Welcome back to another episode of my podcast where I am talking about offering Attachment Play to teens and tweens and how this aspect of Aware Parenting is still so powerful, healing and connecting as our children grow up and approach adulthood. It is often difficult to know how to be playful with teens, particularly if you haven’t been practising aware parenting since they were much younger, but attachment play is so beneficial for our teenager’s physical and emotional health and wellbeing and for our connection with them.

I describe each of the 9 types of attachment play, how it helps our teenagers, offer LOTS of examples of how we might play in each of those 9 ways and share some of what might come up for us when we are playing. I offer some reflections to support listeners to come back to feeling playful with their teens. I hope this episode gives parents of teens some motivation and inspiration to be more playful.

If you would like a copy of my free Introduction to Attachment Play eBook, which includes examples of play we can offer our teens, please email me [email protected] and I will send it to you.

If you want to learn more about my course Aware Parenting with Teenagers, which explores in depth how to practise Aware Parenting in the teenage years, including offering attachment play, please visit https://awareparenting.com.au/my-courses/aware-parenting-teenagers/

If you want individual support with this or any other aspect your parenting journey, I am here for you and I encourage you to get in touch by emailing me at [email protected] or to visit my website www.awareparenting.com.au/parenting-coaching/

Welcome back to another episode of my podcast where I am talking about meeting needs for our children and ourselves. I share how Aware Parenting supports us to understand needs, to prioritise ways to meet needs and to acknowledge how painful it is when needs are not met. I talk about why it is often hard to value and meet needs, what happens when we have unmet needs, and what some of the core needs might be for our children and for us. I offer some reflections to support a deepening in your understanding of needs, for yourself and your child and I offer some practical suggestions of ways to meet needs more.

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If you would like to learn more about Non-violent Communication, please visit www.cnvc.org and to learn more about Robin Grille’s Table of Development Needs, please visit www.robingrille.com

If you would like support with meeting needs more in your family, or any other aspect your parenting journey, I am here for you and I encourage you to get in touch by emailing me at [email protected] or to visit my website www.awareparenting.com.au/parenting-coaching/

In this episode I have a beautiful conversation with Josha van Baalen. Josha is the mother of two daughter ages 10 and 4 and has been an Aware Parenting instructor since 2016 when her first daughter was 2. She is also a psychosynthesis coach and a somatic experiencing practitioner with her own online private practice for clients and offering sessions in all 3 modalities.

In this conversation we talk about how Josha discovered Aware Parenting and started listening to her daughter’s feelings. We talk about the power of connection, slowing down and bringing more simplicity to life. We talk about learning to meet our own needs as well as our children’s and she shares some of the ways that she supports herself back to loving presence with her children. And we talk about our own reparenting journeys that Aware Parenting invites us to take.

If you would like to learn more about Josha, please visit her website www.joshavanbaalen.com

If you would like support on your parenting journey, I am here for you and I encourage you to get in touch by emailing me at [email protected] or to visit my website www.awareparenting.com.au/parenting-coaching/

In this episode I have another beautiful conversation with Danni Willow who is an aware parenting instructor and mother to 2 girls. Danni shares her background in teaching and what she learnt during the 5 years working in schools. She shares her family’s story of schooling and describes how and why she recently made the choice to take her children out of school and start homeschooling. We talk about the effect on our children of being outside of the school system and all the ways we see them flourishing when we are offering aware parenting whilst supporting their learning at home. We talk about some of the challenges with home schooling and how we have supported ourselves with the deconditioning that we need to do in order to come back to trust and connection. We talk about the joy of living life aligned with our values of connection and compassion.

To learn more about Danni, please visit her website www.thewayofthewoman or follow her on social media @danniwillow.

If you would like support on your parenting journey, I am here for you and I encourage you to get in touch by emailing me at [email protected] or to visit my website www.awareparenting.com.au/parenting-coaching/

If you want to learn more about my Aware Parenting and Natural Learning monthly online circle, please visit https://awareparenting.com.au/circles/

If you want to read my articles about homeschooling and aware parenting please visit https://awareparenting.com.au/articles/?_select_a_category=homeschoolingandnaturallearning

In this episode I have a conversation with Marion Rose about her wonderful new best selling book Sound Sleep and Secure Attachment with Aware Parenting. Marion, who is a Level 2 Aware Parenting Instructor and the regional coordinator for Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia, shares so much wisdom. She shares how to bring ourselves more compassion. She describes how we can interpret what their behaviour is telling us about how they are feeling and what they are needing. Marion shares the 3 ingredients that babies and children need for restful restorative sleep without having to dissociate; to feel tired, to feel safety (through connection and closeness) and to feel relaxed (through utilising their innate mechanisms to feel, express and release painful feelings). We talk about learning to deeply trust the innate wisdom of our children and their knowing of how to relax and what they need in order to feel safe. We talk about the immense value of doing our own inner work in order to be able to support our children. Marion also shares 2 of the beautiful stories from her book of what it feels like for a baby and for a teenager to experience our loving support.

I highly recommend buying Marion’s new book, available in paperback or on Kindle from Amazon. Her new course by the same name is on her website www.marionrose.net

If you would like support with sleep or any other aspect of your parenting journey, I am here for you and I encourage you to get in touch by emailing me at [email protected] or to visit my website www.awareparenting.com.au/parenting-coaching/

Welcome to the 100th episode of the Aware Parenting Stories podcast! I am so excited to share this celebration of Aware Parenting. I invited anyone who felt called to share, to come and have a conversation about what Aware Parenting means to them and the effect practising Aware Parenting has had on their family. I am so grateful to Lucy, Sarah, Belinda, Vicki, and Vivian for taking the time to join this conversation and share some of what they love about Aware Parenting.

I hope you find their stories and reflections to be inspiring and helpful. Thank you to everyone who has given up their time to come on my podcast over the last 100 episodes and to everyone who has listened and shared the podcast, and messaged me about it. And a huge thank you to Dr. Aletha Solter for her amazing work, research and expertise about humans. Thank you also to Marion Rose for the wonderful way that she has supported me and hundreds of other parents to understand and embody this beautiful approach.

If you would like support on your parenting journey, I am here for you and I encourage you to get in touch [email protected] Or visit my website www.awareparenting.com.au/parenting-coaching/

In this episode I respond to a question from a listener who is thinking about taking her child out of school and wanting to know more about the connection between aware parenting and natural learning/homeschooling. I share some of the ways that I see aware parenting and homeschooling fitting together so well and some of the advantages that I perceive of not sending our children to school.

If you want to learn more about my Aware Parenting and Natural Learning monthly online circle, please visit https://awareparenting.com.au/circles/

If you want to read my articles about homeschooling and aware parenting please visit https://awareparenting.com.au/articles/?_select_a_category=homeschoolingandnaturallearning

If you want to listen to the Aware Parenting and Natural Learning podcast with Marion Rose and myself, please visit https://soundcloud.com/awp-and-nl-podcast?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

To listen to other podcasts where I share about my journey with homeschooling, here’s the resources page link https://awareparenting.com.au/certified-parent-coach/resources/

Aletha Solter’s Principles of Learning can be found here http://www.awareparenting.com/learning.htm

This episode I talk about how to offer the balance of attention to our children and why this is necessary in order for them to release and heal from stress and trauma. I describe what the balance of attention is and how it works. I then offer lots of suggestions about how to give our children an embodied experience of safety and connection on the one hand, and connection to the past feelings of distress on the other in a way that then supports them to use their powerful natural recovery processes to heal.

If you would like support on your parenting journey, I am here for you and I encourage you to get in touch [email protected] or visit my website www.awareparenting.com.au/parenting-coaching/

To read Aletha Solter’s book Healing your Traumatized Child, the link is here

To read Marion Rose’s book I’m Here and I’m Listenting, the link is here

This episode is a response to a request from a listener to talk about the times when we can’t parent the way we want to, when we feel overwhelmed or in really big feelings ourselves. It is always such a pleasure to share these conversations with Danni Willow. Danni is an aware parenting instructor and has 2 children.

In this conversation we talk about overwhelm in parenting. We share some of the reasons why it can feel overwhelming for us all to be practising Aware Parenting. We share how important it is to learn to offer ourselves compassion in the challenging times and to be receiving that from others too. We talking about finding ways to meet our own needs and how to support ourselves through the tough times.

To learn more about Danni’s work, please visit www.thewayofthewoman.com or follow her on social media at Danni Willow.

If you would like support on your parenting journey, I am here for you and I encourage you to get in touch [email protected] Or visit my website www.awareparenting.com.au/parenting-coaching/

In this episode I welcome Kirsty Fernandes back to the show. Kirsty joined me in episode 44. Kirsty is an Aware Parenting Instructor in New Zealand and is passionate about supporting mothers in the post-partum period and offering birth debriefing. She is the mother of 2 children and shares her work supporting mothers through her business Honouring Māmā.

In this conversation we share our own experiences of trauma in giving birth. We talk about what birth trauma is and some of the ways in which the current system often results in trauma for parents. We talk about how birth trauma can affect birthing women, their partners and children and share the profoundly transformative experience of receiving support to process and heal, by sharing our stories and having all our complex, layered feelings about our births welcomed, witnessed and validated.

To learn more about Kirsty’s work, including her birth debriefing, please visit https://www.honouringmama.com and follow Kirsty on Instagram and Facebook at Kirsty Fernandes Honouring Mama.

If you would like support on your parenting journey, in relation to birth trauma or any other aspect of aware parenting, I am here for you and I encourage you to get in touch [email protected] Or visit my website www.awareparenting.com.au/parenting-coaching/