What does it really take to raise confident, emotionally grounded teenage boys? In this episode, host Sonia Dong sits down with Edmund Chien, a retired finance professional, public speaker on behavioural finance, and military veteran.

Edmund shares how studying attachment theory transformed his own parenting and why he parents by "steering vs. stifling". He also shares examples and tips from his lived experiences treating his teenage sons less like toddlers and more like capable young men.

Edmund opens up about the value of male mentorship, the underestimated power of being physically and emotionally present, and free programs like Army Cadets and the Royal Military College that support families who may lack strong father figures.

About Edmund Chien

Edmund is the father of two teenage boys and actively mentors numerous teens in his community.

He’s a retired finance professional where he spent two decades managing wealth for ultra-high-net-worth families. Today, he is a public speaker on behavioural finance and serves as an executive coach for client-facing financial advisors.

Connect with Edmund on LinkedIn and learn more about his work on his website.

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Learn more about attachment theory in E4 - Raising Resilient Teens: The Role of Attachment in Mental Wellbeing

Before a child can walk on their own, they fall about 2,500 times (2012 study from New York University’s Infant Action Lab).

And every single time, we cheered them on. So why do we expect our teens and tweens to get it right on the first try? In this talk, speaker and host of Raising the Next Gen podcast Sonia Dong shares a powerful reframe for parents of older kids that's rooted in the same patience, grace, and guidance we gave our toddlers.

Through personal stories (including a very relatable bathroom meltdown), she reminds us that it's not about perfection. It's about baby steps.

Want to see the video recording of this speech? ⁠Watch it on YouTube here.⁠

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Receive weekly parenting tips and reflections, and don’t miss an episode by signing up to my newsletter, ⁠⁠Next Gen Connection⁠⁠.

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About Sonia Dong, Host of Raising the Next Gen

Sonia Dong is a speaker, podcaster, and author exploring modern parenting, teens, and family connection. As a certified Kind Voice of Impact Speaker™, she shares stories from her own journey of parenthood to inspire parents to slow down, show up, and lead with intention.

She is the host of the Raising the Next Gen podcast, where she speaks with parents and experts about raising happy, resilient, and productive teens and tweens.

She is also a co-author of Mama's Gotta Grow and brings over two decades of experience across youth education, nonprofit leadership, and values-driven entrepreneurship, including leading the socially conscious fashion brand Henkaa.

Learn more about Sonia: https://soniadong.com/

Book Sonia to speak: https://speaker.soniadong.com/

In this episode, Sonia welcomes Kimberly Snider, a strategic leadership coach and team builder, for an engaging conversation about raising resilient children. They discuss mindset management during unexpected challenges like airline strikes, the power of maintaining optimism, and how family travel teaches valuable life lessons.

Kimberly shares insights from raising two sporty teenagers, exploring how competitive sports build character, teach sportsmanship, and help kids navigate disappointment.

The conversation touches on emotional milestones like sending a child to university, the importance of acknowledging "this is the first time I've done this," and how parents and children learn together through life's adventures.

Kimberly also reflects on a recent family trip to the Netherlands, where her teenagers discovered their Dutch heritage and contributed as capable young adults navigating European cities. 

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About Kimberly Snider

Kimberly Snyder is a dynamic team builder, strategic leadership coach, and consultant who creates space for strategic thinking so leaders can accomplish audacious goals without burnout, overwhelm, or mediocrity. She is also the host of the Overflow podcast, which has over 100 episodes.

Tune in to the Overflow podcast, and following Kimberly on Instagram @IAmKimberlySnider. Learn more about her work on her website.

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In this episode of Raising the Next Gen, host Sonia Dong welcomes Tara Downey, owner of Tru Insurance & Investments, to discuss financial literacy for teens and young adults. Tara shares her journey as a single mom navigating financial challenges while raising three children, now aged 20-27.

She reveals practical strategies for teaching money habits from childhood through university, including the saving-spending rule she instilled in her family. She believes in empowering teens to take ownership of their finances and shares how she worked with her then-teenagers to budget for post-secondary education. She also discusses the distinction between good debt and bad debt, so young adults can make informed decisions about student loans.

The conversation highlights fostering financial confidence, creating safe space to discuss money and building skills that extend from the teen years into independent adulthood.

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Tara Downey is the owner of Tru Insurance & Investments. She possesses over twenty years experience in financial services, both in financial advisory roles and roles. On the corporate side of the finance business, Tara knows firsthand all the great opportunities in the financial advisory business. She focuses her work on helping women and families gain a positive money mindset in order to live a more confident and joyful life. She is also a mom of three and they are twenty, twenty five and twenty seven.

Follow Tara on Instagram @inspiredbytru and learn more about her services on her website.

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Sonia is joined by Yetty Williams on Raising the Next Gen for a conversation about raising digitally savvy kids. As a digital parenting coach and social entrepreneur who helps families navigate raising children in a highly connected world, Yetty is passionate about supporting parents to parent intentionally in the digital age.

Yetty introduces the idea of parents as the “first algorithm,” shaping how kids interpret the online world through values, conversation, and connection at home. The discussion explores screen time fears, healthy tech habits, building trust so kids feel safe coming back to parents, why quality connection matters more than constant control and so much more.

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Yetty Williams is a digital parenting coach, award winning social entrepreneur, European Mentoring and Coaching Council accredited life coach, and mom of two teenagers. She is the founder of Lagos Mums, Nigeria's first and most influential online parenting community. For over a decade, she has built thriving communities on a global scale, reaching over one point five million people each month.

Yetty is the author of Digital Savvy Parenting: What the World Urgently Needs, and creator of the Digital Parenting Archetype framework. She holds an MBA from Yale and a Digital Media marketing certificate from Cambridge, and has been recognized by the Lagos State Government for her contributions to women and girls.

She regularly partners with global brands, leads family focused conferences and mentors through the United Kingdom's Government Help to Grow programme. Yetty's work proves that strong communities, online and offline are essential to raising whole and well-rounded humans.

Learn more about Yetty on Instagram @lagosmums, LinkedIn and her website.

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Resources

Complete Yetty’s free digital parenting archetype quiz to help you learn what parenting style you have and support your child’s digital journey.

You can also sign up for her Substack newsletter and get a copy of Yetty’s book, Digital Savvy Parenting: What the World Urgently Needs.

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In this episode of Raising the Next Gen, Sonia is joined by Julie Cober, a certified executive leadership coach who supports female founders and senior leaders navigating career transitions. Julie reflects candidly on balancing executive leadership with motherhood. They talk about how it's never too late to repair a relationship and why apologizing to our children matters. They also discuss the powerful shift from parenting to guiding as kids enter adulthood and the importance of choosing to parent intentionally. 

This episode offers practical advice for parents who want to rebuild connection and show up with more awareness and compassion.

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Julie Cober is a mom of two and a certified executive leadership coach for female founders, C-suite executives and elite leaders. She's a former chief human resources officer and spent twenty five years leading within some of the largest fortune one hundred companies in the world.

Today, she's the CEO and founder of the Legacy Leadership Academy for women, where she strategically supports high performing female executives to navigate the high stakes complexities of a mid-life career exit and or transition. 

Learn more about Julie on Instagram @juliecobercoaching, LinkedIn and her website.

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In this episode of Raising the Next Gen, Sonia is joined by educator and children’s author Krishana Johnson-James for a heartfelt conversation about confidence, creativity, and helping kids embrace challenges. Krishana shares how her lifelong love of writing and teaching led to her books Planting a Song and There’s No One Just Like Me.

They explore how stories can help children navigate performance anxiety, build positive self-talk, and develop a growth mindset. Krishana reflects on her own experiences with music, fear, and resilience, and offers practical insights for parents on supporting confidence through conversation, practice, and celebrating effort over perfection.

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Krishana Johnson-James is a teacher and author dedicated to nurturing young minds. With over twenty years of experience in the classroom, she has seen firsthand the incredible power of teaching growth mindset and how it can transform children's confidence and resilience. Krishana wrote Planting a Song to encourage young readers to embrace challenges and celebrate their unique journeys. She is also the author of the book, There’s No One Just Like Me!

Krishana loves helping people work on creative goals and finding ways to document and share their stories in a creative way. She especially enjoys putting a spotlight on inspiring people and groups who are making a positive change in the world around them.

Follow and connect with Krishana on Instagram @plantingourstories @theresnoonejustlikeme and her website, where you will also find her book and learning resources mentioned in the podcast.

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What happens when you accidentally leave your phone at home? In this solo episode, I share how a simple morning school drop-off became an unexpected lesson in presence and freedom. After forgetting my phone on the kitchen counter, I had to decide whether I'd turn back for it in a panic, or continue on without it. I chose the latter, and this episode is about the internal dialogue that went on in my head, the noticing of my tech habits and how it influences my children. 

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In this episode of Raising the Next Gen, Sonia chats with psychologist Clarissa Ee to explore how becoming parents impacts connection, communication, and conflict between partners. They discuss why relationship satisfaction often declines after kids and how misalignment between parents affects the whole family.

The episode also highlights how the way parents handle conflict becomes a powerful model for their children. Teamwork between couples is emphasized, and you’ll hear practical tools for managing defensiveness, pausing heated arguments, repairing after missteps, and communicating needs without blame.

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Clarissa Ee is a mom of two, a psychologist, and a speaker from Ontario, Canada. Her heart for serving couples comes from the transformation she experienced in her marriage through tools learned from professional training, having personally struggled with fertility challenges and postpartum anxiety, she is passionate about supporting couples who are building their family and navigating parenthood.

Clarissa feels grateful to have supported couples over the past decade through therapy and workshops, and looks forward to helping more couples break generational cycles and build healthier relationships.

Follow and connect with Clarissa on Instagram @renew.your.relationship, LinkedIn and her website.

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In this episode of Raising the Next Gen, Sonia is joined Vicky McGrath, author of The Dragon and the Mysterious Artifact and the Tales from the Clinic graphic novel series. Vicky shares how a season of isolation during COVID motivated a creative breakthrough, blending her daughter’s love of animals, a passion for science, and a lifelong appreciation for adventure, magic, and storytelling.

Sonia and Vicky explore graphic novels, citizen science, environmental stewardship, and fostering a sense of wonder, agency, and bravery in kids. This conversation is a reminder that stories can inspire learning, connection, and imagination.

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Vicky McGrath is the International Bestselling author of The Dragon and the Mysterious Artifact, Book One of the Tails from the Clinic novel series. Vicky was inspired to write the novel series by her daughter's desire to become a veterinarian and their shared love of Harry Potter. When she's not writing, Vicky loves spending time with her family, traveling and running with her dog, Archie.

Follow and connect with Vicky on Instagram @vicky.mcgrath and her website, where you will also find her book and learning resources mentioned in the podcast.

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