCarthy, author of The Miracle Morning For Parents and Families. Lindsay is a homeschooling mama with two children, a writer and the founder of GratefulParent.com. We are discussing how you can integrate The Miracle Morning For Parents and Families into your day. Join us!What you’ll hear in this episode:-How The Miracle Morning For Parents And Families came to be-What the Miracle Morning includes-How to involve your kids in your Miracle Morning-The power of waking on your own terms-How waking up early adds capacity for parents to expand their emotional resources-The value of unstructured play and creating as a practice for kids-Creativity, Health, Affirmations, Reading, Meditation and Service, and how they can help kids start their day off right-Habit stacking as a way to build a Miracle Morning-How a Miracle Morning can help you look at bedtime routine-Building flexibility into your Miracle Morning-Starting small with habit changes-How to encourage older kids to participate-Combining components of the Miracle Morning to save time-Trying a Miracle Evening as an alternative              What does Joyful Courage mean to you?To me, courage it means being afraid but doing it anyways. Like, writing a book, for example. And then the joyful part of that is just allowing it to really fill you up and spread light to the world. Stepping into your own light and your own power and doing the things you're afraid to do anyway.Resources:The Miracle Morning For Parents and Families The Miracle Morning for College Students The Miracle MorningWhere to find Lindsay:GratefulParent.com Facebook Group - Miracle Morning For Parents And Families Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Solo Show – woop woop! It is all me today people, and I am so excited to be sharing some powerful thoughts and experiences with you today. Wading through our experience to support out children The writing process Going deeper into what parents can uncover/discover for themselves We have an external experience of raising kids – everything that happens outside of us We also are having an internal experience – the ways that our physical body feels, sensations, also the emotional experience that we are having, what gets brought up by the external stimuli External and internal are both happening at the same time Based on what our experiences have been in life, our relationships in life, we have a lens that we see the world out of Sometimes the internal response “works” for us We have a well wired survival system – amygdala – but our survival system isn’t always what is needed in our daily life The pendulum swing of raising/living with teens – everything is great until it is not, parents are the anchor that witness/hold space and it’s hard to remember that the behavior is a pendulum swing. Connect /loving vs dysregulation/discouragement We (parents) go into “fix it” mode Alternative – recognizing what is happening physically in my body, seeing what is happening for me, what is the lens I am looking out of? Fear – tension in the body – belly/jaw When kids feel discouraged, they tend to want to share the feeling with others Looking below the surface - the iceberg metaphor Episode 129 Episode 103 Episode 110 Today is a reminder that there is so much going on under the surface…. Curiosity as a guide AND it’s ok and important to recognize where you are at physically/emotionally and taking a pause to get yourself together Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s guest is Nathalie Savell of the Empowering Stepmoms Summit. Natalie is a holistic psychotherapist, a certified holistic health coach and a certified stepmom coach. She sees psychotherapy clients dealing with anxiety and life transition challenges, relationship issues and spiritual disease in person, via video chat and through walk and talk sessions in Baltimore, Maryland and coaches stepmoms virtually to help them go from overwhelm, confusion, stress and resentment to confidence, clarity and connection. We are discussing thriving in step parenting. Join us!“People have more power than they think. I hear a lot of stepmoms feel so out of control and so disempowered by the ex, the kids, whatever their partner is doing and there is support out there.""It doesn't take as much as you think to get on a path that's a lot more helpful that makes you feel a lot more empowered.""Get the support that you need and deserve. Reach out and get it."What you’ll hear in this episode:-The mind body connection-Flexibility and how that relates to kindness and firmness-The Think Tree exercise and how that facilitates flexibility with boundaries-Building connection in step-parenting-Control and step-parenting - finding balance-Adjusting from step-parenting to raising one's own child-Parenting and commitment-Co- parenting as a stepmom when the child's other parent doesn't want them to participate-Establishing boundaries for self care-Giving yourself permission to have feelings about your stepkids and not feeling pressured to feel loving all the time-The value of couple work in being a united front-Finding bottom line things you agree on and where your boundaries areWhat does Joyful Courage mean to you?I love the term Joyful Courage so much. It's like the courage to keep doing the work. The courage to keep going and you know, I call the stepmoms in my group "stepmom warriors" some times because I'm like "You're a warrior, keep fighting, keep going, fighting the good fight to be a loving person." For me, it's like a spiritual warrior for being on a path of love. It takes a lot of courage because it's not easy and a lot of people are going to judge you. And a lot of people are going to naysay you. And to add in that joy in there, so not only are you being brave and courageous, and like keep putting one foot in front of the other but how can you have fun while doing it and why not? So why not peel back the layers and see how you can be childlike in your battles, in your love battles. I think we all need to be that way, to have fun, so it's important to take things lightly at the same time that you work hard at them.Resources:Interview series on NathalieSavell.comWhere to find Nathalie:Nathaliesavell.comStepmom Strong Coaching group on Facebook Stepmom Strong Facebook pageStepmom Strong Coaching on Instagram Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Solo show: Here we are – a new week, another school shooting Expanding from the family unit and into the community Choices we have when we see people who need help We are all in this together – in this life It takes a village and we have to look out for each other All kids deserve advocates, not just our kids What can I do to support connection, feeling felt, feeling understood, inside of my community? Political conflict in the family…. My story and how my brother saved the day Conscious parenting is really conscious living Understanding is not the same as accepting or valuing what others value Belonging and significance matters for children AND adults Listening to understand We get to look out for each other “I see you” Declaring to inquire about mentorship at the local HS What is the action you will take? Resources mentioned:Eps 133 – Politics and Parenting Take the Next Step – Community resource organization Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s guest is Deborah Reber, mother of an autistic son, founder of Tilt Parenting to help parents find more peace, joy and support along the way while parenting an atypical child in a conventional world. We are discussing her new book. Join us!“It's hard to know what to do when you realize your kid is atypical.""Kids who are exceptional really just means the exception""We have to battle our insecurities maybe a little bit more because what we are doing isn't necessarily working.""Behavior is all information. It isn't personal.""Judgment is where we create separation."What you’ll hear in this episode: The loneliness of raising a differently wired kid Accommodating kids with invisible differences Introversion vs extroversion and how they are perceived in the classroom Applying positive discipline parenting philosophies to differently wired kids Managing expectations in problem solving when raising neuro atypical kids Becoming aware of our own judgements of other people's children How to be a support when you see a child acting out in public Approaching neuro differences as parents and discussing them with our kids Educators and parents of neuro-typical kids as allies to parents of neuro atypical kids What does Joyful Courage mean to you?I just keep thinking bravery. I think the parents who are raising kids who are moving through the world a little differently have to be brave even when they don't feel brave and so I would say, "Keep going back in, when we have a bad day and showing up and being present with bravery. Presence and bravery. Presence has been the thing that has changed my experience with Asher more than any other tool and it's in the presence that I've been able to find joy in our parenting together. Resources:Differently Wired Where to find Deborah:Tilt Parenting l Facebook l Twitter l Instagram  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

SOLO SHOW!!Teacher posted about a difficult class…Response about “parenting style” naming “gentle parenting” and followed up with a post about “helicopter parenting, mom and dad are friends, no discipline or consequences….” Lets talk about this: The swing from authoritarian to permissive What is kind and firm Authoritative – structure and freedom The most important tool we have for influencing behavior is the relationship we build with our children – that is what this week in the Academy is all about. No boundaries/limits – not a solid relationship No voice/ freedom – not a solid relationship Mutual respect? Problem solving? Dignity in tact? – Dignity, the state or quality of being worthy of honor or respect. Helicopter/lawn mower/permissive parenting ROBs children of the discomfort of learning from their mistakes. It robs them of the opportunity of making things right and fixing their mistakes. Robs them of the opportunity for problem solving, accountability, ownership.Authoritarian parenting ALSO robs kids of opportunity. When we parent from a place that threatens punishment for making mistakes, kids no longer have the luxury of learning how to really think through the decision making process, instead, they learn the “better not do it cuz I don’t want to get into trouble” or “better not get caught”Authoritarian parenting can often lead to a lack of respect in the relationship.Guidelines and boundaries INSIDE OF a solid, respectful relationship will increase the likelihood of cooperative, contributing children.KIND AND FIRM – listen to your body, are you in alignment with your values and what the kid need. There is WISDOM IN THE BODY, PAY ATTENTION.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices