LAUNCH: Parenting Tips for Raising Adult Children & Building Better Relationships

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Today’s episode is a topic that almost every parent with an adult child who is not moving forward needs to hear, which is why I want to talk about it. And yes, it’s just me.

This is by far one of the hardest conversations you'll ever have. 

Sitting down with your adult child to talk about the way they've been living and that it can no longer continue makes parents very uncomfortable because of the reactions they know they’re going to get. 

But you can’t avoid this discussion any longer. Or perhaps, it’s time to revisit it again, only differently. 

I’ll share what you shouldn’t say and what you can say that will help set things in motion. I’ll be honest, this conversation is only the beginning. The follow through is where the work begins. 

If you feel you need help, let’s do this together. With your adult child, too. Reach out. I’m easy to find and easier to talk to. 

If you love listening to LAUNCH, remember to share it with someone who needs to hear it and please hit the follow button so you never miss an episode. 

As always, thank you for listening in. 

Shari’s Free LAUNCH Masterclass is open for registration; www.parentingfx.com/register

This is a comprehensive, robust and holistic parenting program designed to help you and your adult child move toward confidence, independence, responsibility, and a better relationship.

If you're unsure whether or not your adult child is struggling with Failure to Launch, grab the FREE Failure to Launch Checklist HERE 

🗣️One-on-One Consultations are always available. Click here!

Email me if you have any questions at: [email protected]

Follow me on Instagram & TikTok  @sharijonaslifefx

YouTube has all of the interviews available to watch! CLICK HERE...

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In this episode of LAUNCH, I’m joined by Thomas Miller, a licenced clinical social worker with 20 years experience working with families, to explore ADHD in young adults and how parents can help their adult children navigate some of the day to day struggles that come with it.

Thomas shares practical tips to help parents understand these challenges, create a greater sense of urgency, overcome procrastination and support their adult child, especially when anxiety and addiction are involved. 

We discuss what parents can do when their adult child has difficulty getting started, particularly with tasks they find uninteresting or unmotivating.

This episode offers valuable insights into understanding ADHD and helping your adult child more productive with their time.

To listen to the episode on ADHD - 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/is-your-kids-adhd-a-superpower-or-kryptonite/id1776661980?i=1000705222582

To reach Thomas Miller: www.ThomasMillerCoaching.com

Thank you for listening!

Shari’s Free LAUNCH Masterclass is open for registration; www.parentingfx.com/register

This is a comprehensive, robust and holistic parenting program designed to help you and your adult child move toward confidence, independence, responsibility, and a better relationship.

If you're unsure whether or not your adult child is struggling with Failure to Launch, grab the FREE Failure to Launch Checklist HERE 

🗣️One-on-One Consultations are always available. Click here!

Email me if you have any questions at: [email protected]

Follow me on Instagram & TikTok  @sharijonaslifefx

YouTube has all of the interviews available to watch! CLICK HERE...

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How many times have you tried to make changes with your adult child but could never follow through? Something would happen and you'd back down. You had the best intentions, your mind was made up, but you couldn't deal with their reaction, and you buckled. 

After speaking with many parents, there are 3 concerns that come up repeatedly and in this episode, I talk about about what they are and what needs to happen before you begin setting new boundaries, expressing your expectations, changing the financial arrangements, and so on.

It's common for most adult children who are struggling to launch to become angry, withdraw or resist, but that shouldn't stop you. You need to be ready for it.

This mini episode will help you realize that your adult child's responses cannot get in the way of their growth and it's what you can manage that will determine how successful these changes will be. 

As always, thank you for listening!

Shari’s Free LAUNCH Masterclass is open for registration; www.parentingfx.com/register

This is a comprehensive, robust and holistic parenting program designed to help you and your adult child move toward confidence, independence, responsibility, and a better relationship.

If you're unsure whether or not your adult child is struggling with Failure to Launch, grab the FREE Failure to Launch Checklist HERE 

🗣️One-on-One Consultations are always available. Click here!

Email me if you have any questions at: [email protected]

Follow me on Instagram & TikTok  @sharijonaslifefx

YouTube has all of the interviews available to watch! CLICK HERE...

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What if some of what we’ve been taught about mental health, trauma and therapy is actually making our adult children more fragile and keeping them stuck?

Today I’m joined by Dr. Richard Blake, a British psychologist PhD, researcher, author and breathwork expert whose work challenges some of the assumptions we’ve come to accept about mental health and trauma.

We talk about therapy culture and the stories we tell ourselves about our mental health, and whether we may have taken the wrong approach to understanding psychological distress.

Richard’s perspective really challenges our  thinking, and I personally found his approach a breath of fresh air.

Follow Richard on social media @the_breath_geek

Here’s the links:
 https://www.instagram.com/the_breath_geek?stkn=ejZ3NGdqMWM5cDh4

Shari’s Free LAUNCH Masterclass is open for registration; www.parentingfx.com/register

This is a comprehensive, robust and holistic parenting program designed to help you and your adult child move toward confidence, independence, responsibility, and a better relationship.

If you're unsure whether or not your adult child is struggling with Failure to Launch, grab the FREE Failure to Launch Checklist HERE 

🗣️One-on-One Consultations are always available. Click here!

Email me if you have any questions at: [email protected]

Follow me on Instagram & TikTok  @sharijonaslifefx

YouTube has all of the interviews available to watch! CLICK HERE...

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This episode may be uncomfortable for some parents to hear.

If your adult child is in their 20s or 30s and still living at home, not working, not studying, not contributing, or showing little direction for their future, you may have asked yourself:

“What can I do if they don’t want to change?”

If you’re parenting an adult child who is struggling with independence, motivation, responsibility, confidence, or launching into adulthood, you may also be dealing with enabling, rescuing, tolerating, making excuses, being disrespected, of living in fear and of doing things for them they can do for themselves.

This episode takes a closer look at what happens when parents reach this point and begin wondering what they can do next if they really want their adult child to launch.

But be warned: this one may hit a nerve. 🐦

Shari’s Free LAUNCH Masterclass is open for registration; www.parentingfx.com/register

This is a comprehensive, robust and holistic parenting program designed to help you and your adult child move toward confidence, independence, responsibility, and a better relationship.

If you're unsure whether or not your adult child is struggling with Failure to Launch, grab the FREE Failure to Launch Checklist HERE 

🗣️One-on-One Consultations are always available. Click here!

Email me if you have any questions at: [email protected]

Follow me on Instagram & TikTok  @sharijonaslifefx

YouTube has all of the interviews available to watch! CLICK HERE...

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For parents of adult children who are struggling to launch, support can quietly turn into enabling and enabling becomes disabling.

If you have an adult child living at home, not working, not in school, or not moving toward independence, you've probably told yourself you're being supportive. Paying bills. Managing setbacks. Handling stressful situations for them. Sending job postings. Giving them space. Avoiding uncomfortable conversations. Letting them do whatever they want - even when it's unhealthy: like endless hours of YouTube, gaming all night, sleeping all day, eating poorly, never leaving the house. If you're not doing anything about it, you're supporting it.

In this episode, we explore the difference between support and enabling for parents of adult children in their 20s and 30s and what happens when support turns into a pattern that keeps them in place instead of moving them forward. We talk about fear-based parenting, boundaries with adult children, and how to tell whether the support you're offering is actually about your child, or about managing your own emotions.

By the end, you'll have a clearer, more constructive way to think about what real support for a struggling adult child looks like - one that moves them toward feeling confident, capable, and independent.

Joining me today is Amanda Hill, a licensed mental health counselor, college professor, and the founder and clinical director of Connections of Hope, a therapy practice with multiple locations across Central Indiana, where she leads a team of more than 12 licensed therapists. She holds a Master's in Counseling Psychology and brings nearly 20 years of experience as a practicing psychotherapist. In 2025, she was named one of Time Iconic's Top 10 Powerful Women Championing Hope & Impact.

Contacting Amanda Hill:

Podcast:  https://connectionsofhope.com/podcast/mental-health-with-amanda

Amanda's book: Making Sense of Dysfunction

Get in Touch: https://connectionsofhope.com/

Thank you for listening!

Shari’s Free LAUNCH Masterclass is open for registration; www.parentingfx.com/register

This is a comprehensive, robust and holistic parenting program designed to help you and your adult child move toward confidence, independence, responsibility, and a better relationship.

If you're unsure whether or not your adult child is struggling with Failure to Launch, grab the FREE Failure to Launch Checklist HERE 

🗣️One-on-One Consultations are always available. Click here!

Email me if you have any questions at: [email protected]

Follow me on Instagram & TikTok  @sharijonaslifefx

YouTube has all of the interviews available to watch! CLICK HERE...

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A surprisingly large percentage of parents have asked themselves this question: should my adult child pay rent? Or at least contribute, if they’re working? What if they're not? Am I being fair or   too harsh? Will it teach them, prepare them or upset them and hurt our relationship? What’s the right amount? What are others doing?

This episode will make you think about your Adult child living at home. Why won’t they work? And if they are, why can’t they pay a share? 

This is one of the most searched, most argued-about questions parents face  and this episode, I don’t hold back. Then again, I’m never do. 

Hitting the follow/subscribe button, sharing this episode, rating and giving a positive review, are simple requests that go a long way. 

Thank you for always listening in. I hope you walk away a little more educated and a lot more inspired.  

Sending you hugs and gratitude,

Shari

Shari’s Free LAUNCH Masterclass is open for registration; www.parentingfx.com/register

This is a comprehensive, robust and holistic parenting program designed to help you and your adult child move toward confidence, independence, responsibility, and a better relationship.

If you're unsure whether or not your adult child is struggling with Failure to Launch, grab the FREE Failure to Launch Checklist HERE 

🗣️One-on-One Consultations are always available. Click here!

Email me if you have any questions at: [email protected]

Follow me on Instagram & TikTok  @sharijonaslifefx

YouTube has all of the interviews available to watch! CLICK HERE...

Send us Fan Mail

In this episode of LAUNCH, I'm joined by the expert in adolescent psychology, Dr. Mark McConville, a clinical psychologist with more than 30 years of experience working with adults, adolescents, and families. 

Mark is the author of groundbreaking book; Failure to Launch: Why Your Twentysomething Hasn't Grown Up...and What to Do About It. It is the number one guide for parents with young adults who are struggling to move forward.

I'm so grateful to have Mark on LAUNCH. He packs this episode with so many important topics, and of course, we saved the best for the end!  

We talked about why so many young adults are failing to launch, what developmental skills they need to move forward, the role that parents play and perhaps most importantly, what you can do to help your adult children take ownership of their lives and move toward becoming responsible, relational, and interdependent. 

I'm thrilled to have spent so much time talking with the leader in this field. I hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as I enjoyed interviewing Mark. 

To contact Dr. Mark McConville: https://markmcconvillephd.com/

To purchase his groundbreaking, timely book: Here on Amazon.com

Remember to share this episode, and as always ~ Thank you for listening!

Shari’s Free LAUNCH Masterclass is open for registration; www.parentingfx.com/register

This is a comprehensive, robust and holistic parenting program designed to help you and your adult child move toward confidence, independence, responsibility, and a better relationship.

If you're unsure whether or not your adult child is struggling with Failure to Launch, grab the FREE Failure to Launch Checklist HERE 

🗣️One-on-One Consultations are always available. Click here!

Email me if you have any questions at: [email protected]

Follow me on Instagram & TikTok  @sharijonaslifefx

YouTube has all of the interviews available to watch! CLICK HERE...

Send us Fan Mail

Did you every wish you knew what your adult child was thinking? They're struggling to launch into adulthood but they never want to talk about anything. Maybe you've tried, but it never amounts to anything. Except a door shutting and the silent treatment. You're not a mind reader or a therapist. You're just their parent, who feels like a stranger. How long can you handle this?

A little while back I began talking to young adults, after having conversations with parents. And it was really helpful. I discovered truths that Moms and Dads didn't know. 

In this episode, I share the 5 top things I've learned from talking to young adults who are struggling to launch into adulthood. These are thoughts and feelings that many parents have never heard from their own adult children.

You may learn something about why your adult child appears to be unmotivated, withdrawn, or unwilling to find their way out into the world.

I believe this episode will help you understand what may be happening beneath the surface, and what you can do to help your adult move forward towards independence.

LAUNCH Scripts is available here: https://parentingfx.com/LAUNCHscripts

Thank you for joining me today!

Shari’s Free LAUNCH Masterclass is open for registration; www.parentingfx.com/register

This is a comprehensive, robust and holistic parenting program designed to help you and your adult child move toward confidence, independence, responsibility, and a better relationship.

If you're unsure whether or not your adult child is struggling with Failure to Launch, grab the FREE Failure to Launch Checklist HERE 

🗣️One-on-One Consultations are always available. Click here!

Email me if you have any questions at: [email protected]

Follow me on Instagram & TikTok  @sharijonaslifefx

YouTube has all of the interviews available to watch! CLICK HERE...

Send us Fan Mail

For any parent of a young adult struggling with social anxiety, you know the debilitating effects are keeping your adult child isolated, cut off from relationships, missing career opportunities, and lacking the self-confidence to build a life of their own.  I know you worry constantly and wonder if they will have be free of it. 

Who can you talk to? Better still, who can they talk to? 

In this episode, I have a heartfelt conversation with Matthew Bowen who shares the steps he took to brake free from his severe social anxiety at age 22, after struggling with it his entire life. 

Yes, there is hope after all. 

If your son or daughter can not move forward because of their social anxiety, this conversation offers you real insight into what they can take to overcome it and what their life will look like once they do. 

Please share this episode with someone you love who needs to hear it.  

You can even contact Matthew for help. Please tell him that you heard his interview on LAUNCH. He'll be so pleased!

How to contact my guest Matthew Bowen

https://stan.store/matthewbowen

On Instagram: @matthewbowen464

Remember to hit the follow button so you never miss an interview and if you really love LAUNCH, please rate and review us so that other parents can find us!

Shari’s Free LAUNCH Masterclass is open for registration; www.parentingfx.com/register

This is a comprehensive, robust and holistic parenting program designed to help you and your adult child move toward confidence, independence, responsibility, and a better relationship.

If you're unsure whether or not your adult child is struggling with Failure to Launch, grab the FREE Failure to Launch Checklist HERE 

🗣️One-on-One Consultations are always available. Click here!

Email me if you have any questions at: [email protected]

Follow me on Instagram & TikTok  @sharijonaslifefx

YouTube has all of the interviews available to watch! CLICK HERE...