We all want to foster healthy communication in our families, but there are things that get in the way. Even when we are working to practice good communication skills, patterns of negative responses to hard conversations can get in the way of our goals. In this episode, we will focus on how to address stonewalling.

We all want to foster healthy communication in our families, but there are things that get in the way. Even when we are working to practice good communication skills, patterns of negative responses to hard conversations can get in the way of our goals. In this episode, we will focus on how to address defensiveness.

We all want to foster healthy communication in our families, but there are things that get in the way. Even when we are working to practice good communication skills, patterns of negative responses to hard conversations can get in the way of our goals. In this episode, we will focus on how to address contempt.

We all want to foster healthy communication in our families, but there are things that get in the way. Even when we are working to practice good communication skills, patterns of negative responses to hard conversations can get in the way of our goals. In this episode, we will focus on how to address criticism and complaining.

We all want to foster healthy communication in our families, but there are things that get in the way. Even when we are working to practice good communication skills, patterns of negative responses to hard conversations can get in the way of our goals. In this episode, we dive into Gottman’s four horsemen – communication patterns that we know damage relationships and discuss how kids’ cognitive development influences how they learn communication patterns.

We live in a culture that tells us that we have to make sure we are doing it all right—as parents, we have to make the right choices, be able to prioritize every choice as most important and look ahead to ensure the best outcomes for our kids. It just isn’t possible. How do we avoid the trap of that mindset and reframe what makes us effective as parents? In this episode, I finish the series by discussing a shift in how we measure our success as parents.

We live in a culture that tells us that we have to make sure we are doing it all right—as parents, we have to make the right choices, be able to prioritize every choice as most important and look ahead to ensure the best outcomes for our kids. It just isn’t possible. How do we avoid the trap of that mindset and reframe what makes us effective as parents? In this episode, I discuss the cultural pressure to be certain and how to push back with intentionality in who we listen to and how we parent.

We live in a culture that tells us that we have to make sure we are doing it all right—as parents, we have to make the right choices, be able to prioritize every choice as most important and look ahead to ensure the best outcomes for our kids. It just isn’t possible. How do we avoid the trap of that mindset and reframe what makes us effective as parents? In this episode, I help reframe parents as people and challenge the myth of the perfect parent.

I hear parents frequently claim that their biggest goal is to raise their children to be decent adults who contribute to the world. No parent sets out to raise the next generation of Internet trolls who spend significant amounts of time viewing and criticizing others’ work and investment. This series will explore some of the themes I believe help parents raise kids to be aware of and considerate of those around them, turning them into good family and community citizens. In this episode, close the series with tools and tips to build children who do not become easily offended adults, but who know how to answer calls to action.

I hear parents frequently claim that their biggest goal is to raise their children to be decent adults who contribute to the world. No parent sets out to raise the next generation of Internet trolls who spend significant amounts of time viewing and criticizing others’ work and investment. This series will explore some of the themes I believe help parents raise kids to be aware of and considerate of those around them, turning them into good family and community citizens. In this episode, I provided really basic actions to help guide ourselves and our children in appreciating differences in others rather than avoiding or criticizing them.